User blog comment:DaNASCAT/Introducing New Moderator Opportunities For Community Administration/@comment-1738746-20160116043732/@comment-5558012-20160119140822

"Real," or in more appropriate terms external, forums are irrelevant here. They aren't the same so naturally shouldn't be operated the same (I am active on a non-Wikia forum and old threads are not closed but are still frequently posted on, plus its activity is still growing).

I see no strength in your comments as they apply to Wikia. Active threads appear above less active ones. Old threads don't appear in any feeds unless they are resurrected or there's no/little activity on the forum. On very active forums, such as CC's, old threads tend to archive themselves by moving further down the board. Users only see them if they are looking for them. Closing them (or by the impression of your comment, deleting them) doesn't magically create activity (or constructive activity, ie. more duplicate threads) just because the forum is "clean." If anything, closing so many threads could give the impression that discussion isn't welcome, more so given you have to click on a discussion to see if it's closed, especially on smaller wikis/forums.

Again, how is closing/deleting a thread (so no one can comment on it) promoting activity? Removing old threads can attempt to promote discussion on the threads still open but people have likely already seen them because they are in activity feeds or have decided they have nothing to add to that particular discussion. In my experience, new users comment on old and new threads pretty much equally (as their first edit), of course dependent on the wiki and its policies.

An active community, in respects to this conversation, is demonstrated by the edits made and the size of the forum. If Recent Activity is full, people are going to assume the community is active, same with a forum. A new user's more likely to see that Admins are active by general edits and more noticeable maintenance issues then making sure all old threads are closed.

What you described, personally, is over-moderation. Similarly, is it best practice to add Admin protection to an article that's old? No.