Retired vs. Expired Articles

[rosenst22]

Does anyone differentiate between articles that users hit the retire button for and then show was retired and articles that go past their valid to date and show as expired? If you can republish from both states, is the expired and retired state needed or can you consolidate into one category - retired? 

[Pam Calvey]

My system works in such a way that they both have state of retired. I differentiate by seeing that the Retired date matches the Valid to date and the Updated by is 'admin', not a person. 

[Karen Willis]

We use "Valid To" and "Retired".    My key take-a-way: 

• When the "Valid to" is beyond the date the articles are still visible to users during a global search.   
  • Yes, human nature the article is expired. 
• When the article is retired, the article is no longer visible to users. 

[Aerin]

We do differentiate. Retired has been properly reviewed and chosen to be removed from available articles. Expired is the result of a breakdown in process and that team's processes need to be reviewed, as they aren't reviewing and updating their articles in a timely manner.

[Sam Kerr]

Great explanation!
We also have just started using expired articles to hide from the KB but still be visible, very niche situation but handy information
(Learned that trick from Arnaldo RE: https://www.servicenow.com/community/knowledge-managers/is-it-possible-to-hide-a-knowledge-article-f... )