Do you just hide old topic/categories on your forum?

[Grant]

When you have a forum with a lot of categories that don't get much traffic, do you ever just hide them from use instead of removing them from your site? I used to just block off topic areas when no one would post to them. I found having too many categories can cause issues. How many topic areas have you hidden or just removed? I keep them active but hidden so I can go back and read old posts if needed. I was thinking of just adding them all to an archive section like some forums do, I might just do that.

 

[Nomad]

I do not hide old topics or categories. If the topic is irrelevant, I will simply lock it, and if the topic is still relevant despite being old, I will encourage members to leave comments on the topic and bring it back to life. Generally speaking, topics on my forums are evergreen, therefore, I don't hide old topics.

 

[Cory]

I used to hide some forums that I no longer used, but eventually, I just deleted the forums and sent all of the topics in the forums to the trash can.

If a forum had a lot of topics in it that I think could make a comeback one day, I'd probably keep the forum hidden for possible later use, but most forums I hide don't have any future usage and just sit there and collect cyber dust.

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

I never hide or delete anything. If a subforum has lost activity, it can be merged with another subforum or parent forum.