Necroposting

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We have a necroposting epidemic here, and I think the "Similar Posts" thing at the bottom of every thread is to blame for this. I sometimes see threads that haven't been touched in years, whose OPs have often left the site long ago, being bumped all of a sudden by people who have stumbled across them. Now, on most of the forums I've been on, necroposting is something that's been frowned upon, if not something that's outright against the rules.

I mean, I can see why older topics would be of interest for some people, but it just annoys me when people resurrect long-dead discussions.

What is the essential difference between resurrecting long-dead discussions and starting on a topic that is already duplicated in at least one other thread?

Death to necroposting,

Alex doesn't care, I don't know that he knows typical forum etiquette or if he wants Wrong Planet to appeal to wide range of audiences which isn't a bad idea. Also I shouldn't criticize, he does have a (semi) functional site after all.

The times it actually bothers me is when I realize I've just offered advice or solutions to an Original Poster who posted that problem or question in 2011. It feels ridiculous to discover only after the fact, that it's an old topic.

On the other hand, new people are always finding WP for the first time and the issues raised, and answers offered, will be new to them even though it's old to most.

Necroposting drives my OCD batty.

Ironically, etiquette isn't something people on the spectrum are typically big on, but having spent time on other forums there are certain expectations I've picked up. Of course, one of those expectations is that administrators actually pay attention to the sites they run, and the issues they face. Other than 4chan, I've never seen a message board with such an absentee admin. I understand Alex is a busy guy and all, but I barely ever see him here.


That's kind of the main reason necroposting annoys me. With very few, if any exceptions, I doubt anyone's going to be checking if a question they have posted 5 years ago has been answered.


Good point. WP is a support forum after all, and people often come here to discuss issues that others have had before.

I think Alex is a film maker and he is working on some moderately big project named shameful that honestly looks boring to me. Still making movies is time consuming and takes a lot of work, the trailer to shameful just has way too much of a film noir overtone to me. I like some of the effects like the colored flags on the back and white backdrop but its over kill for a documentary to me.

Anyway thats probably where all his work is right now,

When I first came to WP I used to wonder what all the fuss was about bumping old topics - but now I know why it's so annoying.

Sometimes it depends on the thread subject. But it's annoying when I don't look at the date of the first post, and then post a reply to the thread, then later find that I've already posted an exact same reply to the thread, like, 4 years ago (only a slight alteration in wording).

Or it's annoying when there's a thread titled something like "my 18th birthday is tomorrow", then 5 years later the thread gets bumped with a post saying "happy 18th birthday OP!" That is just an analogy, but you know what I mean.

Or, the most annoying thing of all, you see a topic that relates to you, read the OP but forget to look at the date posted or the username, post a reply saying how much you relate to the OP - only to find out that it is a long forgotten thread you had created years ago. So you are basically talking to yourself in a post.

I think it's mostly newer members who bump old topics without really noticing. I done that a lot when I first came here. Then when you stick here long enough you start to become territorial.

lol

I can see myself doing this actually.

I'm just of the opinion dead things should stay dead-- it's just nature. From a practical standpoint, we have some topics that have like 100 different threads, but I view that as better than having one mega-thread and having to sift through 100's of pages to find the relevant quotes.

Necroposting is not against the rules. Alex himself has posted that he doesn't see a problem with it. As a completely personal comment I am glad that threads aren't automatically locked as they are on some other sites I've visited. I see no reason why they should be. Some of us old timers here really enjoy seeing again old posts and posters long gone. As for replying to posters who aren't coming here anymore, I personally quote posts more to show what comment made me say what I'm saying than in order to talk to them, and if old advice can help new members that is a good thing in my book.

If things are not against the WP rules, we are not about to crack down on it. We do not moderate things based on whether or not we like them personally, we do based on whether or not they are against the rules.

I suggest the people who mind "necroposting" so much just check the date of the OP and avoid posting in that thread.

Necroposting has never bothered me, indeed, I can find the old threads interesting. I've also thought it to seem way over the top seeing moderators ballbusting people for doing it.

The courteous thing to do if you're going to necro is to point it out at the start of the post. Just put "necro" or something at the top.

Sometimes there is a really original, interesting, unique, one off old thread that is so novel or informative or so startling in perception that it has something to offer each year's crop of new members. So for threads like that, now I am in favour of necros. But it depends on content value in particular. I still don't like necro threads that are on hackneyed topics which have been replicated ad nauseum for years every few months, (weeks even) and which have been answered from every possible angle over and over again. I don't like it when some of those hackneyed ones are necroed back into life only for the new poster to post "I agree" on an 8 year old thread where all the former posters are long gone from this great planet.

It may be that sometimes a new member may do this once or twice before they develop the confidence to participate in their own threads or on current ones?

I agree, it's fine by me to resurrect an old thread as such, but often not so fine when it's the kind of thread that's about something specific to an OP who has moved on from either the topic or WP itself. I've sometimes wondered what would motivate anybody to trawl back through old pages. It could be that a new member prefers to do that rather than create a new topic or join in with current threads, but it seems strange that they'd need to go so many years back to find something they felt comfy adding to. Maybe they know how to search WP for specific topics and the old threads come up that way? That's never worked for me.