TheSkySearchers

This may not be a term you have heard before so I will spend a little time explaining.

Everything we post on the forums takes up space. In addition when we 'attach' photos to posts it takes up space PLUS bandwidth every time someone view the image. While this is not a BIG deal, it can become an issue down the road. We are an ASTRONOMY forum so naturally we are going to post images and have discussions of astronomy related items, and that is what helps us to draw new members. The search engines pick up what has been posted and new potential members can find us.

Sooooo,
We have NO intention of removing any ASTRONOMY related posts or images. These need to be retained.

However we do have a few forums / sub-forums that we are going to be doing some 'purging'. These would be forums that are getting a lot of topics added that for the most part contain things that are timely and relevant to a given time frame (ie most everything in the "off-topic" forum.) So we are going to be doing some "purging". We can set a time limit of 365 days with no new posts for just the OFF TOPIC area. This will be a good start. Then well will be creating "yearly" topics for "what are you up to", "Jokes" "Quote of the day, mostly related to astronomy." and "a music thread". These are the most popular areas but for the most part could be 'cleared' annually.

The plan is to create a new topic such as "A music thread 2023" in January and close the old music thread and let the system do the "purge". Basically that should give us close to 2 years of visibility to the old posts.

Again,
We will NOT be purging any of the ASTRONOMY related forums.

Let me know if you have any concerns.

Thanks
Gordon
(for the TSS TEAM)

Hi Gordon. I am glad to see that you did not purge the Great Photography Thread, Meteorites, Agates, Gemstones, Fossils or Show Us Your Great Meals This Week And Your Recipes threads. Although not astronomical, these are mostly "in situ" (in place) posts and contain information for those interested in these topics that remains relevant and usually doesn't repeat or change over time (although the Great Photography Thread may be a partial exception and is 37 pages now). Thanks for your hard work on this project Gordon and the very best of regards.

hey gordon, i don't know how much space you'll save. but the TSS Classifieds could use a tiddy up ? it's only 5 pages and alot of the stuff has been marked as sold .