# Incomplete threads in dictionary links



## TimLA

Hi all,

I'm not sure we've discussed this before (and if we have, delete this thread please).

I've noted that on some of the links to forum pages on the bottom of dictionary pages, the threads are "dead" -
in the sense that there was a question, and only a mod response asking for more context - no real information.

Is it reasonable to "report a post" and have the mods consider deleting them? - thus reducing unnecessary links?

???


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## cuchuflete

Hello Tim,

Whether or not it has been discussed before, I thank you for raising the topic. Personally, I would welcome such reports.  It may take years to remove all such threads, but each time we reduce their number by one, we make the dictionary search more effective for all who use it.

Thanks,
cuchu


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## TimLA

Ok, sounds good.

I just did one, and called it a "dead thread".

One down, 999,999 to go!


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## cuchuflete

Thanks again Tim.  Shall we name it the _End of the Walking Dead _project?


Please remember that it may take a while for the re-indexing of thread titles to
have an effect on the dictionary pages.  The thread Tim reported is now gone,
but the thread title may still show up for a while.


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## cubaMania

_"End of the Walking Dead" _project--oh, I'm totally taking this on.


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## elmg

*Atención:* Nueva pregunta e hilos unidos​

Hola. Tengo una pregunta. 

¿Qué hacen los moderadores con los hilos viejos que están incompletos y no llevan a nada?

Por ejemplo hoy me topé con uno en el que estaba la pregunta y un post adicional diciendo "Eso no tiene sentido. ¿Estás seguro que escribiste bien?" y nada más. 

¿Sirve qué los reportemos? O ¿cuál es el procedimiento? 

Mis mejores saludos y mi reconocimiento por su labor.


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## TimLA

Hola,

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1467207&highlight=
Solamente tiene que hacer contacto con un moderador (el triangolo rojo) y notificarlo del "dead thread".


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## GavinW

Hang on guys; I say hold your horses.
There is a tag: tbd (to be deleted). Moderators (and some others, I believe, me included) are able to append this to a thread if it is the product of a basic error or misunderstanding which means it is of no linguistic value. Similarly, Mods close threads. And yes, these actions can be solicited by the rest of us using the Report-a-Post system.
But if a thread is merely incomplete, it should be kept alive. It can always be resurrected, at any time (this often happens, as we know), and progress can be made. You might say: well, delete the old one, for now, and then a new forero can come along at any time and open a new one, with the same question, and we've lost nothing. No. I say the very fact that a particular question has been asked before, even if it got zero answers, or never went anywhere, is positive information (think of the presence/absence issue in statistics). For a start, and at the very least, it is an indication that the term exists. Another forero, later on, may have the question: "I think I heard this, but I haven't been able to get confirmation anywhere of it's existence (let alone its meaning): is it a real term?". Well, an old thread, even consisting of only one post, is helpful in this regard.
OK, so dictionary searches may be frustrating in the meantime. But you take pot luck anyway, surely. The whole thing is a work in progress anyway, let's face it. And necessarily so. Rome wasn't built in a day!
;-)


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## mkellogg

Let me see if I can devise a better way of reporting useless threads.  Reporting them one by one to the moderators sounds like a lot of work for the moderators.


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## Södertjej

mkellogg said:


> Let me see if I can devise a better way of reporting useless threads.  Reporting them one by one to the moderators sounds like a lot of work for the moderators.


Should we stop reporting these threads?


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## fsabroso

Södertjej said:


> Should we stop reporting these threads?


No, I don't think so.

In the meantime keep reporting them. 

Sometimes we delete them if they are old with no context at all, or if we see there are existing threads about the same topic. Sometime we bump them when the question is valid. Sometimes we answer them if we know the answer.

Regards.


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## Södertjej

Ok, thanks!


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