Locking old threads

I was just looking at old polls and someone commented on one 9 months after it was made, probably not knowing it was old. I'm assuming it was a mod that said not to bump the thread by commenting. I almost make this "mistake" myself, as I rarely look at the date. So why not just lock old threads so we don't accidentally reply to them, or "bump" them?

There's no system that automatically locks old threads after a certain amount of time has elapsed--thread closures are usually done manually. And honestly, I don't think anyone would have the time, patience, or sanity to go through hundreds of old threads to simply lock them.

That's why we trust the users to not bump older threads, but we also realize that not everyone has the habit of looking at the last posting date. So when a necro bump does happen, we're not gonna come down hard on anyone for it; we'll simply say that the thread is old, and close it--no harm, no foul. The only time someone will get moderated for it is when someone is deliberately bumping old threads repeatedly.