Arcane Wonders Forum

Mage Wars => General Discussion => Topic started by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 03:44:13 PM

Title: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 03:44:13 PM
Necroposting       

[strike]The act of posting in a forum thread that is too old to matter any more, or has served it's purpose.
Usually by new, inexperienced members of the board.[/strike]

Since a few of you asked this is a cleaner less abrasive definition.  

1. To bump a thread on an Internet forum is to post a reply to it purely in order to raise the thread's profile. This will typically return it to the top of the list of active threads

2. To post, as on a forum, to revive a long inactive discussion thread


Now that I have clarified what necroposting is how long should it be till a thread is declared dead?

One Month

Six weeks

Two Months

No Limit?

I personally like to give a thread one month of no further responses before I call it dead. I want to know what the community thinks.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 03:51:25 PM
I personally like to give a thread one month of no further responses before I call it dead. I want to know what the community thinks.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: dragontalon on October 11, 2012, 04:12:05 PM
I am new to the Mage Wars game and new to the web site but that does not mean that I am inexperienced. I personally don't see why new users should be punished as such and not be able to post on a topic that is visable to them regardless of the time that it has been dead. We as users do not know that last time someone has logged in or check the forums. I found this to be a little harse in the approach and think this would tend to have some new users turned of by this. A little bit better of a busy approach may have been better suited and not call users inexperienced without knowing them. That is just my opinion though.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 04:15:10 PM
The main reason most sites employ a necroposting policy is because people do not like to be overwhelmed with old information. Thank you for responding because I do want to know how people feel about this. Since I am the most active MOD and I do care about this community I want peoples honesty.

Quick Question:
Can any of the non-mods see the timer in the title bar above each post? I do not remember what the basic user view looks like. When I see a post it tells me when that post was made on the right side in the grey title bar. It looks like what I listed below


Re: Necro Posting cutoff 0 minutes ago      #2073

PS: I got that definition form several web sources. That is what the over all consensus is about necroposting. I ran a quick google search for necroposting rules and got over 10 pages of forums with rules about it.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 04:41:59 PM
Quick Question:

Can any of the non-mods see the timer in the title bar above each post? I do not remember what the basic user view looks like. When I see a post it tells me when that post was made on the right side in the grey title bar. It looks like what I listed below


Re: Necro Posting cutoff 0 minutes ago      #2073
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: theduke850 on October 11, 2012, 04:49:53 PM
I'm not totally against a necroposting policy, It just seems to me that many new members to the forum might want to go back and look through the topics and it feels like a cold welcome to just be told not to resurrect dead threads (btw, dragontalon, Shad0w is super helpful here in the forum).

is it possible to have the threads lock after a given time of inactivity?  Or would something like that have to be done manually?


P.S., yes, I can see the timers
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: dragontalon on October 11, 2012, 05:11:27 PM
I to am not opposed to necroposting policies it is a must have when running forum pages. I was just put off by the way it was stated is all. I don't know if it is possible to delete a post with no activity on it after a certain time that way it doesn't get restarted. That is what I suggest to do but not if possible to do so. I am sure Shad0w is a big help and I appreciate the hard work that moderators have to with that said I am killing this topic for me. Have fun playing Mage Wars as I know I will. Have a great one
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 05:38:49 PM
Quote from: "dragontalon" post=2075
I to am not opposed to necroposting policies it is a must have when running forum pages. I was just put off by the way it was stated is all. I don't know if it is possible to delete a post with no activity on it after a certain time that way it doesn't get restarted. That is what I suggest to do but not if possible to do so. I am sure Shad0w is a big help and I appreciate the hard work that moderators have to with that said I am killing this topic for me. Have fun playing Mage Wars as I know I will. Have a great one


Its was hard for me to ask people opinions about necroposting without using the most commonly accepted
definitions of the term. It was not supposed to come across as rude but I see how some people could read it that way. I agree 100% that it is needed. I just want to know how people would define a "reasonable time" before a thread is called dead.

In the standard MOD tools I have to hand lock each thread. I have not seen the admin tool pack but I assume that it does not offer an auto lock option. Most forum stuff I have worked with does not. Thanks again all for your opinions.

Quote from: "theduke850" post=2074
I'm not totally against a necroposting policy, It just seems to me that many new members to the forum might want to go back and look through the topics and it feels like a cold welcome to just be told not to resurrect dead threads (btw, dragontalon, Shad0w is super helpful here in the forum).

is it possible to have the threads lock after a given time of inactivity?  Or would something like that have to be done manually?


P.S., yes, I can see the timers


I can see your point but at what point do you think a thread has pasted on? Anybody who actively goes to forums will tell you that when your new thread tab get flooded with threads you have not looked at in months it becomes annoying very quickly.

I think if its done as an honest mistake I do not have an issue with it. It is difficult to ask people not to do something without sounding rude. Especially in a text format.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 05:59:50 PM
Quote from: "theduke850" post=2074
I'm not totally against a necroposting policy, It just seems to me that many new members to the forum might want to go back and look through the topics and it feels like a cold welcome to just be told not to resurrect dead threads (btw, dragontalon, Shad0w is super helpful here in the forum).

is it possible to have the threads lock after a given time of inactivity?  Or would something like that have to be done manually?


P.S., yes, I can see the timers


I can see your point but at what point do you think a thread has pasted on? Anybody who actively goes to forums will tell you that when your new thread tab get flooded with threads you have not looked at in months it becomes annoying very quickly.

I think if its done as an honest mistake I do not have an issue with it. It is difficult to ask people not to do something without sounding rude. Especially in a text format.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Mestrahd on October 11, 2012, 08:24:12 PM
In every other forums I belong to, they instruct you to search for your topic before making a post. So if your topic was "dead" 3 weeks ago, does that make it invalid? I'd rather have a necro thread than a thousand threads on the same topic. If you want examples, go to the BGG forums for Android:Netrunner. The exact same questions are popping up every other day. I'd rather have fewer threads get reactivated and rediscussed, than having a hundred of the same.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 11, 2012, 08:48:57 PM
Keep your replies coming. if people do not mind old threads coming back then I wont have to lock them. Like I said its up to you all to tell me what you want.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: stadi on October 12, 2012, 02:31:16 AM
I'm with Mestrahd on this one. I'm strictly for "necroposting". If it was up to me I would ban people for opening a new thread for something where there is already a thread for.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: kamishev on October 12, 2012, 06:23:18 AM
Why not creating some kind of archives for the old posts, so the new users can find if they are looking for something specific?
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 12, 2012, 08:07:12 AM
I would  like to have a search feature currently but I do not access to the editor tools package. I have not even looked at it so I do not know if that is even an option currently. This is why I am asking what the community thinks. I am here for all of you.

So keep the replies coming and I will do what the majority asks.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Gewar on October 12, 2012, 12:54:41 PM
Necro policy is for experienced users and against new ones.
This forum is not big yet, so introducing it will have lower benefit/cost ratio than bigger forums, so I would wait few months with implementation.
Then:
- I like an idea with locking old threads - and noticing by moderator at the begining/end with big bold red font "thread locked due to nocroposting policy - if you like to unlock the thread PM moderator" + maybe link to moderator/FAQ/Question-answet thread.
- There should be visible "Question-answer thread" and FAQ based on former.

IMO "old thread" is one month.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Nihilistiskism on October 13, 2012, 09:06:50 AM
Necro-posting policies are stupid and unwelcome additions to what are supposed to be friendly group interactions. The definitions are arbitrary, the enforcement never leaves people feeling good.

They do not belong.

So what if someone bumps a thread a year old to ask a question about whether "X" is still true, or to re-open a discussion? New blood = new ideas? Why is it preferable to have a person start a completely new thread about  a topic when an old thread is just as good, but goes one better in that you can readily see what people responded the last time it came up?

Anti-necro posting rules have always rubbed me the wrong way, and usually indicate a forum where mods are more interested in expressing mod-like powers than in helping the community function efficiently.

-nihil
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 13, 2012, 10:43:45 AM
So far it looks like the over all opinion is against it but I will wait until Sunday night and see where things stand. One of the biggest reasons I have seen this used was time and time again you will get people post to a thread with nothing more than BUMP to push something back into the new response status.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: theduke850 on October 13, 2012, 01:17:26 PM
It does seem like most are against an anti-necroposting policy... or just view it as unnecessary. Perhaps you can do away with it but add in the forum rules a request that members not post in threads that have been inactive for more than a month (or however long) if they are not adding anything new to the topic to specifically discourage bumping.
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Nihilistiskism on October 13, 2012, 01:22:46 PM
Quote from: "Shad0w" post=2119
So far it looks like the over all opinion is against it but I will wait until Sunday night and see where things stand. One of the biggest reasons I have seen this used was time and time again you will get people post to a thread with nothing more than BUMP to push something back into the new response status.


Then I think that should be the rule. Specify exactly what kind of behavior isn't allowed, rather than just creating an umbrella against posting in older threads. I don't have anything against specific "don't be a dink" rules, but large umbrella policies usually create more animosity than friendship, and more problems than solutions, in my experience and opinion.

-nihil
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Scarob on October 13, 2012, 01:27:48 PM
Ideally what we need is an option for those that have created an account for he mage wars website to be able to mark the threads that they have no interest in any more - the downside to this is that it requires ALOT of effort on the web programmers side

Besides if you use the already existing My Topics tab then i shouldn't matter who has posted in old threads as the topics that you have posted in are your only updates Oo

Personally im against bumping a thread just to get it to the top of the list, but not to lock old threads

How about a tick box option that allows users to select whether they want their post to be removed after X amount of time? if it is not selected then the post stays up

or maybe an update to users that ask whether they still want a message to stay up or wouldn't mind them being removed?
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Nihilistiskism on October 13, 2012, 02:18:43 PM
Quote from: "Scarob" post=2126
Ideally what we need is an option for those that have created an account for he mage wars website to be able to mark the threads that they have no interest in any more - the downside to this is that it requires ALOT of effort on the web programmers side

Besides if you use the already existing My Topics tab then i shouldn't matter who has posted in old threads as the topics that you have posted in are your only updates Oo

Personally im against bumping a thread just to get it to the top of the list, but not to lock old threads

How about a tick box option that allows users to select whether they want their post to be removed after X amount of time? if it is not selected then the post stays up

or maybe an update to users that ask whether they still want a message to stay up or wouldn't mind them being removed?


An even better solution below:

How about this?

If you want to read a thread...if you care about a thread, then read it. If you don't, then don't. If a thread gets updated and you want to see what was said, you read it. If you don't care, then you don't. It's really, really simple. I'm all for moderation when it prevents rude/obnoxious/unruly behavior, or if it helps the forum function somehow (i.e. the "don't post for the express purpose of bumping...you have to say something" rule), but rules that exist exclusively to limit content or options are just frustrations for the average user. Why does it by default have to fall to a user to censor him/herself for the benefit of others, when it is actually much easier/simpler for the "others" to ignore something?

-nihil
Title: Re: Necro Posting cutoff
Post by: Shad0w on October 15, 2012, 07:37:22 AM
I will lets this go for now and see what happens since it looks like this is what the community wants. Thank you all for responding.