[PaterFamilias]

Oh GEEZ! I'm sorry, everybody! I could have sworn I saw this thread in the "Hot Topics" box...I must have been confused, and saw it in the other box (the "related threads" box or something like that?). My apologies...I'm still getting familiar with the interface.

I'll try to be more mindful of the dates of all the threads (although, I must admit, I really don't think it's such an issue...it doesn't seem like these forums get enough traffic to put any "hot" or "recent" threads in danger of being "bumped into obscurity." I mean, the worst case scenario is that a thread moves down and you have to scroll down the page (or click on the Page 2 link) to view it.

But I do understand the notion that after a month or so, the topic gets stale and the original poster is no longer looking for advice.

But, on the other hand, I'll bet there are a lot of folks who read these forums who just don't post ("lurkers" in the internet vernacular) for whatever reason -- they're not confident enough in their writing skills, they don't know how to frame their issue, whatever -- and for whom the topic is topical for them.

I fully admit, though, that in this case, I was guilty of thread necromancy...I didn't notice the year on this thread, and I should have checked that. I saw "10" as the month and figured, oh, well, this thread is only a week or two over 30 days old. Mea culpa.

Just one addendum, though...I know I'm a n00bie, and nobody likes n00bies coming into a forum with time-tested guidelines and trying to shake up the rules...but I'm just throwing this suggestion out there...might we consider extending the age of what we consider a "stale" thread from 30 days to ... maybe ... 60 days? It seems the 30-day limit is not commensurate with the amount of traffic these forums get. I could be totally wrong about that, and feel free to smack me down on that issue. I certainly won't make an issue of it if everyone is set on 30 days. Again...sorry about misjudging the age of this thread.