Necro threads

[aero]

How often are these actually checked for information? Do they really serve any purpose, or would it make sense to have threads older than about a year to just be archived? It seems like they're just waiting to be necro-bumped, and if someone has something new to say on the subject it'd be better to just start a new thread. Also if there was a way to restrict necro threads to require post approval, or they are just automatically locked and moved to the Archives, would this be reasonable? What are the general thoughts on this and necro threads overall?

[PixelPest]

I don't see any reason to archive them. Every once in a while if one is bumped it really isn't an issue. People seem to make such a big deal about bumping but if it isn't justified the post can be deleted or the thread will just sink relatively quickly with no issue

[ElectriKong]

Locking/Archiving threads after discussion ceases for a long time could make sense in forums where threads are generally inherently less valuable (like General, Sandbox, Video Games and Art Board) where there should not be any issues with locking a topic and a user who desires to continue the discussion creating a new one in its place.

It could also make sense in other forums where content is very likey to expire, basically threads that are dependant on having working download links to function correctly (Graphics, Levels and Episodes) (although a note in the OP stating that the links may no longer work is necessary and users wishing to still try to get the deleted Episode/level/GFX in wuestion may have a harder time expressing that and asking if there is a way it could be reuploaded if unable to do so in the topic) or in the case of Projects, where lack of discussion almost always results in the topic becoming useless, and lack of activity from the owner could be grounds for considering the topic useless and therefore should be locked, regardless of how recent replies from others were, as lack of updates means we could safey assume no work is being done at that point, or the user no longer wants any more of the project to be public.

In the case of Help and Support and Site Discussion, people will often post about issues they have, and the way a certain poblem one has is responded to could change depending on if it was posted in a topic about the same problem or if a new topic is created (I.E: a new user has a problem with the editor. They look through an old help thread which someone posted as they had the same problem. Users posted there explaining how to solve the problem, but this new user does not understand, and so states they have the same problem in that thread. You can asssume that they read te thread but they were unable to follow through with the solutions presented, so clarification or elaboration could then be made. If however, they had to post a new thread, without proper explanation, this could lead to them being presented the same solutions in the same way which they could not understand so the posts will not be useful, though it could be argued if one is willing to look through an older thread, then they should also be willing to reference it) so locking old topics no longer makes sense.

But as PixelPest stated, it does not really make sense anywhere, even where it could make more sense in certain places than in others, as it is not like there is a major problem where everyone seems to be bumping old topics everywhere you look. Normally it is a rare case of one not looking at the dates. You could tell one to check them, but if you can't seem to get the memo that going through lots of pages means the topics will get older, then do we really think they would be bothered to check the dates as well? I am sure it is easier to just deal with each rare case individually, rathere than digging through and doing the monotenous task of locking all the topics that get too old, or deeloping a pogram to automate that process, which could have its own technical issues.

[Cedur]

how about a notification for a user if they're posting in an at least one year old topic, similar to the "at least one new post has been made" message?

[PixelPest]

how about a notification for a user if they're posting in an at least one year old topic, similar to the "at least one new post has been made" message?

Would make more sense to check if the last post in the topic was more than a year old, but I still don't see the point. Most of these posts are by bots and otherwise they really don't cause any issue whatsoever. No one has actually described why this is an issue, just "here's something we could do" so I see no point.

Also speaking to what GhostHawk mentioned before post approval is just shot down every time it's brought up for anything because it's utterly pointless and just more work to deal with when the forums are already undermoderated

[Cedur]

My personal problem with bumps is not the thread going up from bottom to top in the subforums, but the fact that I read up and think the above posts are also fairly new when just a moment later I see that they're years old. I got confused about this more than once. And it's not just bots, it's new people who find these old threads through google research etc and don't think of looking at the date

[PixelPest]

My personal problem with bumps is not the thread going up from bottom to top in the subforums, but the fact that I read up and think the above posts are also fairly new when just a moment later I see that they're years old. I got confused about this more than once. And it's not just bots, it's new people who find these old threads through google research etc and don't think of looking at the date

It just doesn't happen that often though and if you're being confused because you don't look at the date of a post that's on you

[aero]

Necro bumping isn't a big issue, just an unnecessary one. But are necro threads useful enough to be made available for continued posting or would it just be better, for organization's sake, to just archive them and let people start new threads? Putting the necro bump thing aside, would it make sense to organize old threads differently rather than let them get buried with time? It'd be just as much "work" to just archive them at the end of the year as it would be to do post approvals, or even move threads with 100 pages to the archives like we already do. Any more thoughts on this?

[PixelPest]

If it really isn't a problem I don't see any reason to find a system to implement it that would probably create more issues than it fixes

[aero]

I'm not sure what issues would be created, it's just archiving.