PSA: Beware of the Necro Threads

[Shougun]

I don't see the problem with continuing an old topic if there's still something to add.
Locking old topics just because there's been no posts for a while seems very strange to me.

Yeah I can see sometimes old topics can be slightly confusing, but rather than making 50 threads on the same topic I think it better to revive an old one. (This comment being made outside of necroing them for the purpose of confusion, I mean if you actually wanted to engage with the subject of the old thread).

Like I had a thread about hoping trusts introduction would unify the experience of all our companion systems (make the systems feel less disjointed and abandoned by adding a throughline, even if each system has a unique twist)- well the title is a little confusing because it makes it seem like new info lol but the content of the thread and desires within are still quite accurate even to this moment. Didn't necro that one myself but I saw it and was like oh neat lol, glad people still agree XD.

I know the reason why, that we have a diverse community so it's not just one person but sometimes I find it funny were we complain about the number of repeat threads and then we complain about people bringing an older thread back on a topic they're interested in. Cannot win lol.

[Edax]

I don't see the problem with continuing an old topic if there's still something to add.
Locking old topics just because there's been no posts for a while seems very strange to me.

But the problem can stem from the fact that the game has aged 7 years now, much of what has been said about a topic years ago could be entirely out of date. And it often leads to an awkward conversation as people start replying to posts made years ago and will inevitable never get a reply.

[Caitlinzulu]

Well some topics from 7 years ago are still relevant. Like that text entry bug thats been here since 2,3
If a macro finishes while you are typing text it messes up the text entry. Like the cursor jumps and after what seems like a random number of characters it just wont accept more text.

And sometimes its nice to see how far we have progressed in that time.

[Kes13a]

considering all the threads were all brought back by the same forum troll, I doubt there is much desire for "relevance" and more a desire to... well.. be a troll.

I say forget about the threads... ban/lock the troll

[Iscah]

Yeah, in normal operation there's nothing wrong with letting people revive threads - it could do with some kind of warning/confirmation prompt, maybe, because you do get people who must have found threads in a search somewhere and didn't check the dates. If a thread is still relevant and the person wants to discuss it further, there's value in reviving that past discussion instead of starting from scratch.

Obviously that's not the intent when someone is maliciously bumping threads to disrupt the forum, but stopping that should be about the mods doing their theoretical job and stopping the one person, not taking away the ability from the rest of us.

[Kes13a]

judging by how SE deals with bots, likely end up banning regular users and letting the trolls be trolls, because they have to observe how they do what they do...

[DamianFatale]

It really depends on the thread honestly. The race threads for example are still relevant. The fan base wants it's male Viera and female Hrothgar.

[Jojoya]

Yeah, in normal operation there's nothing wrong with letting people revive threads - it could do with some kind of warning/confirmation prompt, maybe, because you do get people who must have found threads in a search somewhere and didn't check the dates. If a thread is still relevant and the person wants to discuss it further, there's value in reviving that past discussion instead of starting from scratch.

Obviously that's not the intent when someone is maliciously bumping threads to disrupt the forum, but stopping that should be about the mods doing their theoretical job and stopping the one person, not taking away the ability from the rest of us.

A link to the relevant comment(s) in the old thread can also work.

Most of the time, relevancy comes down to "people were unhappy with this 4 years ago and they're still unhappy now" but in many cases the reasons have changed.

Housing is a good example. Players have been unhappy for many years because of how hard it can be to get a house. Prior to 4.2, the main reason was the house flippers buying up everything available so a new buyer had to go through them and pay an inflated price. Now players are unhappy because of the purchase timer and the need to placard camp.

Better to start a new thread about trying to get a house than to revive one of the old threads because the situation and the reasons have changed. That way moderators and CMs aren't forced to wade through a bunch of now irrelevant comments to a still relevant problem. The date of a post doesn't always stand out clearly when you're trying to focus on the discussion and respond in a constructive fashion.

The other option to auto-locking would be to change the color of the date on posts over a certain age so it's immediately noticeable that it's an old post.

It really depends on the thread honestly. The race threads for example are still relevant. The fan base wants it's male Viera and female Hrothgar.

And since that discussion has never died out, the thread wouldn't be in danger of getting locked. It's not the age of the first post that people want used to determine the auto-lock - it's the age of the last response.

[Gothicshark]

It's like a noise complaint in a noisy city. A single old grouch isn't going to send the cops coming, but if the entire block decides to...

Bad analogy. If the noise maker is a person of color the LAPD will be there in a heartbeat gun drawn ready to kill. Seen it. Only on the 4th of July and New Years' Eve can you get away with noise.

[Gothicshark]

Very timely reminder in these dark times

I understand the irony of necroing this thread, but it looks like our old friend is back to his old tricks and the PSA may be needed again.

dammed hellz. Did I just feed a Necro Thread, the Irony.