Implemented The rule on Necroing.

tomaO2

tomaO2

Planter
Whenever I make a post in the suggestion forum, I look for an existing thread before posting. Likewise, I have directed people to use existing threads to post about stuff. No one told me I was mistaken to do this, but I realized that there is a rule against necroing.

Um, if I am breaking a rule, I'll stop doing this, but I would respectfully suggest that this not be a rule for suggestions.

I think that the rule should be the exact opposite, in truth. That posters should check beforehand to see if a suggestion has already been made before posting their idea. I think there is a lot of benefit to seeing what others have said on a suggestion, and helps promote genuinely new ideas for consideration, since there are fewer threads to look through. I personally would rather post a suggestion that no one has said before, rather than one that already had 5+ threads talking about the same thing.

Failing that, I think that anything that is common enough to be mentioned as a common suggestion should have an official thread.

On another note, how old does a post have to get before it counts as necroing?
 
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Lemon_Stone

Lemon_Stone

Rancher
I agree. While I can definitely understand there being a rule on necroing in the other forums, I don't think it makes too much sense in the suggestions forum, given the subject matter. Maybe suggestions listed in the common suggestions thread could include links to relevant threads, too?
 
Magically Clueless

Magically Clueless

Administrator
Staff member
Thank you for the feedback! We'll review our rule about necroposting and be sure to update if there are any changes. We consider a post to be necro'd if the post itself is a few months old, but we can be clearer about that too.
 
Alfyna

Alfyna

Sodbuster
I'd love to get some history tbh (not necessarily here, just in general) on when necro'ing became such a resented thing in forums. I have neeever understood why it's such a big deal to resume a conversation a few months/even years later and continue the original thread with brand new insights and new people. That way all conversations on the topic are neatly bundled and easily located in a search, versus having to swim through two dozen iterations of the topic because everyone is paranoid about getting yelled at for necro'ing.

I mean, it's like... you either get in trouble for posting the same question yet again on a forum, or get in trouble for necro'ing. How are new people supposed to communicate about topics they care about if they can't do either?
 
LRangerR

LRangerR

Local Legend
Alfyna said:
I'd love to get some history tbh (not necessarily here, just in general) on when necro'ing became such a resented thing in forums. I have neeever understood why it's such a big deal to resume a conversation a few months/even years later and continue the original thread with brand new insights and new people. That way all conversations on the topic are neatly bundled and easily located in a search, versus having to swim through two dozen iterations of the topic because everyone is paranoid about getting yelled at for necro'ing.

I mean, it's like... you either get in trouble for posting the same question yet again on a forum, or get in trouble for necro'ing. How are new people supposed to communicate about topics they care about if they can't do either?
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Honestly I don't mind necroing at all. It makes more sense that way. Just a guess, but it could have something to do with more social forums, where they don't really talk about anything pertinent. Funny how rules get put in place, even social rules, and people just blindly follow them without ever wondering why you do such a thing.
 
tomaO2

tomaO2

Planter
The only time I know of that necroing caused issues was for forum stories. People tend to lose their MINDS when they see that a story they like has updated and it wasn't a story update, but just someone commenting on it.

Otherwise, I don't get it either.
 
Worblehat

Worblehat

Planter
Alfyna said:
I'd love to get some history tbh (not necessarily here, just in general) on when necro'ing became such a resented thing in forums.
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I'm not the Grand Historian of the Internet, but I have been using forums for over 20 years now, and thread necromancy has been considered annoying for about as long as it was possible to do (i.e. as long as there were threads old enough to be necro'd). Though to be clear, it's just a faux pas, nowhere near the level of triggering any kind of reporting or moderator action, other than perhaps closing the thread.

I haven't seen people get in trouble for posting very common questions. That's natural and expected.

The usual necromancy scenario is for a new post to randomly reply to an ancient thread, offering the new person's insights as if anyone involved in the original discussion (a) is still around, and (b) cares. Neither of which is usually the case. Often the new reply is also irrelevant, as one or more key details have changed in the intervening years (major patches, DLC/expansion releases, etc.).

There are situations where thread necromancy is not an issue, and tomaO2's example of the suggestion forum at the start of this thread is one such case, and LRangerR's example of the bugs forum is another. Threads in those sub-forums are directed at the creator(s) of the game, who one can safely assume to still be around (one would hope that a defunct game would close their suggestion and bug report sub-forums, anyway). But threads intended for discussion among players should not be resurrected. I've seen some forums where threads automatically close after a certain period of inactivity, which seems like a good solution to me.
 
Magically Clueless

Magically Clueless

Administrator
Staff member
Hey guys, we updated the Rules & FAQ page and included this in the Forum Etiquette section:

  • If the topic is not about a game suggestion or a bug report, it's better to make a new thread over replying to an inactive one. When posting in an old thread, be sure you are adding to the discussion.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but I also want to say that forum etiquette, while very much encouraged, is not something we typically warn for if people break. So like, if you found yourself necroing threads for real, we notice but we'd probably just talk to you about it if we found the posts had little substance, as opposed to warning you or something over it

Thanks again for the discussion and feedback! Hope this makes everything clearer too. We took out the term necro'ing just because it has different definitions to different people and we want to be clearer
 
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