Thread Necro'ing Comment

[ablib]

I don't understand why the forums here don't have a set auto close time on threads.

If the thread has a reply button, that would tell me, that it's ok to reply to it.

If you don't want people to necro old threads, make threads auto close after a period (set by you) of inactivity.

Common sense.

[endersblade]

Good point. However, there's also a fine line between necro'ing old threads because your comment has something valid to add, and creating a new thread, where people will call you a noob and just link you back to the old thread. ><

[Fhi]

... and creating a new thread, where people will call you a noob and just link you back to the old thread. ><

Usually this just means that the old thread isn't really old, and thus while definitions differ, I wouldn't call that necro-ing. If it's still fresh in people's minds that they can link back to the old thread, it's likely not old enough to be called a necro.

I'd like the auto close times too. Nobody ever pays attention to anything beyond thread title. So a lot of thread gets necroed and within an hour you'd see mooks posting stuffs about a topic that is a year or two old. Even more hilarious are people saying stuffs like '(feature) is confirmed already go read the news noob'.

[Polaris]

I believe this is in the wrong section, you may want to repost this in the "Suggestions and Feedback" section of the Off-Topic forums.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/forums/2...s-and-Feedback

(not sure if that link works because I don't know if I have that permission yet, I don't post often)

Edit: Oh hey, it does work.

Edit#2: Disregard this post, someone moved it while I was posting. Those mods are sneaky and fast.

[vizzle]

I can see a few reasons why it would be ineffective and just disruptive to handle this automatically. Firstly, necro-ing doesn't happen often enough that it actually burdens moderators. There are also some cases where necro-ing a thread isn't bad, if the topic gets updated or something important is presented related to it. In which case, it'd be better to have humans make that decision instead of closing all threads after say 6 months or whatever.

[Zaelsino]

It wouldn't really discriminate between threads that still have some degree of "timeless value," as it were (this gem, for example), and random queries long-dead that have been raised back to life via some dark sorcery.

What falls into which category is a little subjective, naturally, but still. For WoW at least, I find it's better to look at it case-by-case.

[Deleted]

You could have automatic lock if the thread wasn't popular enough after certain time period. The timeless value threads then wouldn't get locked.

[Arlee]

You could have automatic lock if the thread wasn't popular enough after certain time period. The timeless value threads then wouldn't get locked.

Not all timeless threads are popular. Just because a thread doesn't have a certain number of posts/views doesn't mean the thread topic isn't worth being discussed by some people.

Really before posting in a thread you should ask yourself some basic questions like does the thread topic still apply? For example if the thread is about how there is no cloth spirit gear for priests in 4.2, posting in the thread would be bad because that is not current at all. Say you want to post a picture of your new tattoo you just got and notice there is an old thread of people doing just that, it is better to post in that thread than creating a new one. Another thing to consider is if your post is actually adding anything to the topic. If you post just to say that you agree with someone, or to tell someone they are a noob because that isn't even an issue anymore... you probably don't want to post in the old thread.

It's really pretty straight forward and just takes some thought on people's part is all.

[Deleted]

A good example of what Arlee stated above, is the World First topics. I can recall that the last post in there is from end 2010. It's all the matter of manners and thoughts from members. No one in those 1,5 years has thought about posting in there, because it's now meaningless. Yet, it's still open for discussion, but no one is willing to start all over again, because it's outdated