Shortened threads

We must be limited on the size of threads on this forum ( or does it go by thread age ), I vaguely remember the photo thread I think it was shrinking at one stage , now the joke thread only goes back to Dec. 2014 .
Hopefully none of the important / fix it reference threads get trimmed back.

Do we need to get a bit of web space and save the important stuff there with a link to it from the thread? 

or

Do we make the the repair threads stickies and lock them with just the relevant info posted, any discussion can be it's own topic. Have a link from the repair thread to the discussion thread and visa versa ?

We're limited to 1500 replies before a thread is automatically split. Neither of these threads go close to that.
The joke thread seems to be up to date though but I'll have a closer look.

Don't forget this is on a free forum server and that comes with limitations. Including having me as an admin 

EDIT: I see what you mean. First post is last Dec. I'll investigate

EDIT 2: Here you go.
Its been split and locked automatically. Do a search and you'll see the old one.

Thanks .........I see the split nature thread also shows up