We were having an issue with the auto-close feature where threads which have been dormant for a while weren’t being closed automatically (we have it set to close 30 days after the last activity). Doing some moderating, I have found that deleting the last post in a thread doesn’t reset the last activity date on the thread. So if a spammer wannabe comes in and lays down a crap post two months after the last post, we lose those two months for the auto-close functionality to work.
Edit: It seems to be the “Category” level dates/activity periods which are incorrect (see screenshots in post #3)
I was using the term in the category header - I don’t know how it’s actually stored. Last Post would be appropriate as well.
Regardless, the “in thread” dates look to be correct. It’s the In Category relationship which looks to be the one out of sync, and it seems to be the Category relationship which drives the auto-close and the thread display/sorting.