Locking Topics and Necroing Threads

[yourlocalcrow]

Before you go ahead and lock this one saying it's redundant, I understand that there is a very similar topic that rants about the staff, but that thread is just trying to paint the staff team in a negative light. That's not at all what I'm trying to do. Just bringing fresh blood to a topic. And, after all, that topic hasn't been posted on for twenty or more days. Don't necro old threads, right?

Well, I've noticed that the staff tends to lock up threads if there's been a similar one within 2-5 months, directing people to that thread. I get it if the other thread was maybe a week or so old, but months? And yet still saying not to necro old threads? It seems, at least to me, hypocritical.

One that's pretty recent, still on the first page of the Forum Discussion board, is "Who's Online." User leahling made a thread earlier this month, which Warriorstrike then locked, directing people to a thread that hadn't been posted on since late May covering the exact same topic. We are advised against necroing old threads, yet we are being directed to something that hasn't been posted on since May.

I find this a bit strange. I'm not saying that the staff are doing their job wrong, but it feels to me that when they do this, they're cutting people off from talking about a topic that really interests them, only to direct them to a potentially months old thread, that when they go to reply to, get that little red warning asking them if they really want to reply.

Does anyone else notice this? Any other viewpoints on this? As far as I know, besides that other thread I mentioned before, no one else is really talking about the locking of threads. Sure, that other person pointed out some things, but overall had a really negative attitude about it. I don't want to come off as negative, I just am really curious as to whether or not other people seem to notice this trend of staff almost encouraging necroing threads, despite it being something that is advised against.

[ArcticGalaxy]

I agree with you myself honestly. If someone were to make a new thread that is similar to an older thread, honestly I think the staff should lock the old one. And besides, most people have forgotten said older topic anyway, which is why it isn't in the front and people aren't seeing it, thus people make a new one.

[Morgra]

Well, I've noticed that the staff tends to lock up threads if there's been a similar one within 2-5 months, directing people to that thread. I get it if the other thread was maybe a week or so old, but months? And yet still saying not to necro old threads? It seems, at least to me, hypocritical.

I find this a bit strange. I'm not saying that the staff are doing their job wrong, but it feels to me that when they do this, they're cutting people off from talking about a topic that really interests them, only to direct them to a potentially months old thread, that when they go to reply to, get that little red warning asking them if they really want to reply.

Does anyone else notice this? Any other viewpoints on this? As far as I know, besides that other thread I mentioned before, no one else is really talking about the locking of threads. Sure, that other person pointed out some things, but overall had a really negative attitude about it. I don't want to come off as negative, I just am really curious as to whether or not other people seem to notice this trend of staff almost encouraging necroing threads, despite it being something that is advised against.

I thought about making this topic myself, as I notice it too. I often feel like I can't voice my opinion on some of the older topics (ones that were made in July of this year, so not that old) because i've seen people get a warning about necroing. To me, I don't think adding another opinion to some of the older topics is really a bad thing. Yeah, I'd consider it necroing if someone posted a reply on something over 1 year old, but if it's not that old and/or still relevant, I just don't see the harm.  I've always been hesitant to comment on some things because I feel like people will ask me not to necro. Even in the Creations boards. As long as the topic is not several years old and the person who made the topic is still active, I'd like to feel like I can compliment them on their work.


And with the locking, you made a great point. People get their topics locked, and also can't post on the old one because it's "necroing". You're not left with any options.

I'd like to hear from some staff as to how we can solve this problem We've got a brilliant team. I know we'll be able to come to a conclusion ^^

[magicfairy]

Hmm, I actually haven't noticed this that much. Now that you point it out I see and I think there should be something done about this.

[Warriorstrike]

I will go ahead and address this, as I understand why it would concern you. I think you are confusing two reasons threads are often locked into one reason, which I can certainly see as being confusing. We aren't encouraging necro'ing threads by asking users to post on topics that have already been made, but I will explain that here.

"Don't necro old threads"/What is necro'ing?- Necroing old threads refers to posting on an outdated topic that is either old or no longer relevant. A topic is generally (and I say generally, because there are exceptions) considered outdated if it is over a year old. Weeks, months, etc, do not really count as outdated unless the topic is very specifically talking about a subject that doesn't make sense to continue after a short amount of time (i.e. a "current event topic" that has passed and wouldn't make sense to continue discussing.) However, it is not generally considered necro'ing a thread if the content and subject of the thread is still relevant for discussion. What I mean by this is if there is a discussion thread, even if it's years old, that talks about your favorite kind of animal, this topic would still be relevant if it were posted on today. There's nothing wrong with posting if is still relevant. If, say, you were posting on a thread that was about advertising for a roleplay and hadn't been posted on in years, you can see how this wouldn't be relevant. Typically, the types of threads that are okay to bring up (even if they're old) are discussion threads, since they can still be discussed.

One that's pretty recent, still on the first page of the Forum Discussion board, is "Who's Online." User leahling made a thread earlier this month, which Warriorstrike then locked, directing people to a thread that hadn't been posted on since late May covering the exact same topic. We are advised against necroing old threads, yet we are being directed to something that hasn't been posted on since May.

I have a feeling you may be confusing necro'ong with the issue of posting on a topic that has already been made. We say specifically in the board rules that you should not post a new topic if another topic has the same subject (as mentioned earlier, it's okay to post on a topic if it's old but still relevant.) This was the case, if I recall. I didn't lock the thread in order to try to stop discussion, but to direct the user to a thread that shared the same topic of discussion. We lock a thread if it has the same discussion of another thread because it keeps the boards cleaner and so that we don't have multiple threads about the same subject lying around. The subject that leahling posted was still relevant, it had just already been created-- I explained this on the thread that it was because there was already a topic made about it. I wasn't encouraging her to necro a thread, because since the subject was relevant, it would not be necro'ing. I think the context there might have been what was confusing, but I hope this makes sense. I'd be happy to explain further, if not.

I agree with you myself honestly. If someone were to make a new thread that is similar to an older thread, honestly I think the staff should lock the old one. And besides, most people have forgotten said older topic anyway, which is why it isn't in the front and people aren't seeing it, thus people make a new one.

Often times, we do act a bit more leniently toward a re-created topic if there isn't a thread similar to it recently. It's not likely we would lock a new topic and direct to one created in 2012. If there is still a recent thread (which could be anything from a year back) it is still considered relevant, and there is no need to duplicate a thread when there is already a perfectly good one. The reason we don't just allow new threads to be created about the same things over and over again is because all it would do is clutter the board, and instead of having a few answers in one place, they would just be spread about everywhere, which is why we made it a rule not to create a thread that has already been made. I know that we all want to get our opinions out there, but there is a very good reason we have added this as a rule-- it's not meant to hinder your creativity, it comes from a realistic standpoint. I hope you can understand that this rule has been made because it's one of the ways we can keep a forum such as this organized. If threads were remade with the same subject here and there, it would become terribly cluttered-- it's just part of managing and taking care of a forum.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us, and hopefully this can clarify a few things if you were confused. Necro'ing can be a tricky subject to wrap your head around, but once you get a bit of a better idea of how and why it's considered necro'ing, it should hopefully make a bit more sense. For any other members out there who aren't too sure what makes a necro'd thread necro'd, it's not generally considered necro'ing if posted if it's still relevant for today's discussion.

[Morgra]

"Don't necro old threads"- Necroing old threads refers to posting on an outdated topic that is either old or no longer relevant. A topic is generally (and I say generally, because there are exceptions) considered outdated if it is over a year old. Weeks, months, etc, do not really count as outdated unless the topic is very specifically talking about a subject that doesn't make sense to continue after a short amount of time (i.e. a "current event topic" that has passed and wouldn't make sense to continue discussing.) However, it is not generally considered necro'ing a thread if the content and subject of the thread is still relevant for discussion. What I mean by this is if there is a discussion thread, even if it's years old, that talks about your favorite kind of animal, this topic would still be relevant if it were posted on today. There's nothing wrong with posting if is still relevant. If, say, you were posting on a thread that was about advertising for a roleplay and hadn't been posted on in years, you can see how this wouldn't be relevant. Typically, the types of threads that are okay to bring up (even if they're old) are discussion threads, since they can still be discussed.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us, and hopefully this can clarify a few things if you were confused.

Thank you Warrior! I feel like this cleared it a bit for me. You addressed that as long as a topic is still considered relevant to modern FeralHeart, it isn't really necroing. The resurrection of old groups, old roleplays and old content that the user isn't around on anymore would be considered necroing. I'm glad you agree on that. What I feel that needs to be done is to clarify this among the userbase when the staff has the time, and if you too find it necessary. I'm sure there's a bit of confusion as to what's necroing and what's not.

[Warriorstrike]

"Don't necro old threads"- Necroing old threads refers to posting on an outdated topic that is either old or no longer relevant. A topic is generally (and I say generally, because there are exceptions) considered outdated if it is over a year old. Weeks, months, etc, do not really count as outdated unless the topic is very specifically talking about a subject that doesn't make sense to continue after a short amount of time (i.e. a "current event topic" that has passed and wouldn't make sense to continue discussing.) However, it is not generally considered necro'ing a thread if the content and subject of the thread is still relevant for discussion. What I mean by this is if there is a discussion thread, even if it's years old, that talks about your favorite kind of animal, this topic would still be relevant if it were posted on today. There's nothing wrong with posting if is still relevant. If, say, you were posting on a thread that was about advertising for a roleplay and hadn't been posted on in years, you can see how this wouldn't be relevant. Typically, the types of threads that are okay to bring up (even if they're old) are discussion threads, since they can still be discussed.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us, and hopefully this can clarify a few things if you were confused.

Thank you Warrior! I feel like this cleared it a bit for me. You addressed that as long as a topic is still considered relevant to modern FeralHeart, it isn't really necroing. The resurrection of old groups, old roleplays and old content that the user isn't around on anymore would be considered necroing. I'm glad you agree on that. What I feel that needs to be done is to clarify this among the userbase when the staff has the time, and if you too find it necessary. I'm sure there's a bit of confusion as to what's necroing and what's not.

I'm glad this cleared it up for you! I know that necro'ing can be a bit hard to understand fully, and since there have certainly been times where it's confusing as to whether or not a post is okay to make, perhaps we'll have to look into make a small notice thread or better description in the rules to clear it up. I think it would be helpful to many, too, so I'll see if we can clear this up somehow for those who have some difficulty understanding it. c:

[Morgra]

I'm glad this cleared it up for you! I know that necro'ing can be a bit hard to understand fully, and since there have certainly been times where it's confusing as to whether or not a post is okay to make, perhaps we'll have to look into make a small notice thread or better description in the rules to clear it up. I think it would be helpful to many, too, so I'll see if we can clear this up somehow for those who have some difficulty understanding it. c:

Alright, thanks! ^^ A notice thread or an update in the rules when the staff can, would help a lot I believe. I know that you guys are already busy updating a lot of the Official Information already.

[Kuri]

i like seeing old threads come back, 5 months, 5 years, usually they're about something that still has some good info.  Or just insite to 'olden times'.

(For example, on other boards i visit sometimes someone will ask about a thread that hasn't been touched in 9 years and still gets an update on that project.  Other times it'll be a hilarious "Is this still for sale?" on a for sale thread from 4 years ago lol) ok now i'm just getting off topic...
Like, i'd ask for advise on threads from 2012 except that i'd look dumb for not knowing & everyone would be "This old, don't necro"