Help: Talk page archiving
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Talk page archiving is the practice of moving older discussions from a talk page to a separate archive page. The purpose is to keep the active talk page short and quick to load, while preserving completed discussions in a searchable archive.
Talk pages are used to discuss article improvements and project matters. When an article's talk page becomes very long, it becomes difficult to edit and view, especially on mobile devices. For this reason, most wiki projects have policies or conventions that specify when and how to archive.
When to archive
There is no single rule applied uniformly across all projects. Generally two conditions are considered: the size of the page (for example, when it becomes very large) and the age of discussions (for example, sections with no response for several months). Ongoing discussions, particularly those with open questions, are typically not archived until they are resolved.
How to archive
There are two main methods. The first is manual archiving: an editor removes old sections from the talk page and places them on a subpage, usually titled 'Talk:Article name/Archive 1'. The second is automatic archiving, carried out by a bot (automated script), which archives the page using a template that specifies the retention period and number of sections to be removed.
Guidelines to follow
Archiving is not deletion: the text must be preserved so that the discussion history remains accessible. Likewise, when archiving, do not alter other users' posts; instead, add a link or a box to the talk page showing that archives exist. New discussions are not started on archive pages; instead, new discussion is posted on the active talk page.