Automatically delete inactive questions - using Q2A for classified ads

Question

Hi people,

I'm thinking about adapting Q2A for use as a for sale board, I think it'll work well with some simple modifications (changing 'answered' to 'sold' for example). One less simple modification I'd like to ask about is, is it possible to automatically delete questions after a certain time? if not would I have a hard time coding Q2A to do so?

I am proficient in PHP and MySQL, but inexperienced so any help is apprecated.

What I'm trying to do is prevent old posts clogging up the place making it harder to find items currently for sale

Thanks

Rob

PS I've not actually done anything with Q2A yet, not even installed it on a test server, I'm just scoping out my options for a website I'm building. It needs a Q&A section, a classified ads section, and a place to post pictures - hopefully I can get Q2A to do all three tasks with some minor alterations

Answer 1

Deleting old questions is certainly possible. Q2A has a good plugins system where you can hook into the proper functions for processing various content e.g. deleting questions. You'd probably be best off setting up a page plugin that finds questions matching your criteria (e.g. older than 3 months) and deletes them. Then set up a cron job to call that URL once a day.

See here for developer info: http://question2answer.org/developers.php

Answer 2

I am strongly against this. On small sites,  questions may become inactive         even though they are very good.   

It's meaningless to waste people's efforts of writing questions, as it happens on SE.        

If you really want such a thing, make it a plug-in, not the core!.     

 

      

Comments

"On small sites,  questions may become inactive even though they are very good."
This isn't for questions though, it's for classified ads.

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Well, given that this was asked in Q2A-Core, he was obviously requesting it for this change to the core, and not requesting a plug-in.

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I completely agree that old threads shouldn't be deleted because of the valuable information that can still be on the site. I have found plenty of old forums that have helped me with solutions I needed, and I was so grateful that the information was still there. The information is still useful, even if it was added a few months or years ago. The reader can decide if it's outdated or not.
Jensen |  http://www.insgrp.net/