If it's a problem with the board getting too big, would it help to delete everything in the general chat area after a set time such as 48 hrs. or 72 hrs. ?
I don't think so. Some topics (such as pics of places) certainly deserve to remain there indefinitely.
Some topics remain active for weeks at a time. Cutting them short would be a disservice
Additionally, people might forward a link to their friends. And if we take the topic down, all those who follow the link would end up seeing the "topic not found" message.
Lastly, if we get 20 prayer requests/jokes/personal venting topics on the same day, then waiting for 72 hours (or some other period of time) to clear them out won't do much good. It would all be over before the we begin cleaning them up.
Yet, such 20 topics would spawn another 50 from others, who would also need to receive their fair share of 72 hours.
We would end up with a never ending list of such topics.