I think that's a great idea. I suppose it's technically possible to do that now. A writer can add in at the top of their thread (in red letters?) that they no longer need that particular piece critiqued because they've moved on, or whatever. This would stop any new forum members from choosing that particular piece to critique. However, the mere act of adding a note like this to your thread means you've bumped it! So it would be great if Mods could guarantee that this kind of a bump won't result in either an infraction or a warning. Personally, I find it very irritating to spend a lot of time on a critique, only to have the writer say, 'thank you very much, but I'm no longer working on that piece—I just put it in the workshop to see how people would react to it.' (And yes, this has happened on a couple of occasions ...and no, these weren't particularly old threads.) I know that critiques are supposed to benefit the critique-giver, etc, but this is just annoying. So anything that would prevent us spending time doing a detailed critique of something that's no longer a WIP would be great. I don't know if there is an algorithm that could also alert people to the fact that the poster of the thread has not been active on the forum for x number of years, etc. That would keep the threads readable, but maybe discourage new folks from expending effort on them. I know when I first joined the forum back in the dim days of yore, my first action was to scour the workshop for pieces I found interesting in order to critique them. I was sharply rapped on the knuckles by a non-mod member (who is no longer with us) for resurrecting old threads. She had a point, I suppose. I was too old and ugly even then (it's a saying, not a judgement of myself!) to have been be put off by this rebuke, but knowing I'd screwed up right at the beginning might have discouraged somebody who is less stubborn than me. Getting off on the wrong foot in a new group can be embarrassing. If I had realised this old thread thing was frowned upon, however, I would not have done it.
