# AI-selected Related Topics at bottom of threads

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027>\
**Category:** Site Feedback\
**Created:** [April 4, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027 "2026-04-04T17:00:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027/1 "2026-04-04T17:00:59Z")

</div>

ISTM that at the bottom of a thread one used to see other threads you’re tracking, and if none of them were left you’d see new threads.

Now, when you’ve read all tracked threads, it shows AI-selected “Related Topics.”

I don’t want to see these. I prefer new threads.

I’ve looked in user preferences and haven’t found any relevant settings.

I use Sam’s theme.

Anyone?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027/2 "2026-04-04T17:09:24Z")

</div>

Previous thread on this: [Has the Related topics system changed? {Yes}](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-related-topics-system-changed-yes/1008475)

You can use the “Suggested” tab instead to get the older recommendations back. Not all threads will have both, though.

I generally find the AI “Related” threads to be helpful, but I do [wish we could set a recency limit on those](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-threads-are-old-and-outdated/1024925) so we’d get a little less AI necromancy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027/3 "2026-04-04T17:18:10Z")

</div>

Apparently Discourse does allow you to penalize older threads in the AI settings: [Discourse AI - Related topics - Site Management - Discourse Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-related-topics/281807#p-1382886-additional-settings-6) (which should in theory cause it to surface more recent threads, similar to Suggested, and fewer ancient zombies).

But I don’t think we have an active administrator here who has time to tweak that…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027/4 "2026-04-04T22:12:09Z")

</div>

I think I see what happened. If you go through all the unread threads AND all the new threads, there is no Suggested tab, only Related Topics.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ai-selected-related-topics-at-bottom-of-threads/1029027/5 "2026-04-05T13:28:47Z")

</div>

> [@Reply](#):
>
> But I don’t think we have an active administrator here who has time to tweak that…

Yes, our administrator is now quite inactive.