What to do about permanently outdated questions/answers on SU

Question

I like Super User, often I have only to write the title of my question on the "Ask Question" page and the answer shows up in the "Related Questions"

Thus I want to keep it great.

Computer hardware questions is always getting outdated and doubly so when price is discussed.

This question got closed as a dupe, but I agree with one of the comments that a dupe from six moths ago is not relevant from a computer-hardware/price question today.

In my opinion it should probably have been allowed or perhaps closed as To Localized instead.

But here is my main question
What should we do about old hardware questions? A search about best/$ Frobnac is bound to be irrelevant afer six months (or even earlier)

Answer 1

Close them as "No longer relevant"

Answer 2

I like Super User, often I have only to write the title of my question on the "Ask Question" page and the answer shows up in the "Related Questions"

Thus I want to keep it great.

That's great. That's the attitude that makes these sites great.

Computer hardware questions is always getting outdated and doubly so when price is discussed.

I don't think that price should be discussed on SU, as that is too localized for an international audience these sites have.

This question got closed as a dupe, but I agree with one of the comments that a dupe from six moths ago is not relevant from a computer-hardware/price question today.

I think that Is it still cheaper to build your own PC? is a bit more generic. In the last 15 years Roalt's and TheTXI's answers it has been true, and it is likely to continue to be true for some time (IMHO). Also, it's a community wiki question, so anybody can jump in and update it anytime.

In my opinion it should probably have been allowed or perhaps closed as To Localized instead.

I'd have closed as too localized the original, the second one is a tad more generic.

But here is my main question: What should we do about old hardware questions? A search about best/$ Frobnac is bound to be irrelevant afer six months (or even earlier)

Then close as no longer relevant in six months, update it if you have the edit powers, or/and ask it again pointing to the outdated question, letting the community decide the appropriate course of action.

Answer 3

I say keep them. They may be outdated to you in 6 months, but i promise you someone 2, 3, 4 or more years down the line will have picked up hardware xyz off ebay or still has it running.

Hardware has a surprising ability to stick around for years and years, even after most people have moved on.

Answer 4

Ideally speaking, all questions should remain live and constantly updated and kept relevant through edits and new submissions. But that's not reality.

Many technology questions have a limited lifetime. It is simply unlikely that new answers will be add and voted up while older, out-dated answers will be voted down and pushed out of relevance.

[As a side note, this is the very reason we should not encourage localized "what's the best price/technology/etc" questions unless they are posed in the context of an EXTREMELY specific situation.]

It's a tough question and one that will plague Super User sooner than Stack Overflow or Server Fault. I think the best near-term solution is to at least attempt to close older questions as:

[closed -- no longer relevant]

They will remain in the system for archival value and users who answered the questions will not lose the reputation.

Long term...? That's another discussion.

Answer 5

Another random opinion, since this doesn't just apply to old hardware, but can apply to software too: rather than close, how about an [archive] tag - a special tag that wouldn't show up in any searches unless it was explicitly included.