To necro or not to necro, that is the question

One aspect of forums I've never understood is when its acceptable to necro a thread or not.

One the one hand, most forums have a rule about searching for similar topics before starting a new thread, and if someone has the audacity to ask a question that's been asked before the forum mafia will show up to complain about how it's been discussed already.

However, if someone does search for a topic, then makes a post on it, the forum mafia will show up to complain about necro bumping as well.

What exactly are people supposed to do?

Most of the necroing here are one person's doing. It's the character of him, you know.

Depends, imo it's OK to pull up the thread from the same year or close. But pulling up some thread from 2015 is not.

If you have something to contribute to an old topic besides a generic bump then I imagine most folks wouldn't mind, and in fact is a good way to get a genuine new feel for the topic after time has passed. What the necro posters are doing however is just posting something vapid or barely relatable to the topic then not touching it again, just to flood the front page with topics that clearly ran their course.

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Originally Posted by Artemiz

One aspect of forums I've never understood is when its acceptable to necro a thread or not.

One the one hand, most forums have a rule about searching for similar topics before starting a new thread, and if someone has the audacity to ask a question that's been asked before the forum mafia will show up to complain about how it's been discussed already.

However, if someone does search for a topic, then makes a post on it, the forum mafia will show up to complain about necro bumping as well.

What exactly are people supposed to do?

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Well, in most cases the one bumping an old thread is just doing it to flood the front page with old bumped threads, adding no meaningful discussion to the thread itself.

Bumping an old thread here is preferred over starting a new one IF there is still discussion to be had and its not just a bump for bumps sake.

Examples:

Necroing a 4 year old thread about requesting new emotes adding another request or supporting an old request for an emote that hasn't been implemented? A-OK.

Necroing a 4-year old thread about a divisive topic (say, playable children) with a random line about "I don't see what's so bad about it." Liiiiikely a troll.

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Originally Posted by Jin-

Most of the necroing here are one person's doing. It's the character of him, you know.

Depends, imo it's OK to pull up the thread from the same year or close. But pulling up some thread from 2015 is not.

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They're a real player whether you like it or not. Gods know why they're doing it though.

Necro if you have something to add.
Very few threads are actually fully discussed closed topics, but posting on a conversation that has wound down (or addressed OP's question) without adding anything is no bueno.

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Originally Posted by Jin-

Most of the necroing here are one person's doing. It's the character of him, you know.

Depends, imo it's OK to pull up the thread from the same year or close. But pulling up some thread from 2015 is not.

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And why not, if the post from 2015 actually has accurate information?

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Bumping an old thread here is preferred over starting a new one IF there is still discussion to be had and its not just a bump for bumps sake.

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The problem is that people may disagree about if there is still a discussion to be had. There are topics that would just repeat itself, and people continue to discuss them.

I'd say reuse a thread regardless. If there's no discussion to be had, then there's no need to post a response. Meanwhile, new members to the forum can read the historical discussions. It's a good thing in my opinion regardless of any trolling intentions.

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Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

And why not, if the post from 2015 actually has accurate information?

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Because 9/10 the information in the thread being necroed is outdated, and the person who does the necro adds nothing of value(replies with a "joke" that adds nothing to the conversation or states a controversial topic to NEVER respond in there again)

So the basic rule is if you are necro'n a thread that I made then it is perfectly fine. Anyone else then god no. Like why would you necro anything unless you are replying to me and one of my insightful amazing threads.

Should be a suspendable offense.

Threads that old are likely to have incorrect information and will serve only to confuse people. Most forums I'm on have a no necro policy for this reason.

If you wake up one thread because you actually have something valuable/accurate to say or a real question, that's fine but... to wake up more than fifteen threads in a few days is just trolling and flood that is considered as a good reason to lock subjects and ban the flooder. Or at least it usually was.

My opinion it depends a lot on the topic.

If it's something about job balance, content difficulty, or really anything else where the topic itself could be different from what it was in the original thread, start a new one. Likewise if the thread that exists is more than 6 months to a year old, also start a new one. People's opinons may have changed, and it could be unfair to people on the starting page to start getting replied to based on statements they made a while back that may or may not even accurately reflect their current opinons (or even worse could be from people who don't even play the game anymore)

99% of necro posts is made by known trolls though.
I wish there was a enforced rule against necro or have a auto-lock after inactivity to threads.

Do Mods even visist this forum cause it don't seem that way.

It's not okay when it's to answer a question from 2015.

"I wish we had a 4th healer"
4 years later
"Guyyyyys!!! we have a healer!"

It would be okay if it's an active topic, look at Viera/Hrothgar threads. If we had a thread on specific job, it would be okay to necro one since jobs are always relevant despite evolving.
Thing is, there's no active moderators and so much trolls out there the forum starts to look like a fishing lake.

For me, it's acceptable if the thread was a discussion or a feature request that has now been announced as being implemented.

A thread on, "will we ever be able to visit other data centers?" was perfectly appropriate to necro when it was announced we'd be getting that feature at Fanfest. Same with "Will we ever get an Oceania data center?"

But a lot of the threads that are getting necro'd are NOT getting brought back up because of news regarding the subject, or the absence of that news. It's one person finding a thread that was controversial when it was added to begin with, and then putting in a troll post to bait people into arguing about the topic all over again.

Edit: Seems CKNovel and I disagree on when it's okay!

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Originally Posted by Catwho

A thread on, "will we ever be able to visit other data centers?" was perfectly appropriate to necro when it was announced we'd be getting that feature at Fanfest. Same with "Will we ever get an Oceania data center?"

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I don't see a point in raising an old thread asking "can/will we get X?" just to say "yes we got X!"

It's a bit different if it's an ongoing discussion with current members of the forum, but if it's an old discussion with people that aren't here any more, it makes more sense to start a new thread on the announcement and current existence of X.

It's a fine line between the two, of course, but I feel like wishing for something and discussing the finished product aren't quite the same ongoing discussion. It partly depends on the title of the thread, too.

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Originally Posted by CKNovel

Thing is, there's no active moderators and so much trolls out there the forum starts to look like a fishing lake.

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Only because people keep biting : (

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Originally Posted by Drakonic

They're a real player whether you like it or not. Gods know why they're doing it though.

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I know they are, heck I even made the appreciation thread for him /her. You if anyone should know that

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Originally Posted by Catwho

For me, it's acceptable if the thread was a discussion or a feature request that has now been announced as being implemented.

A thread on, "will we ever be able to visit other data centers?" was perfectly appropriate to necro when it was announced we'd be getting that feature at Fanfest. Same with "Will we ever get an Oceania data center?"

But a lot of the threads that are getting necro'd are NOT getting brought back up because of news regarding the subject, or the absence of that news. It's one person finding a thread that was controversial when it was added to begin with, and then putting in a troll post to bait people into arguing about the topic all over again.

Edit: Seems CKNovel and I disagree on when it's okay!

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What value does one bring to comment a 5-6 year old thread about something we have? New players isn't gonna search for old threads. It only done by trolls to get a kick from it.