What's wrong with necroposting?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I did read that thread, but I think that the issue might have had to do with the "Similar Threads" section as well. I mean instead of the person digging up old threads, it seems more likely that they were looking at the "Similar Threads" and commented on those as well.

I think that it would be helpful if the threads in the "Similar Threads" section were not so old.

It doesn't matter where people get the threads from. Similar threads are fine and perfectly acceptable.

The problem is with people who come across whatever threads for whatever reason, read them, see that they don't really apply (or don't bother to check --possibly "train-of-thought is boarding at the station"?), then post meaningless stuff, like responses to out-of-date instructions and even totally-unrelated stuff.

In Worldwalker's post, some idiot was vandalizing MR with complaints about Sony. Possibly using the Similar Threads list. But either way, it is just one more case of people necroposting where they don't belong --regardless of why.

[GrannyGrump]

One problem I can see with auto-locking would be in the Library. Many uploaders resurrect very old threads to upload new book versions, many readers resurrect them to comment on books they have down-loaded. Maybe if an auto-lock policy was implemented, it would have to exclude the Library.

And yes, I think the "Similar Threads" can be very confusing for any poster. It's sometimes hard to judge whether an old thread is relevant, or if its *title* just happens to be similar to the thread you are currently reading. Case in point, four out of five of the Similar Threads for this one are titles that simply contain the word "Wrong". This is not necessarily helpful...

[eschwartz]

That is why people should read the threads first...

[GrannyGrump]

That is why people should read the threads first...

Oh, but that takes away all the mystery and adventure!

[ApK]

...and another thing....

The one kind of necroposting I CANNOT stand is when a poster--not a moderator--necroposts with an OFF TOPIC reply to a necroposter for no reason other than to berate them for necroposting. As if they make the rules and we all need to hear them.

[GeoffC]

^^^^^That too ....^^^^

[Glorfindel]

I would think that if the 'Similar Threads' section was changed so any threads over a year for example, didn't show, it would fix quite a lot of the problems.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

I would think that if the 'Similar Threads' section was changed so any threads over a year for example, didn't show, it would fix quite a lot of the problems.

......

[GeoffC]

....

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

I would think that if the 'Similar Threads' section was changed so any threads over a year for example, didn't show, it would fix quite a lot of the problems.

Excellent suggestion. I thought there was already a cutoff date in place, but I was mistaken. There's a technical difficulty though:

Similar threads are determined at the time a thread is created - they are never changed unless we manually run the routines to update similar threads, which doesn't scale well if you do it for all threads at once. So, although we could add a cutoff time to, let's say six months, once the thread has been created, the similar threads won't be updated anymore. So an older thread will only have even older threads listed as similar threads. Newer threads won't be added.

It's not a great system, and it might even be worthwhile to consider turning it off for that reason.

[GeoffC]

You might even speed up the Forum page refresh (Not that it's that slow though!!!)

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

It's not a great system, and it might even be worthwhile to consider turning it off for that reason.

Turning it off seems like a reasonable idea.

[Billi]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

I would think that if the 'Similar Threads' section was changed so any threads over a year for example, didn't show, it would fix quite a lot of the problems.

Which?

I personally find them very helpful, they sometimes make searching this forum much more easier than anything else.

[Glorfindel]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Excellent suggestion. I thought there was already a cutoff date in place, but I was mistaken. There's a technical difficulty though:
Similar threads are determined at the time a thread is created - they are never changed unless we manually run the routines to update similar threads, which doesn't scale well if you do it for all threads at once. So, although we could add a cutoff time to, let's say six months, once the thread has been created, the similar threads won't be updated anymore. So an older thread will only have even older threads listed as similar threads. Newer threads won't be added.
It's not a great system, and it might even be worthwhile to consider turning it off for that reason.

Maybe add [Old] tags to the title?

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Maybe add [Old] tags to the title?

We have something like this in place. When you try to reply to an old thread (90 days or older I believe), you will see a reminder saying:

"Old Thread Warning

This thread is quite old and may contain outdated information. We recommend that you begin a new discussion if you like to talk about a similar topic. Of course, you may also proceed and reply here."