Recently I found already closed topic what was reopened for any reasons. I appreciate this possibility to add comments or files to common topics after a while as it allows to have all informations inside one thread instead of being scattered around in new threads every 3 month. As long as the thread topic and contributions are still relevant.
How is the procedure to reopen ? Needs admin actions ?
Each forum user has “Trust level”. I don’t remember how many of them are and what are the names.
When I click your avatar and then click your bigger avatar I see your trust level is “member”.
It is harder for me to check what is my trust level - I found that I have trust level 4 (so probably there are 5 of them).
I got if from Admin about year ago (was surprised by getting it).
I have tried - I can post a message to closed thread, but I don’t know if I can make it “open” for others.
Admin or level 4 (Leader) members are able to open and close threads.
The links in this FAQ are worth reading.
I assume this was instigated for a good reason . . .
. . . where this is overridden it should be for a specific allowed reason and that reason should be declared in the thread . . . otherwise we all end up doing our own thing and anarchy ensues.
We all need to make decisions based on the same rules . . .
If a thread is open, your list of actions allows the thread to be closed. If you read a closed thread, you will find you are only able to open it.
To find a members trust level, any member, including yourself:
Click on a person’s avatar; the first badge is that person’s trust level. Click on that badge and the date that badge was awarded, plus the total number of others with the same badge will show.
Click on the badge again and a list of all the other members with that badge will show.
The same applies for any badge that can be awarded in this, and any other Discourse forum.
If I have a need to close/open I think I would find it (but never had such need).
Just didn’t know that (or knew, but forgotten - unused knowledge evaporates). I was sure that second click is needed and in case of searching it about myself - I simply don’t know the word ‘badge’ so don’t know that I should look there.
My opinion is that reopening and appending to a closed topic isn’t as useful as you think.
As mentioned L4s can reopen a topic.
Assuming for the moment you have something to add to a topic. You may think that your post is a logical follow-up on the previous posts. That’s because you have read through them. People who have not read the thread before will get positioned at the beginning of the thread and then have to wade through every post that went before to discover your post. This is in fact the annoyance of newbies who append a post to a N-year old topic, mods have to work out if it’s worth keeping and if it is, split it off to a new topic.
If you think what you have to say is relevant to a closed topic, start a new topic and include a link to the old topic, that’s what hyperlinks are good for. If it really is closely related, say you want to elaborate on something you wrote 4 months ago, a mod can do a merge and open.
If you have a stream of posts you want to be a perennial topic that you want to maintain, ask to be assigned a FAQ.
Hyperlinks are your friends.
As a moderator I can reopen closed threads. Sometimes I find it necessary to reopen one recently closed.
Long dead threads rarely get touched - stopping new members dredging up 5 year old threads from before the forum migration rather than starting a new one is hard enough without setting a bad example.
Setting a short timer is needed on threads that are off topic.
None of this is an exact science. We do the best we can as a community. If a thread is closed it can always be referenced. The software also tracks where you are in a thread. I don’t know if there is a ‘timer’ on that. But, getting put back to the beginning of a long thread is tedious.
But, if you really feel a thread needs reopened, ask.
Recently, for the first time I decided to add a post to closed, off topic thread. It was closed before I had a chance to see it. I just decided to add one, in my opinion, key information to probably young electronics adept that was not said by anyone before thread was closed:
I think I remember this topic and I thought Batteries in Parallel not series, I went to add my thoughts but found it closed and thought no more about it.
Next time I’ll use 6 hours to give you a chance to wake up. 
But then you discovered your L4 powers so all ended well.
Something lijke 24 hours would be more appropriate for a worldwide forum.
I, and I suspect some of the others, were on the edge of just closing that thread. If KiCad accepts too many general electronic design questions, the forum will get swamped. There are a lot of lazy students out there.
May be you are right, but…
),But it is just how I see it. I don’t know who should make a kind of “Forum decision”
I suspect EEVblog puts people off
1st they have an activation email
2nd there is a beginners section
3rd in their faq at the top it says:
It looks that you are right. In the referenced thread OP has an idea what to do, but he didn’t checked it. When reading that he have to write what he already done he can assume that he is simply not welcome to ask a question.
But if they ask here because they feel being not welcome there then how they feel being sent from here to there. I just all the time assume that we speak about very young people and each of us started somewhere.
My approach is probably not that strict because I’m sort of a born teacher. When (in the 1980s) I was teaching electronic students at Gdańsk Technical University, after 3 years older teachers asked me how I do it, that my students always have a better average in the exam than theirs, and being new there I didn’t know that they always break down the exam results by teachers and calculate the average per teacher (I didn’t tell them that I told jokes in every class ).
I really don’t know how strictly we should eliminate basic (with complicated it is clear) electronic questions. If the general opinion (Admins - decide!) is to eliminate it absolutely, I will adapt.
I think if people really want to help, don’t tell newbies everything. That’s what they hope you will do, spoon feed them. Tell them enough while the thread is still open so that they can investigate further. Or look for an easier victim to bother.
No.
The purpose of that EEV post is to prove to the people willing to help with answers that the person asking has made some attempt to understand and answer the question themselves.
There was a recent post on this forum about microprocessor power and batteries and diode voltage drop.
Using the internet to access data sheets and reading that data would have answered the questions far quicker than finding this forum, registering and posting the questions.
It is possible the poster couldn’t be bothered looking and just wanted someone to tell them the answers.
To ask the questions on EEV blog, that poster would have had to show they made an effort to find the information before asking questions.
I agree; except, if it is a question directly related to Kicad (eg. a function in the program), give a decent explanation.
Sometimes, for a newbee, and not so newbee, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Kicad is becoming a fairly complicated programme these days.
