Title: Why do posts get closed so often? Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # Why do posts get closed so often? * [jsims281](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jsims281/) * (@jsims281) * [15 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/) * I find tons of posts via Google with people asking the exact same question that I am, but often there is no answer and the topic has been closed. * Why is this? Surely it leads to 1) People forced to post questions that have already been asked. 2) Frustrated users coming from Google to find that a question they are asking has not been (and cannot be) answered. * I am also involved in the Drupal community and find that often, someone may have a great answer for a question months, or even years after the OP asked the question. This is not possible on the wordpress.org forums and I don’t understand why. * Any thoughts? * edit: here is the example that lead me to make this post: [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/gd-star-ratings-display-static-results-per-article](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/gd-star-ratings-display-static-results-per-article). When I solve this issue I would love to post back so that others can use it in future. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/) * (@claytonjames) * [15 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034482) * I think age is a primary factor. The one you mention is a year old. * Thread Starter [jsims281](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jsims281/) * (@jsims281) * [15 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034490) * Yep, but it is still relevant. I have now found the answer somewhere else, and would post it on that thread (as it is ranking highly on Google if you type in the relevant question). * As it is, it is useless. I don’t see any benefit of locking down threads in this way… * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [15 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034547) * Well, for a start, those threads will be referencing older versions of WordPress. * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [15 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034585) * It’s done automatically, and as esmi pointed out, they’ve got older versions of WP. * Also older versions of plugins, PHP, SQL … the lists go on. Age is a huge factor, but relevancy is why we don’t DELETE them. 🙂 * Thread Starter [jsims281](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jsims281/) * (@jsims281) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034711) * I appreciate all your points. * A lot of questions will still be relevant between versions of WordPress (I mean, it doesn’t get completely re-written on every release) and an answer of * > “This isn’t much of a problem any more in 3.x, now you just have to do this:” * is still helpful to the average user who finds the thread by typing a question into Google! 🙂 * I don’t see why you would deliberately stop people from answering old questions. I had guessed it was automated, I was just wondering if there was a real reason for the hard-line closure of threads other than the possibility that it could be regarding old versions. * A closed question with no answers is slightly worse than useless anyway, so I think it would be better if they did get deleted in that case? * [Rev. Voodoo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rvoodoo/) * (@rvoodoo) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034713) * There isn’t enough man/woman power for that most liklely. * There aren’t that many mods on here, and they are busy trying to help when they are on here. Plus they spend time policing what they can * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034721) * > A closed question with no answers is slightly worse than useless anyway, so > I think it would be better if they did get deleted in that case? * We generally only INTENTIONALLY (i.e. manually) close posts that are so out of date or impossible to support or *ahem* unfriendly (if you start cursing at everyone, we will close your post). So the closed UNSOLVED posts are generally ones that ages out. At that point, yeah, we probably could delete them. Some of them have thought processes that are useful in kicking your brain to debug, though. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034722) * I’ve found some old, unsolved, topics useful because they’ve already tried something that I was thinking of doing. Cuts down on wasted time. * Thread Starter [jsims281](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jsims281/) * (@jsims281) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034736) * > I’ve found some old, unsolved, topics useful because they’ve already tried > something that I was thinking of doing. Cuts down on wasted time. * My point exactly. How much better would it be if you could post back telling people how you ended up doing it, then it would cut down on wasted time even more, as people would have direct access to the solution. * I guess it boils down to having too many threads to moderate? * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034737) * > How much better would it be if you could post back telling people how you ended > up doing it * But the situation will not be exactly the same. I’ll probably be using a different( newer) version of WP, for a start. So my solution may not be applicable to their original problem. * [aghud](https://wordpress.org/support/users/aghud/) * (@aghud) * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034746) * archives maybe ??? * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [15 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034747) * Perhaps if you thought of ‘Old closed posts’ as ‘archives’ that would help? 🙂 * Thread Starter [jsims281](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jsims281/) * (@jsims281) * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034783) * > I’ll probably be using a different (newer) version of WP, for a start. * This is true, and would be fair enough, if we are treating it as a personal one- on-one with the OP. * > my solution may not be applicable to their original problem. * I’m thinking of this as much for the benefit of other users as for the original posters. It seems to cut down on the potential that these forums have for being an absolute goldmine of WP related knowledge. * The hundreds/thousands of people who find the thread (which has been killed but still appears at the top of Google) will likely have a newer version too. In any case – as you said – even an example of the process you went through to fix it will often help. * [Zoinks! Graphics](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zoinks/) * (@zoinks) * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034798) * I too have been frustrated when I can’t post the answer to a question that at least started me down the right path towards enlightenment, just because the thread is too old. Kind of kills the fuzzy feeling I’d get “paying it forward.” * As for the argument that the original poster would still be using an old version of WP… (A) Isn’t it drilled into our mutton-heads that we need to keep up to date with the latest releases? So they would (or should) be using the latest version. (B) I agree that most of WP doesn’t get depreciated, so a lot of solutions, even to older questions, still work on newer versions. Even so, a simple version“ checkin” would alleviate confusion, which a lot of people do anyway. * (( Just my $0.02 )) * Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * (@ipstenu) * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/#post-2034799) * Generally I link back to them to say ‘Based on I did foo, but then I read and did bar, which lead me to baz!’ * It’s frustrating, but it’s the way it is, so there it is 🙂 You don’t have to like everything that’s done here, but you do have to find a way YOU can work with it 🙂 Everyone’s gonna be a bit different. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Why do posts get closed so often?’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [forum](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/forum/) * In: [Everything else WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/miscellaneous/) * 17 replies * 7 participants * Last reply from: [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/) * Last activity: [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-do-posts-get-closed-so-often/page/2/#post-2034801) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics