But then a wealth of information (and site history) would be lost.
Asking and starting new topics is only half the fun; reading input from topics already discussed, from users possibly never returning (or banned) is just as valuable (and time saving).
Perhaps auto-archiving or auto-locking inactive topics to a time set would be more appropriate, but there are still interesting opinion-based topics kicking around that are cool to see new replies on (like favourite... / debate... topics).
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The problem with GDing is the newbies: the rest of the site shouldn't have to conform to them, they should be well versed in forum rules instead (which is uncommon, unfortunately).
Addressing the problem at this source is the way to go. I've given my own suggestion to that end, but I'll leave it to admin and mods to see what's best here.
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