Necro Posting

[Alex K]

But are they a problem?

[LastPoet]

We don't take necroposting as a serious violation, it is just discouraged, due to timestamps between posts and given the forum dynamics, some users being replied to, might not even use the forum. Usually people post necro memes and banter. Multiple necroposts in quick succession are frowned upon, as they are just done to stir the pot.

It is just a forum guideline, not a strict rule.

[Thumpalumpacus]

In somewhere between eight and twelve months, someone will post to this thread, 'WTF is "necroposting??" '

Boru

The guitar forum I was a regular at, sometimes a few of us would get on a jag late at night and necro threads that had funny meltdowns and such.

I started a thread there called "Night of the Living Thread", where the object was to find and necro the oldest thread. That was pretty funny, you had all these threads from 2007 popping up on the "New Posts" listing.

[Losty]

There's that nice little red strip at the end of old threads politely asking people to not necro post without good reason but it doesn't seem to be enough. Maybe the 30/30 rule about links should be applied here too and enforced automatically. The database contains post count, join date and last-post date so it wouldn't be much of a trick to tweak the software.

Friendship. Over. -_-

[Minimalist]

I've never understood the discrimination against old posts. It is much tidier than starting new threads about the same topic.

What's the harm?

[Tonus]

The best part of a necropost is when people start replying to the OP and start a whole new discussion before someone points out that the OP was posted in 2011 and the person who posted it hasn't even been around for the past three years.

The worst part of a necropost is when that happens to me.

[Losty]

The best part of a necropost is when people start replying to the OP and start a whole new discussion before someone points out that the OP was posted in 2011 and the person who posted it hasn't even been around for the past three years.

The worst part of a necropost is when that happens to me.

I don't even see why that matters. Just because the OP isn't around doesn't mean a reply to then can't be interesting and a discussion can't be had.

[Joods]

There are times when necro posting is appropriate. And several examples have been shared. There are also times when it isn't appropriate. Those examples have been shared too.

All in all, I really think the mods should take it on a case by case review. It the post was revived because it was worthy of reopening for debating purposes, then sure, open it. If it was just to troll or have a higher post count...lock it up so it can't be revived.

[rexbeccarox]

I think we handle necroposting just fine. Again, not doing it is just a guideline. In general, we trust general membership to weed out the good and bad necros. When someone is actually trolling, we warn and then ban them if they don't stop, but usually it comes from naivete as to how the forum runs. In that case, we point them to the rules and they don't do it again. Good necros generally stay at the top, bad ones generally fall off. No big. At most, IMO, it can be a casual annoyance.

[abaris]

It's only bothersome when a thread originally had few replies and you take it as a new thread, since usually I don't look at the date of the OP.