which is better?

Let sleeping dogs lie ! You want this to quietly slip into SOL. :D

yeah but that's the thing... I haven't contacted them or paid anything and yet on my credit report it says "Date of Status: 3/2008"

If you have the ability to pay the creditor then you should do that. The SoL doesn't mean the debt is invalid. It just means that they can't sue you for it. If the creditor doesn't own the account my suggestion would be to send a validation letter to the collection agencies.

If the original creditor still owns the debt then I would suggest mailing payments to the original creditor.

I'm going to go with FYI on this one. If it is yoru debt then you still have the obligation to pay it. However, nowadays you cannot just send money or an offer of money without knowing a few key pieces of information first...

1--is the debt collector that reported this to your credit bureau even legally authorized to collect on this debt? If not, then they would simply take your money and you would still owe the debt to the rightful owner.

2--is the amount that they are claiming you owe really what is owed? Or did they illegally charge more money than the real amount?

If you dont know those two things, then you really are taking a chance if you try to send them payment. Sending the validation letter will answer these questions for you. If they are legally entitled to collect the debt, then there will be documentation for it. If they are not, then they cannot get that documentation without fabricating it. So, I would send the DV letter and if they send you proper legal validation, at that time I would try a settlement offer and see what they say. But I wouldnt do it before then.