Why do people hate necro posting?

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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
I find necro'd threads both amusing and interesting.

If a mod is just going to lock them after they get necro'd why not have them automatically lock after a certain period?

Answer? They shouldn't, because it harms no one, and has the potential to provide updated information and the opportunity to comment on a subject with 20/20 hindsight.
The old FuseTalk forums, actually had two separate forum databases, the "active" (default) database, and the "Archive" database. Threads would automatically migrate to the "Archive" database after so many months of in-activity.

I think that the Mods' attitude towards locking Necros, is largely because of database issues, they don't want to keep threads strung together over multiple years, it messed with the database a bit.
 
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ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
I kinda like seeing the old posts from the early 2000's pop up on occasion. It gives me a sense of nostalgia.... back in the good ol' days when we all thought that we were still kinda cool :)
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
I get very annoyed when I don't even notice when threads are necroed.:rolleyes:

I only get annoyed with myself when that happens.

The old FuseTalk forums, actually had two separate forum databases, the "active" (default) database, and the "Archive" database. Threads would automatically migrate to the "Archive" database after so many months of in-activity.

I think that the Mods' attitude towards locking Necros, is largely because of database issues, they don't want to keep threads strung together over multiple years, it messed with the database a bit.
I've been here a long time and the Fusetalk forums never auto-archived posts, at least not in a way which prevented me from editing or replying to even the oldest ones.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,201
10,063
136
The only ones that bother me are bumped threads that are like 10,15+ years old & a first time poster tries to answer a question that was clearly resolved 10, 15 years ago.

If someone has the same problem & is bumping a thread, that's not really an issue, for me anyway.
Nostalgia threads can be cool too.

I've brought this up before... it would be nice if old threads, say a year, without someone posting to it were marked as such somehow though.
Xenforo has these tags you can add to your thread, would be nice to have a "Necro" tag.
 

Majcric

Golden Member
May 3, 2011
1,369
37
91
I am strongly against this rule. I've seen a lot of very good and valid questions never get proper answers because of it. Or people that perhaps know the answer don't bother to post because of necro'ing. I'm not talking about this forum in particular but others as well.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,974
7,891
136
Old threads should automatically be given a faded background colour, like old parchment.
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,028
126
www.anyf.ca
I don't really care about it myself as long as the discussion is relevant. Most forums give a warning if you try to reply to an old thread. When I ran my forum I had threads go into archive mode after a period of time, like a year. They should do that here.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
I don't really care about it myself as long as the discussion is relevant. Most forums give a warning if you try to reply to an old thread. When I ran my forum I had threads go into archive mode after a period of time, like a year. They should do that here.
Both of those are bad ideas. The warning discourages people from relevant posts or reviving a discussion. Archiving them kills the discussion prematurely for no good reason. Who are you protecting from what? I can't tell you how many relevant Reddit posts come up on Google but I can't contribute because it's been barely over a year. IOW: No good reason. They will continue coming up for other people making relevant searches and it will continue misinforming them or not having the solution they want until the end of time if some newer redundant post doesn't get blessed by the algorithm. The newer posts are also discouraged because, well, they are redundant.

Just let people bump it if they want. Almost anything other than spam or "me too" is a good thing. So what if parts of the conversation is old?
 

OccamsToothbrush

Golden Member
Aug 21, 2005
1,389
825
136
Things that are dead and buried should stay that way. When you start messing with necromancy it changes the natural order of things and never ends well.
 
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CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
856
126
Things that are dead and buried should stay that way. When you start messing with necromancy it changes the natural order of things and never ends well.
...except they aren't "dead and buried" if someone has something to add. You create that condition by messing with the natural order (archiving and locking old posts).
 

Charmonium

Diamond Member
May 15, 2015
8,787
2,297
136
If I don't recognize a thread, I assume it's been necro'ed. Then I go to the first post just to see how old the thread is and if it looks interesting. Then I go to the last post and see if this unholy ritual was performed by a bot. If not, I work my way backwards until I find the first current entry.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
I've seen some good necro posts, like people asking if a Chevy Cruze is a good car back in 2013.

It seemed like an OK car back then, but it turned out to be a piece of junk 5 years later. The updates on that necro post might be useful to somebody.
 
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ralfy

Senior member
Jul 22, 2013
485
53
91
Same question. Some topics remain relevant, with new insights or developments added. With new threads, previous points might not be seen. An alternative, though, is to add a link to the old thread if there are too many changes.
 

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,999
1,396
126
I don't mind as long as there are new information, updates, data, etc. for the old threads. I rather see old threads being update than new ones being create.