So how long before it's Necro-ing?

[Oly J]

Hi all, title says it all really, I've been curious about this, how long would you say the average discussion thread can stay inactive before it can reasonably be considered dead and posting in it considered necro-ing? I know this would generally vary depending on the nature of the thread or how many replies it already has, if it has any, but what is the general consensus here?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I think it's necro-ing if you post a month after the last post in the thread. There are exceptions though, like "The Artist in Thee" thread.

Edit: Shit, this isn't my account. XD

 

[Colour Scientist]

I think it's necro-ing if you post a month after the last post in the thread. There are exceptions though, like "The Artist in Thee" thread.

Edit: Shit, this isn't my account. XD

That's embarrassing.

Anyway, what I he said.

 

[JoJo]

According to this site's code of conduct, it's 30 days. If I was to use my own judgement, I'd probably say a little longer, maybe a month and a half to two months. After that it's best to let things lie and certainly not quote people as they may no longer want to talk about that subject, or still believe their past statements.

 

[soren7550]

I think it's necro-ing if you post a month after the last post in the thread. There are exceptions though, like "The Artist in Thee" thread.

Edit: Shit, this isn't my account. XD

That's embarrassing.

Anyway, what I he said.

Is that more Escapist lovebirds I see? X3

OT: Yeah, I think it's around a month, at the very least it's two weeks (which I doubt).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

A month to necro. I think so long as you stick within the first 20 pages of any given forum, you're fine.
"Recurring" threads like "Old videogames whose name you forgot" get carte blanche.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I would say; 'Level of insight + refined reinterpretation to lead to new conclusions' divided by 'number of topic discussion pages + days since the last post'.

 

[Seishisha]

I tend to use the page three rule (not that kind you pervert) If a thread on the forums is more than three pages deep from it's respective catagory then disccusion has probably already finished.

If the thread is on the main page you know its fresh. Second page is basicly yesterday's topics and can still be healthy, replying to them seems fine to me. Third page is the last bastion of the damned threads anything kicking around there is soon to be deceased. Anything after that well i wouldnt bother.

 

[sky14kemea]

About 3 and a half inches.


Or about a month or so. Sometimes it can be stretched if you're actually adding something new to the discussion, or an update on the topic that was being discussed.

Most of the time it's just better to make a new thread, and link to the old one to reference what you're talking about. You can always PM a Mod and ask them to lock the old thread so no one accidentally posts in there and necro's it. We're usually more than happy to help.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Honestly, I'd say after it gets off the 1st page of the related forum. I mean a page worth of posts can span two or three days, depending on how popular the topic is.
So if no one has talked about you in two or three days, yeah then I'd say the thread is dead. Time to move on.



Captcha: Easy as cake...yeah I thought so too

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

It's about a month now. Never used to be a serious restriction on it and I used to bring up threads from page 20 when I got bored. That's illegal now, so I don't see the point of even showing us 20 pages of forum threads... <.<

[sup][sup][sup]I blame the necromancers who abused the system to bring up truly ancient threads and spamming the forum with it. That's probably the only reason this rule got made...[/sup][/sup][/sup]

 

[IceForce]

Most forums lock threads (usually automatically) that they don't want to be necroed. I never understood why they don't do that here.

[sup][sup][sup]I blame the necromancers who abused the system to bring up truly ancient threads and spamming the forum with it. That's probably the only reason this rule got made...[/sup][/sup][/sup]

That's the reason, yeah.

It got so bad it'd reached the point where it had basically turned into a new form of forum spam.

And yet it's still happening. The rule didn't work.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Personally, I don't like responding to people even a few days after they posted something, but I'd probably consider real necro-ing to be about a 1-2 months later. Well, unless there's a good reason to post after a month.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

[sup][sup][sup]I blame the necromancers who abused the system to bring up truly ancient threads and spamming the forum with it. That's probably the only reason this rule got made...[/sup][/sup][/sup]

That's the reason, yeah.

It got so bad it'd reached the point where it had basically turned into a new form of forum spam.

It used to be done on a case by case basis. People will always ruin something for others if given the chance. >:c

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Just out of curiosity, if it's considered a necro-post after 30 days, why exactly aren't most threads auto-locked after, say, 60 days of inactivity? Or at very least, put some kind of warning near/in the reply field.

I've actually been meaning to make a thread about this, but I couldn't be arsed. Recently, I've been seeing a significant number of new users who seem to have created an account just to comment on some ancient thread from years ago, and then get immediately warned/suspended for it. Not that I disagree with the penalties, but it just seems rather counter productive to keep handing out penalties when you can stop the behavior with little work.
Why litter your lawn with land mines when you can simply put up a fence?

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I'll agree with the general consensus of about a month with no activity before a thread should be considered necro'd/lockable.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Hi all, title says it all really, I've been curious about this, how long would you say the average discussion thread can stay inactive before it can reasonably be considered dead and posting in it considered necro-ing? I know this would generally vary depending on the nature of the thread or how many replies it already has, if it has any, but what is the general consensus here?

Well, for forums in general, it's hard to judge.

But the escapist, conveniently, has a well written set of rules.

These state, that ideally, if you're thinking of creating a new thread, preferably search for an existing one on the same topic first.

If it's been less than a month, post in that, otherwise make a new thread.

So, yeah. About a month is correct for the escapist, based on it's rules...

 

[IceForce]

Just out of curiosity, if it's considered a necro-post after 30 days, why exactly aren't most threads auto-locked after, say, 60 days of inactivity? Or at very least, put some kind of warning near/in the reply field.

I've actually been meaning to make a thread about this, but I couldn't be arsed. Recently, I've been seeing a significant number of new users who seem to have created an account just to comment on some ancient thread from years ago, and then get immediately warned/suspended for it. Not that I disagree with the penalties, but it just seems rather counter productive to keep handing out penalties when you can stop the behavior with little work.
Why litter your lawn with land mines when you can simply put up a fence?

I've asked this exact question/query many times, but I've never gotten a satisfactory answer.

Locking necro threads AFTER they've already been necroed, is tantamount to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

SURELY it should be obvious to everyone that some method of prevention is needed here.

 

[Kaymish]

well i think it depends on how busy a forum is i remember moderating a forum where we had so little traffic that if something was less than 2 years old it was fair game for posting but then again we lost most of the archive when a new version of bulletin board came out so it didnt matter that much
but over here i would say 2 weeks is a bit of necro
however if a reply is still on topic and the thread is not being bumped unnecessarily why care about necro posting at all