Dear Devs: Please lock threads that are 3-6 months old without new responses.

Getting really tired of a single troll able to control the front page by necro'ing months/years old threads.

The obvious solution is to block the troll, not the threads.

There is value in being able to resurrect threads when appropriate.

Also a alternate recommendation to be more proactive about locking specific threads that get overheated and should not continue even when current.

(Also threads that have clearly run their course and are being kicked up repeatedly by each incarnation of obviously-the-same-poster.)

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Also a alternate recommendation to be more proactive about locking specific threads that get overheated and should not continue even when current.

(Also threads that have clearly run their course and are being kicked up repeatedly by each incarnation of obviously-the-same-poster.)

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What bothers me is when some topic is about an issue thats been resolved for years. Like the tanks leaving a dungeon with no penalty that recently got resurrected. If its an issue ongoing, i understand. Otherwise, treat like the debug logs and call it resolved and lock it

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The obvious solution is to block the troll, not the threads.

There is value in being able to resurrect threads when appropriate.

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Blocking the troll only lets you not see their posts. They still bump useless threads back to the front page.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

Blocking the troll only lets you not see their posts. They still bump useless threads back to the front page.

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I mean, for the moderators to block the troll from using the forum. Moderate the discussion.

How about no?

Culturally this board seems to prefer the bumping of old topics and merging of topics over the creation of new topics.

There is no desire to answer every question all over again every 6 months.

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

How about no?

Culturally this board seems to prefer the bumping of old topics and merging of topics over the creation of new topics.

There is no desire to answer every question all over again every 6 months.

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If by "this board" you mean "one guy" then you are correct. The rest of us don't like it one bit.

I bring back up one of my suggestion threads every now and then for an item that's technically in the game that players can't get yet. I'm not gonna make a brand new post for the same thing over and over again. Speaking off, lemme go bump my old thread

I just want the moderation team to stop beating around the bush with this one, yes his posts are always borderline, no his intent is not genuine. Ban the troll already.

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Originally Posted by Espritduo

If by "this board" you mean "one guy" then you are correct. The rest of us don't like it one bit.

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They're probably referring to what Square's preferred methodology regarding how they want people to use the forums is, which he is correct on.

Yoshi-P has stated numerous times across LiveLetters that tons of individual topics spread out are more likely to be ignored by dev feedback than single, huge threads where all information can be easily compiled instead of having the people in charge of compiling community opinion/criticisms/etc chase down hundreds of topics to compile information. With that in mind, necro'ing & posting in older topics if they have relevant discussion to add is precisely what the devs want people to be doing.

That being said, that one guy basically never contributes anything to the threads he bumps, so that'd be a different topic to argue.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I mean, for the moderators to block the troll from using the forum. Moderate the discussion.

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Based on current evidence...good luck with that. It seems they don't care about people resurrecting outdated threads where the information has changed, quite often drastically.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

They're probably referring to what Square's preferred methodology regarding how they want people to use the forums is, which he is correct on.

Yoshi-P has stated numerous times across LiveLetters that tons of individual topics spread out are more likely to be ignored by dev feedback than single, huge threads where all information can be easily compiled instead of having the people in charge of compiling community opinion/criticisms/etc chase down hundreds of topics to compile information. With that in mind, necro'ing & posting in older topics if they have relevant discussion to add is precisely what the devs want people to be doing.

That being said, that one guy basically never contributes anything to the threads he bumps, so that'd be a different topic to argue.

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^This. Single threads are infinitely more accessible and easier to gain info from than a thousand topics all talking about the same thing. Necro'ing & bumping topics that are still relevant topics to this day instead of making new ones should be encouraged, as long as discussion is relevant.

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Originally Posted by Daeriion_Aeradiir

^This. Single threads are infinitely more accessible and easier to gain info from than a thousand topics all talking about the same thing. Necro'ing & bumping topics that are still relevant topics to this day instead of making new ones should be encouraged, as long as discussion is relevant.

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I'm all for Mega-Threads but after 3/6 months of inactivity the discussion clearly isn't relevant anymore.

Honestly I'm all for them just hard locking threads after three months have passed. If nothing has been added in that time period then the topic wasn't worth continuing in that particular thread to begin with. Course on top of that I would also like an overhaul of the block system for these forums as it's one of the worst I've ever encountered since you can still see the person you blocked posting all the time, you just can't access what they posted.

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Originally Posted by Enla

Honestly I'm all for them just hard locking threads after three months have passed. If nothing has been added in that time period then the topic wasn't worth continuing in that particular thread to begin with. Course on top of that I would also like an overhaul of the block system for these forums as it's one of the worst I've ever encountered since you can still see the person you blocked posting all the time, you just can't access what they posted.

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I disagree as some of these 3 month old threads can still be relevant to discussing some topics as of today and it is better to keep all in one thread than multiple thread. I mean I have posted in the JP community thread and they really do keep things organized there and their Moderators are preventing similar thread and always direct you to the correct thread to provide your suggestions and feedback on. Basically in the ENG community we have too many similar thread and it is very disorganized and we treat the general discussion forum as our main hub to discussing about the game and certain aspects of it, rather than using specific threads.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

Getting really tired of a single troll able to control the front page by necro'ing months/years old threads.

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Sadly I support this idea.

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

Sadly I support this idea.

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Agreed, I have no clue who that troll is but it needs to stop. Since they may make everyone look bad including those with actual discussion points to be brought up.

I support archiving topics that haven't had new posts in 3+ months.

Unfortunately, the fact the troll in question hasn't been dealt with by moderators means they're either asleep at the wheel due to COVID or what he's doing isn't technically against the ToS. I find the latter more likely, though the former is a possibility I can't entirely discount. Either way, archiving old threads would deal with the issue and prevent other trolls from exploiting the same loophole, so I feel it's a more viable course of action moving forward.

I think people are being a bit too much glass half full that it wouldn't move the window to where the person then just revives things at the 5 and a hair month marker or some other new activity.

Not arguing if people feel frustrated or not but just seems like we're going to give ourselves a bunch of rules meanwhile the person everyone is trying to tie up will dance around the rules that just tied us up instead. Tom and jerry and we're Jerry, or we're Coyote, either way it's not great lol.

If people want to stop old threads for some other reason we can discuss that but in order to tie up a particular person I feel like it's not a good use of rules. There is so much they can be doing that this is going to simply change the color of your annoyance but not reduce it in the slightest, like a cat chasing a laser pointer. Which again isn't me discussing whether people find them troublesome or whatever. Most of the threads I find fine or easily ignorable (if I don't care I don't post), since clearly people can still discuss in most of them, but that's just a personal thing, I can understand how others find someone owning the entire front page with old stuff is just "off / doesn't seem quite right". It's that I don't think this will do anything besides tie up people who didn't need it and do nothing to those that people were trying to tie up.

I fully support it. His very name is mocking the mods actions and decision. Might as well start let name shaming of devs at this point. Its the same as letting this continue.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

It's that I don't think this will do anything besides tie up people who didn't need it and do nothing to those that people were trying to tie up.

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This. If threads are locked after three months, he'll bump three-month-old threads. And start them. And bump them with his next account. It's part of what he's already doing.

Selective locking of the threads he bumps (and where the previous post was made by his previous account) would be a start. Nobody wants to discuss it but he just keeps kicking it along.

I think entitled easily triggered people are annoying........But I don't think their voices should be shunned because there are a hundred "This Triggers Me" threads that are bumped and created daily......

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Originally Posted by Iscah

The obvious solution is to block the troll, not the threads.

There is value in being able to resurrect threads when appropriate.

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As someone who moderated a hockey forum with over 25,000 members. I can count on one hand the amount of resurrected threads that weren't specifically to troll or simply not paying attention the dates. Obviously, a game forum differs but the same general rules apply. After a certain length of time, the topic just isn't relevant anymore.

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Originally Posted by Bacent

I bring back up one of my suggestion threads every now and then for an item that's technically in the game that players can't get yet. I'm not gonna make a brand new post for the same thing over and over again. Speaking off, lemme go bump my old thread

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Which you would still be able to do as long as you did it before the thread autolocked.

It also sounds like your thread would fit better into a consolidated thread about items that players would like to have added to the game. Such a thread would constantly be getting bumped and in no danger of getting locked, and you could continue to relay to ask for your item at intervals.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Which you would still be able to do as long as you did it before the thread autolocked.

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So people would start bumping their own threads every three months to keep them from auto-locking. Not everything needs to be posted about constantly.

I can think of legitimate reasons for old threads to be brought back to the front page. I can't think of a legitimate reason why the continuous, repeat, blatant troll shouldn't be banned from the forums for as long as they exist.

Frankly, the forums have been basically useless the past couple of weeks. I'm sure that's what the troll is aiming for but, then again, if the forums are so bad that no one at all even visits them the troll won't have anyone to be witness to their temper tantrums.

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Originally Posted by Daeriion_Aeradiir

^This. Single threads are infinitely more accessible and easier to gain info from than a thousand topics all talking about the same thing. Necro'ing & bumping topics that are still relevant topics to this day instead of making new ones should be encouraged, as long as discussion is relevant.

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This is my biggest takeaway from this. Just look at all the Bluemage threads that were all dragged back. They all could have been condensed to one, maybe two threads, but people here frequently feel the need to forgo the effort of searching for an already existing thread (sometimes literally only a page or 2 beyond the first page of "New Posts") about a topic they want to discuss and just create their own thread. (Then again, maybe this is just their ego- their "I need to be post #1 on a topic so people see my opinion")

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-kidding-me%21
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...e-a-normal-job
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...change-my-mind.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-turn-back-now
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...w-Limited-jobs

And that's not even all the BLU threads that were active at some point or another.

As for the person purposely seeking out and bumping long inactive threads, all these BLU threads are a testament that they're not looking to have an actual discussion on the topic; instead of bumping just one or 2 BLU threads to discuss it, they've gone with like 5. Unfortunately this seems to artfully avoid any moderator repercussions simply because I believe it's not explicitly against the forum rules and appears to at least provide on-topic comments when done so.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

So people would start bumping their own threads every three months to keep them from auto-locking. Not everything needs to be posted about constantly.

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Tie their forum warnings/suspensions to their actual gaming account as well, that'll zip them up quickly.

What if we all actually did not respond to said threads at all? I keep seeing people actually respond and engage with the necromancer. Even if its just saying "Hi" to them as a joke because you know who they are and what they are doing, isn't that still giving them what they want? It is NEVER going to happen I know, but WHAT IF... EVERYONE just completely ignored them?

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Originally Posted by Cidel

This is my biggest takeaway from this. Just look at all the Bluemage threads that were all dragged back. They all could have been condensed to one, maybe two threads, but people here frequently feel the need to forgo the effort of searching for an already existing thread (sometimes literally only a page or 2 beyond the first page of "New Posts") about a topic they want to discuss and just create their own thread. (Then again, maybe this is just their ego- their "I need to be post #1 on a topic so people see my opinion")

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-kidding-me%21
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...e-a-normal-job
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...change-my-mind.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-turn-back-now
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...w-Limited-jobs

And that's not even all the BLU threads that were active at some point or another.

As for the person purposely seeking out and bumping long inactive threads, all these BLU threads are a testament that they're not looking to have an actual discussion on the topic; instead of bumping just one or 2 BLU threads to discuss it, they've gone with like 5. Unfortunately this seems to artfully avoid any moderator repercussions simply because I believe it's not explicitly against the forum rules and appears to at least provide on-topic comments when done so.

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its not just blue mage, there are a lot of topics that get a crap ton of threads unnecessarily and the reason is pretty simply. Every time someone doesnt like the opinion that has the most traction in said thread , he will make a new one and try again till he sees the result he wants to see. At some point it becomes extremely tiring so people just stop bothering to answer, meaning it gets increasingly likely for another opinion to arise.
The only time a point can get across to the devs through the forums, is when everyone agrees. Which is extremely rare considering how people are so selfish to the point of being irrational.
I honestly think at this point pole votes with what the devs want to do would be far more efficient than the Forums, ofc they would also need to back it up with talks as to why they want to do said thing, and how said thing makes the game better.



EDIT
should also say that some of the multiple threads are used just to troll.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

I'm all for Mega-Threads but after 3/6 months of inactivity the discussion clearly isn't relevant anymore.

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And then they release a new item on the mogstation and yet another new redundant thread about why Square is the manifestation of all evil springs up when there's like 10+ topics about the mogstation and all the exact same points from the last 10 times the topic was made get regurgitated.

Plenty of topics can be far older than 6 months and still have relevancy based on new information that is suppled well after the topic concluded its lifespan at the time. Also see the trillion hrothgar/Viera threads that would be infinitely more useful being condensed to a mega thread and is a constant relevant topic, even if it is only brought to the forefront of discussion whenever something is released that excludes them.

Mega-threads are definitely the win-win for both devs and forum goers, but villifying necroing threads if there's relevant discussion to be added is kinda counter-productive when its literally the intent of the developers behind how the forum should be used in their eyes.

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Originally Posted by Daeriion_Aeradiir

And then they release a new item on the mogstation and yet another new redundant thread about why Square is the manifestation of all evil springs up when there's like 10+ topics about the mogstation and all the exact same points from the last 10 times the topic was made get regurgitated.

Plenty of topics can be far older than 6 months and still have relevancy based on new information that is suppled well after the topic concluded its lifespan at the time. Also see the trillion hrothgar/Viera threads that would be infinitely more useful being condensed to a mega thread and is a constant relevant topic, even if it is only brought to the forefront of discussion whenever something is released that excludes them.

Mega-threads are definitely the win-win for both devs and forum goers, but villifying necroing threads if there's relevant discussion to be added is kinda counter-productive when its literally the intent of the developers behind how the forum should be used in their eyes.

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Honestly cannot win with these forums, look at male Viera thread the amount of times people post to say why is this thread still going(regardless how you feel on the actual point of the thread) add up to pages worth in that very thread.

It is isolated in one singular thread something many people wish would happen across all topics yet it continually gets moaned at for not dying.

People need to choose, singular thread where request for features may never die off or loads of individual threads about your own take on an issue or feature you want.

I prefer 1 singular thread per purpose myself makes it far easier to keep track of but the very forum community itself has to change to make it work.

I mean how many times have you seen an OP with "sorry if this is discussed before", you could check and post in the relevant thread perhaps, no just going to make another one, ok then let's see if your opinion is different from the last one that went on for 30 pages, no, didn't think so.

^ that is this forum, I am accustomed to it so it don't bother me but others aren't.

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Originally Posted by Crushnight

Honestly cannot win with these forums, look at male Viera thread the amount of times people post to say why is this thread still going(regardless how you feel on the actual point of the thread) add up to pages worth in that very thread.

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I think that's more about the impression that they're still apparently holding out hope for the thing to be added if they just keep it active long enough.

You don't get the same remarks that the Tales From the Duty Finder thread popped up again. (At least I haven't seen any, though it's a little while since I visited the thread.) Instead, people will point newcomers to it when they start individual threads for stories that would belong in it.

If we had one mega Mog Station complaints thread then maybe people would get the idea that it's all been said before, every time a new item gets released. The argument hasn't changed and SE is still clearly turning enough profit to not be concerned by some people's dislike of the price point they set.

i really dont see a problem.
making a thread like this just adds fuel to the fire giving them attention.

One thing that I observe:

People are complaining about trolls reviving old threads and/or creating new ones usually featuring a controversial topic of conversation, but judging by the amount of activities and conversations it generated sometimes I wonder, maybe it's actually those trolls that keep the forum alive and breathing after all.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

This. If threads are locked after three months, he'll bump three-month-old threads. And start them. And bump them with his next account. It's part of what he's already doing.

Selective locking of the threads he bumps (and where the previous post was made by his previous account) would be a start. Nobody wants to discuss it but he just keeps kicking it along.

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Completely understood but there needs to be some sort of baseline to curb this type of behavior, currently there isn't. As is shown by the 5 year old threads that have been bumped.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

Completely understood but there needs to be some sort of baseline to curb this type of behavior, currently there isn't. As is shown by the 5 year old threads that have been bumped.

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Again, the "something" should be down to more involved moderation of the forums. If he's kicking up threads that are past their use-by date, lock those specific threads so his next incarnation can't do it again.

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Originally Posted by LaughingBanana

One thing that I observe:

People are complaining about trolls reviving old threads and/or creating new ones usually featuring a controversial topic of conversation, but judging by the amount of activities and conversations it generated sometimes I wonder, maybe it's actually those trolls that keep the forum alive and breathing after all.

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Now imagine if they used their powers for good instead of evil, raised threads because they have interesting content, and actually stuck around for an intelligent conversation.

Right now it's stifling discussion - or making the discussion revolve around the wrong things, i.e. the troll and how to deal with him, rather than the game we're allegedly here to discuss.

(I can only speculate that somewhere in the business hierarchy of SE, someone is taking a similar view that the forum is doing well because there are lots of posts and lots of activity, and all that matters to them is numbers on a spreadsheet showing high engagement with no consideration for the quality of it.)

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

Getting really tired of a single troll able to control the front page by necro'ing months/years old threads.

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yeah... there's just way too much spam right now

I think the forums should lock threads after a week of inactivity.