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Discussion: Policies to deal with new threads vs "Necro"-ing


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Intro: Dark Ariel7 started an interesting post in GD. The gist of the matter was: what's a good balance between asking users to revive ("necro") old posts, and letting them start new ones?

 

FuwaContext: We've debated the pros/cons of necro-ing posts many, many times. The staff has pretty much always come down on the side of merging new threads to old ones. 

 

 

 

Discussion: What I'd like to ask is this:

 

Using your experience across the interwebs (or by rubbing your brain cells together), please share examples of policies which were effective in treating this issue. The policy can be pro-necro-ing, or pro-new-topic-ing, my interest is just that you think it works well.

 

 

Please note that I'm asking about policies/systems of how to manage this, and not necessarily the pros/cons of necro-ing.

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Not sure how I feel about the irony of my thread getting locked because of a new thread on the same topic. Also the thread is actually a few months old. I just necro'ed it for the irony(?)

But anyways, What is the problem with making new topics and or necro'ing? I feel like just letting them run rampant up to a certain point is the best policy. I mean for things that get asked often enough don't you simply fix it by making stickies or dedicated threads? 

Summary, laissez faire or perhaps socialism?

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I didn't see your topic was closed. I'll re-open it so people can have this discussion (if they haven't already done so).

 

For future posts: this thread is asking for users to post rules/policies they've seen in the past (or which they've thought up) which effectively dealt with this issue.

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But anyhow, What do you think of my policy or lack there off? As a mod what problems does the policy pose?

 

The main problem it imposes is a lack of interested in a repeated topic. When a person creates a new topic that has already been discussed in the past, the people who have said their part in the old one will be less likely to post in the new one (I often ignore topics i have thoroughly answered in the past).

The opposing problem is reviving an old post where the information can be outdated or the topic has so much content that new members will not want to read through.

 

Finding the proper balance is the difficult part for every forum.

 

There cannot really be a simple policy, it is up to the feels and information of the topic poster - is there an old topic discussing exactly what you are going to discuss? Is the topic relevant to this day? Can opinions of the posters in the old topic change over time so much to justify a new topic for them to express a new opinion?

Those are all relative question that the topic poster should ask, and usually the only way it can work on a forum.

 

If I would give an example, I just revived the AstralAir topic as the topic itself was about a game that is coming out this month - it is not out yet so any information relevant to that topic is still relevant today and a new opinions of former posters and new posters can add to such topic.

However once the game comes out, it will easily warrant a new topic, because people might want to discuss the game from a different perspective, not from a perspective of someone who is waiting for it but someone who is in the middle of playing it or has finished it. The new topic will be full of spoilers and new opinions about the game, that were impossible to be formed in the past (as obviously the game wasn't out yet).

 

So instead of imposing a rule of like "don't revive if the topic has been dead for more than 2 months", we need to educate the people posting on how to differentiate between a topic that needs revival and topic that needs a new post from scratch.

 

And that can be a hard thing~

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Yes, as I said in the previous thread :

 

Posting in old threads isn't a brake for newcomers.

 

Making new a repetitive thread is adding an unnecessary one to the the great number of already existing ones.

 

I don't think adding one's opinion even though it's already been posted is an issue.

Reviving allows not only the interested guy to restart the topic again but for newer members to find it.

 

However, as steve said there's a balance to find when older topics are clearly outdated in ideas and information.

 

 

 

I'd like people to use the search function a little more before posting.

Sometimes some threads are made just because the creator was too lazy to search a little bit.

 

I have to admit it's not perfect but it's doing fine enough a job.

 

A solution would be proper taging.

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Intro: Dark Ariel7 started an interesting post in GD. The gist of the matter was: what's a good balance between asking users to revive ("necro") old posts, and letting them start new ones?

 

My thoughts are similar to Steve's here.

 

The annoyance with creating a new thread when there's existing threads available is the old ground that inevitably gets rehashed, or the same arguments which inevitably gets repeated. I'd say if you're creating a similar thread but taking the discussion to a new area, a new thread is fine. If you want to discuss the same stuff, then merge them.

 

The down-side to that argument is sometimes it creates threads of such size that nobody wants to dig through it for info. But I don't think Fuwanovel is a big enough forum for that to happen.

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I'd also prefer necro bumping a thread rather than creating a new one.

It's really annoying having to merge threads that are really buried in the forums.
And sometimes people start a new thread that already existed before but they change up the title a little, making it seem different when in the end it's the same. I've seen new threads where i go "huh i've seen something like this before" but i can't recall the exact title of the previous one so i can't find it and thus i can't merge it.

I generally try to find old threads to merge, if they exist, just for the sake of keeping the forum clean but sometimes like the example i pointed out, it becomes rather difficult. I'd really like if users wouldn't just start new threads that already exist, if we start letting one slide then more will pass by and then we end up in a cluster of repeated threads.

But hey i admit sometimes it's more common sense to start a new one because the old one is just that outdated so we can't just say yes or no to necro bumping, there needs to be a middle ground.
My personal suggestion would just be a time limit.
For example if the last post in the thread was made over 6 months ago, you mau start a new topic.
Topics that are 6 months appart will likely not clash because the old one has been forgotten by then.
That's just an idea though.

Then again as our userbase grows we'll get to a point where it's near impossible to monitor these things unless someone reports it.

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I wrote about it in the Anime/Manga discussion. I just copy it here:
The problem with necromancy is something you can almost never avoid. You get flamed no matter how you do things. If you post a new topic you will get flamed for that. If you bring an old post alive you will get flamed for that.  

 

I think the community should just accept that everyone doesn't search a forum and be friendly and helpful even though the topic was discussed 3 weeks ago for an example. We got new members all the time and you can't go through everything. I personally don't log in every day. I can't keep track on all subjects and topics created. I would need a full time job for that sometimes.

 

This is a problem you can almost never avoid. I haven't found a solution so far on all forums I visited. You can't avoid old topics to be bringed back to life. I got an idea how we can avoid it. But that is rather annoying if you need to search for old threads.

 

Create a new forum for old posts. After 1 - 2 month of inactivity in a thread you dump it here automatically or with a mods help who can search for threads 2 months or older as an example, mark all the old threads and move it. This way you can still find them but you just need to search a History/Old post forum part which can be divided into x amount of subforums. For example: VN talk, Anime/Manga, General Discussion. 

This way old posts disappear from the active forum part no matter what after a set amount of time. 

 

I think you can't avoid new threads and you should't be complaining about it. Everyone isn't as active as you are. I don't even got control over 40% of all updated/new topcis today. I am busy enough with work to spend my spare time in the evening searching for something on a forum. I rather create a new thread and hopefully someone can answer me. I expect people to be nice and friendly even if I am a "retard" who missed just that specific thread which answered my question 2 weeks ago. 

 

Cheers.

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I wrote about it in the Anime/Manga discussion. I just copy it here:

The problem with necromancy is something you can almost never avoid. You get flamed no matter how you do things. If you post a new topic you will get flamed for that. If you bring an old post alive you will get flamed for that.  

 

I think the community should just accept that everyone doesn't search a forum and be friendly and helpful even though the topic was discussed 3 weeks ago for an example. We got new members all the time and you can't go through everything. I personally don't log in every day. I can't keep track on all subjects and topics created. I would need a full time job for that sometimes.

 

This is a problem you can almost never avoid. I haven't found a solution so far on all forums I visited. You can't avoid old topics to be bringed back to life. I got an idea how we can avoid it. But that is rather annoying if you need to search for old threads.

 

Create a new forum for old posts. After 1 - 2 month of inactivity in a thread you dump it here automatically or with a mods help who can search for threads 2 months or older as an example, mark all the old threads and move it. This way you can still find them but you just need to search a History/Old post forum part which can be divided into x amount of subforums. For example: VN talk, Anime/Manga, General Discussion. 

This way old posts disappear from the active forum part no matter what after a set amount of time. 

 

I think you can't avoid new threads and you should't be complaining about it. Everyone isn't as active as you are. I don't even got control over 40% of all updated/new topcis today. I am busy enough with work to spend my spare time in the evening searching for something on a forum. I rather create a new thread and hopefully someone can answer me. I expect people to be nice and friendly even if I am a "retard" who missed just that specific thread which answered my question 2 weeks ago. 

 

Cheers.

^agreed

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And for those who are tiered of looking at stuff that have been talked about before, may I ask why in the world are you looking at it then?! Is someone holding a gun to your head, forcing you to read every thread on the forums? I'm even surprised you bothered to open it. let others have fun, for crying out loud!!

 

You want new people to have discussions while also wanting all the old people on the board to ignore it. Interesting. Not much of a discussion then, is it? Maybe that's why a lot of repeated threads I see have fewer posts than the originals...

 

If you want to have a discussion about something, then I'd recommend searching for the old threads. You may avoid rehashing old ground and may even see the opportunity to open up the discussion into new areas. Making a new thread about the same thing will not only produce unneeded clutter, but also alienate all of the older members who have already had that discussion, limiting the people who will take part right from the start.

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I wrote about it in the Anime/Manga discussion. I just copy it here:

The problem with necromancy is something you can almost never avoid. You get flamed no matter how you do things. If you post a new topic you will get flamed for that. If you bring an old post alive you will get flamed for that.  

 

I think the community should just accept that everyone doesn't search a forum and be friendly and helpful even though the topic was discussed 3 weeks ago for an example. We got new members all the time and you can't go through everything. I personally don't log in every day. I can't keep track on all subjects and topics created. I would need a full time job for that sometimes.

 

This is a problem you can almost never avoid. I haven't found a solution so far on all forums I visited. You can't avoid old topics to be bringed back to life. I got an idea how we can avoid it. But that is rather annoying if you need to search for old threads.

 

Create a new forum for old posts. After 1 - 2 month of inactivity in a thread you dump it here automatically or with a mods help who can search for threads 2 months or older as an example, mark all the old threads and move it. This way you can still find them but you just need to search a History/Old post forum part which can be divided into x amount of subforums. For example: VN talk, Anime/Manga, General Discussion. 

This way old posts disappear from the active forum part no matter what after a set amount of time. 

 

I think you can't avoid new threads and you should't be complaining about it. Everyone isn't as active as you are. I don't even got control over 40% of all updated/new topcis today. I am busy enough with work to spend my spare time in the evening searching for something on a forum. I rather create a new thread and hopefully someone can answer me. I expect people to be nice and friendly even if I am a "retard" who missed just that specific thread which answered my question 2 weeks ago. 

 

Cheers.

 

._. what ?

 

First, you won't get flamed here for reviving an old thread

 

Second, we should be friendly with people who are too lazy searching for more than 5 minutes ?

I see, interesting point of view.

I think the mods are friendly enough not to complain about it.

 

If you want to talk about "Lolis" for example, the least a new member can do is type "Loli" in the top right corner and press enter.

If he didn't find but has searched even though a thread existed, then it's fine. An older member or a mod can redirect him to the exisiting topic if it's not obsolete.

 

Third, it's easier and it's fuwa's current policy to keep old threads open for registered members to use.

 

For example, when I was a new comer, I necro'd threads up to page 10, and sometimes relaunched the discussion, sometimes not.

It's not a brake to newcomers or integration in any way.

 

And last, we actually can avoid new useless and redundant threads.

So we have the right to complain about it.

 

All your problems about time and whatever can be solved thanks to the magic search function.

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Please keep comments focused on the topic at hand: policies you've seen be effective, or which you think would be effective, at dealing with this issue. The policy can be for either side (pro-new topics, pro-necroing). 

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I posted in the other thread about the broad purposes a forum serves: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/3272-why-are-forums-so-anal-about-old-topics-and-posts/?p=131724

 

The current policy of merging newer threads with older threads on the same topic keeps the number of new threads at a manageable level.  If the topic was already discussed in the past and answered thoroughly, that past information should be bundled together with the new discussion (especially if the new thread is asking a question that the old discussion answered).  In addition to this merging policy, users should be encouraged to post when they have something to add to the discussion, and to upvote existing posts otherwise.  That encourages high quality posts and lessens the likelihood that they'll got lost in the tide of conversation.

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._. what ?

 

First, you won't get flamed here for reviving an old thread

 

Second, we should be friendly with people who are too lazy searching for more than 5 minutes ?

I see, interesting point of view.

I think the mods are friendly enough not to complain about it.

 

If you want to talk about "Lolis" for example, the least a new member can do is type "Loli" in the top right corner and press enter.

If he didn't find but has searched even though a thread existed, then it's fine. An older member or a mod can redirect him to the exisiting topic if it's not obsolete.

 

Third, it's easier and it's fuwa's current policy to keep old threads open for registered members to use.

 

For example, when I was a new comer, I necro'd threads up to page 10, and sometimes relaunched the discussion, sometimes not.

It's not a brake to newcomers or integration in any way.

 

And last, we actually can avoid new useless and redundant threads.

So we have the right to complain about it.

 

All your problems about time and whatever can be solved thanks to the magic search function.

 

I know the search function exist. I am using it but I am reluctant to bring old posts alive just because they are buried dead. It is something I got used to on other forums. Maybe the Fuwa community is a lot nicer in that regard. I was flamed for bringing old posts alive on a different forum and I won't do it again. Just a waste of time and people got way to much hate.

 

In my suggestion the old threads are still available but we just move everything after a set amount of time to another part of the forum. Yes it won't work in the necromancy regard because old topics are probably locked or the majority of the members don't care about it in the "Old threads" part of forum.

 

Bringing old posts alive or starting a new one is a difference. Bringing old stuff up again could be bad but as Rooke said new threads got very little response too. 

 

I know the Fuwa policy but I still think if you should have it like that you should encourage new members bringing old posts alive instead of creating new posts.I don't really know how you should do that though because I can think a lot of people are afraid of bringing old threads alive. Maybe highlight the search function in a rainbow colored animation? :)

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Discussion: What I'd like to ask is this:

 

Using your experience across the interwebs (or by rubbing your brain cells together), please share examples of policies which were effective in treating this issue. The policy can be pro-necro-ing, or pro-new-topic-ing, my interest is just that you think it works well.

 

 

Please note that I'm asking about policies/systems of how to manage this, and not necessarily the pros/cons of necro-ing.

I've seen forums where new threads are merged with the old thread if the discussion remains relevant. For example, discussing an anime or a visual novel. If new threads or the old threads that are related to it deal with topics that becomes irrelevant with time, they are to stand on their own.

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Not sure how I feel about the irony of my thread getting locked because of a new thread on the same topic. Also the thread is actually a few months old. I just necro'ed it for the irony(?)

But anyways, What is the problem with making new topics and or necro'ing? I feel like just letting them run rampant up to a certain point is the best policy. I mean for things that get asked often enough don't you simply fix it by making stickies or dedicated threads? 

Summary, laissez faire or perhaps socialism?

Necroing should have a real purpose to it. Also, if the thread is a "general discussion" thread then that shouldn't fall under necroing unless the person says something like "bump" or whatever.

Say we have Kimi ga Nozomu Eien thread that is generally about discussing it then it should be left open for general discussions. In fact, it would be even much better if everything - including questions, comments, thoughts, whatever that is related to Kimi ga Nozomu Eien to be included inside the thread to keep things cleaner and easier to find.

It would be wiser to keep things organized rather than being all over the place.

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I'm all for Necroing. There are some really interesting topics that just sink into obscurity. Occasionally when I get bored I'll look through old threads and read interesting discussions. I don't think think we should discourage people from bringing back interesting threads that died for whatever reason. Also I like the current policy of merging threads, I think it works.

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I'm all for Necroing. There are some really interesting topics that just sink into obscurity. Occasionally when I get bored I'll look through old threads and read interesting discussions. I don't think think we should discourage people from bringing back interesting threads that died for whatever reason. Also I like the current policy of merging threads, I think it works.

The best choice to allow necroing could be divided into three categories.

One and most importantly - If it is actual news. For example, a new anime was announced. Few days later, more information was released. Within those periods no one posted on the thread so obviously this would be subjectively marked as important. Obviously, post links to your sources.

Second and Third categories would be similar to the thread being pushed back or ignored/not noticed by others. One option is if the thread gets pushed back to the second page then the person can kick it back up. Or/and the person must wait a period of 2 or 3 days if they want to bump the thread back up to the first page.

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