TL4s posting in archived topics

[Heather_Dudley]

@Remah

1. The ability to edit archives in Discourse is by-design for TL4 and up. It is not a mistake or omission.

Contrast this with the frozen in carbonite statement from 2015 which clearly does not match the reality of the Discourse archive feature.

It is unfortunate that that post persists in quote after quote. It sounds and looks good but it sets an unrealistic expectation that nothing will ever change in an archive. That has never been the case in the real world where information can always be added or amended for archived items.

The problem is, this quote is from the developers, and is regularly referred to in the how-to documentation here. If this is not the reality of the implementation, one of two things needs to happen:

1. The documentation needs to change so that it clearly reflects the reality of the active feature.

2. The active feature needs to be updated to reflect the original design and intent.

@Remah

Here’s the reason why. In the real world changing status involves physical effort so we would not do it unless the status change is permanent, e.g. move box out of storage to different building, delete catalog entry and update indexes, stamp box as removed from archive so it doesn’t accidentally get returned.

This is the understanding I have of an archive; in order to change it, you must remove it, physically, from the archive. It would make sense for similar behavior in digital form.

The problem I’m having is the functional difference between closed and archived is so minimal as to be nearly pointless. Closed or archived; closed means closed to further comments, to me. Archived means “can no longer be changed” when compared specifically to closed.

Unlisting is an entirely different function unrelated to archiving, and isn’t relevant here. That’s why it’s a different function separate from archiving.

In my situation, I don’t want to unlist the damn things, I just want people to stop replying to them! They have useful historical information, they’re just no longer relevant to current complaints/functionality. If I only want them accessible by link, then I’d unlist them.

That’s the whole point of closing, and later archiving.

As for real-world comparisons… archives on the web, particularly of forums, are always read-only. They’re provided for historical purposes, not “let’s update this when we need to.” You look, but you don’t update. That’s why you have them. This feature is not, currently, functioning like an actual archive. You’re not intended to add to a digital archive. You may add new items to the archive, but you don’t open up existing ones and make changes. If you need to do that, they shouldn’t be in the archive because they’re active and relevant.

If you want something that is no longer relevant but is still updatable, you close it. Closing being a status that is irrelevant to TL4 and above makes sense.