Necro'd Threads

Instead of necroing an old thread, start a new one but post the link to the old thread to reference what you are bringing back to the table for discussion.

Kupuntu - Sanctuary wrote: »

Imo auto-locking all threads that are older than 3 months should work.

I'd do it manually if someone gave me the job to do it.

you gonna have to lock up 4k of threads...you still up for it?

Necroing is disallowed because people will read old threads and believe the information is brand new, whether or not it is, when a lot of information on these forums are outdated. If you have new information on it, feel free to make a new thread. If you have a question that's answered by an old thread, don't. Pretty simple.

And frankie said he's not sure if this forum system has an autolock feature, but he's looking into it.

I used to be on an old forum made by a freind, the OP had the power to lock their thread
i.e: if heavy trolling suddenly started, and the OP saw this, he could lock it instantly

so why not have this on this forum? o.o it could have a major effect on the trolling going on here, maybe the trolls will back off a bit..

On the topic of necro'd threads:

I have noticed that more often than not, threads are necro'd by either trolls, or by people adding information to the thread that was either there already, or is highly irrelevant.

A necro'd thread with a good and important unanswered question is one thing, a pointless necro is another. And I have never seen the former.

One day I will necro this thread.

Look at the post counts of the people who point out that someone just necroed a thread.

I'm convinced there is a bonus to post count when you post a necro notice.

The first time I heard about forums, I truly hated the idea of posts that get buried and the concept of necroing.

Then I understood that the train of thought would be lost and abandoned, no matter if the original topic was good or plain garbage.

What still annoys and amuses me is that you gotta spend a lot of time and come back super often to be fully updated on forums. That and you got to use google for your responses but you cannot voice yourself at that time, even polls.
My primary grief remains that good threads could be buried by crappy ones, then forsaken, thus accelerating the processus of decomposition.

'...And centuries after, in the Temple of Forumia, one man digs an unsealed treasure chest long forgotten. Countless others were like that one. There was a rule written in some ancient language, but it was a clear warning: Looking at the riches would be allowed, but alterating them was a severe offense.
By that, simply putting fingerprints on the relic after a certain period of time (by that time it was considered intouchable) would trigger an alarm that would alert the sentient stone guardians, the latter warning the intruder that the treasure would be destroyed and the explorer punished if he would not back away...'

Mr Bomba (Mentally destroyed- that may help you remember who he is) have a solution, pump his thread everytimes it close to death b:avoid

and if a thread is post about it, then there is no need to repeat it unless new question is raised.

Hypnos - Raging Tide wrote: »

and if a thread is post about it, then there is no need to repeat it unless new question is raised.

That's the point sometimes though. Folks will have a new question about an issue raised in an old thread. If they make a new thread, there are 4-5 forum members you can wager will pop in with "Use the search function, plz." If that person uses the search function and posts in the old thread, even with a new/valid question, those same 4-5 people will be right there screaming Necro. It's just a bit of a tricky situation sometimes, I suppose.

Aubree - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Isn't the purpose to forums to gather information and build on it?

but forum looks better with many new topics (even if they about same). like busy place.

does it make looking for information harder? yeah, but - oh well :P


anyway, most often topics die naturaly - and there is no really need to scream about necros and locking - blame bored forum trolls that dont have anything better to add than just that.
dont worry about it much

KonariRaiden wrote: »

On the topic of an auto-lock feature, in a word, I'd love that.

you wouldnt wanna that thing to lock my topics b:angry

Many assume it's a new thread and reply to posts thinking the poster will check back on the thread themselves. Opinions, experience, knowledge, etc can and do change a lot over time. Regardless whether the new post(s) has good-enough information or not, information in the older posts can and do cause confusion and wrong assumptions. Some necros are so old many of the previous posters don't even visit the forums let alone play the game any more.

In one case a while back a necromancer bumped a closed-beta thread with the topic about the character wipe in order to raise a false alarm in the community. Fortunately he/she more or less failed but that sort of thing can be a real problem if it was allowed and uncontrolled. Some people do it deliberately to stir up false rumours or even troll. Most though do it without realising it's old (and outdated) and assume they'll get a reply from the older posters.

Then there's the annoying part for those who posted way back and still do now, like me. Recently a thread I made months ago got necro'd and half of the new posters didn't realise it's an old and dead thread and due to the time-sensitive topic they were wondering what I was on about and thought I was being stupid. Some of those had posted in it themselves but obviously forgot about it and didn't see that they had already replied to it, which made them look stupid as well and again can lead to confusion to the new readers who read it from start to end. And then there are our 'noob posts' which we certainly don't want seen brought up again let alone have others assume it's new.... b:surrender

In worse case scenarios, besides false panic and major confusion and rumour spreading, it can make unwary readers send unnecessary forum PM's and in-game whispers, do things in-game and yield bad results and in general waste time and effort and even spark arguments between two misunderstood parties.

I'm sure FrankieRaye is doing the best he can to get a feature to automatically lock dead threads.

To answer OP's question.

More topics, more threads, more posts and more traffic = more ad revenue.