Disable reply to thread if thread is inactive for x years

This is something we keep an eye out for (a lot of brand new accounts register to post in inactive threads) and we deny most of those posts due to the thread/topic no longer being relevant. Obviously this doesn't help with current members as their posts show up instantly, but if the bumping post gets reported and we agree that it was unnecessary, we'll re-archive the thread.

Having some automated system/warning in place for this though is something that we'd love to see added to the site one day.

I don’t think it should be automatic. Even if it’s old, it can still be informative and relevant. Unless it is something that no longer exists or has no current application I don’t see why we can’t discuss. I came to RFD by doing a google search and it brought up an old thread but it was helpful to me. Then I stayed.

Sometimes there is only one thread for some topic that has been dormant for years because there isn't much discussion about it. There are many such threads in the credit card forum for cards that aren't very popular but that people still have and want to talk about from time to time.
So what to do? Post in the existing thread and someone will say "don't bump old threads."
But start a new thread and someone else will say "why start a new thread when there is an existing one? Do a search next time."
So yeah I don't support auto-locking threads that are old. Just because they haven't had much discussion for a while doesn't mean the threads aren't still useful for when the discussion starts back up.

There are different issues referred to above.

A fairly inactive thread, that does have dribbles of relevant info over many years should continue.

Context matters though, and some don't grasp that.
Reviving a post, where the last update was 10 years ago should be discouraged, unless it is something especially relevant.
I would hope that posters could figure that out on their own, but they can't.

TomRFD wrote: ↑ Having some automated system/warning in place for this though is something that we'd love to see added to the site one day.

I'd like this approach, from 2 different directions.

There are far too many first posters which dredge up some old post (Google search?), register, and post something irrelevant or outdated.
Low post count users should get a blunt warning popup when posting to old discussions, asking if they really think this is something they should do.

On the other side, many long term posters (me included) have been sucked into a revived discussion, without noting the dates.
Something as simple as changing the colour of old discussions could help.