When i get to the bottom of a thread, there are a group of recommended threads to read. These used to be timely - current, active threads that are either related to the thread i just read, or maybe somehow algorithmically derived to pique my interest.
That’s no longer the case - the recommended threads are now only related to the thread i just read, and nearly always extremely old (i.e. 15 years old).
It does seem though that “related” is now strongly biased to show the oldest related threads, not recent related threads. I think that is a recent change.
With our deep back-catalog, that’s IMO a misfeature.
“Related” is at least topical. I don’t know anything about its temporality. If related topics are old because the topic hasn’t been discussed in years, that’s not Discourse’s fault.
“Suggested” is just recent topics, with no topical relationship to thr currently-viewed topic.
Ha! That’s pretty funny. I just went to check this week’s NFL thread. We have them every week, and have for years, so there are plenty of recent related threads it could offer. The five related threads for this week’s NFL thread are from 2005, 2007, 2002, 2000 and 2002. Forgive me for mixing my sports metaphors, but swing and a miss.
(Mine defaults to Suggested, which are all current. I had never seen the Related option before.)
Heh. As I finished reading the last post in this thread, I clicked on ‘Related’. The results were one thread from 2020, one from 2005, and two from 2001.
Doubtful if I’ll peruse any of those, although it might be interesting.