Does anyone mind the bumping of old threads?

[Leigha]

There have been times when I haven't been active much on here, and have noticed upon wandering through a few sub-sections lately, that there are some very interesting older threads that I'd like to post in. Does anyone mind me bumping old threads?

Thought I'd ask, because it seems to be frowned upon um....elsewhere.   

[Syne]

Generally, I wouldn't consider it a good idea, just because everyone involved in the discussion has long since moved on. So if you're interested in the topic, it might be better to start a new thread on the subject rather than try to reinvigorate one with existing baggage. If you're interested in engaging the existing discussion, it might help to quote someone in it (agreeing or disagreeing), so that it seems more than just a comment that warrants no further reply.

[Leigha]

That's a good idea ^^

I could simply take the OP quote of the older thread, and create a new thread using it to kick it off. Thanks for the suggestion!

[stryder]

Syne's suggestion is the best method in general for all forums (It will stop people moaning about "necroing")

One of the main things with forums (amongst other types of discussion sites) is that people can "subscribe" to a thread that they've created or been apart of, which is great when it's active but for the most part there is no auto-timeouts on subscriptions so someone posting into a thread could catalyse them to get loads of messages on a thread they'd been apart of months/years ago.

Originally when configuring this forum I did actually have it rigged to lock threads over 1 year old, however some of the members didn't like the idea of not being able to add to threads after a given time period which is why instead I opted for a warning message in yellow (prefixed to the title of the thread when you load an old thread up) that's included via javascript if a thread is over 1 year old. The idea being that it doesn't stop you from the ability to (necro) post, it just gives you a visual clue that the thread isn't recent.

[C C]

. . . Thought I'd ask, because it seems to be frowned upon um....elsewhere.   

"Other places" occasionally even have the reverse thought orientation of trying to kill a discussion about _X_ subject by bringing up "We've hashed that all out before in _X_ thread" (maybe up to several years before). In turn, that saps the life from newcomers or others who never participated in _X_ thread back then. I.e., who wants to read through 25 to 135 old pages of a relic topic to catch-up on what already transpired and be restricted conversation-wise by that history.

In terms of automation, on highly active forums, the date to auto-kill a thread might (ideally) be after two months of no one replying to it anymore. But on far less active forums like this one, it probably should be a year or so.

[Leigha]

Syne's suggestion is the best method in general for all forums (It will stop people moaning about "necroing")

One of the main things with forums (amongst other types of discussion sites) is that people can "subscribe" to a thread that they've created or been apart of, which is great when it's active but for the most part there is no auto-timeouts on subscriptions so someone posting into a thread could catalyse them to get loads of messages on a thread they'd been apart of months/years ago.

Originally when configuring this forum I did actually have it rigged to lock threads over 1 year old, however some of the members didn't like the idea of not being able to add to threads after a given time period which is why instead I opted for a warning message in yellow (prefixed to the title of the thread when you load an old thread up) that's included via javascript if a thread is over 1 year old.  The idea being that it doesn't stop you from the ability to (necro) post, it just gives you a visual clue that the thread isn't recent.

Okay, thanks, stryder. 
Yea, I like the ''caution'' tag line because it lets me know how old the thread is...sometimes, I don't always notice the actual date. lol

I've noticed that there might have been back and forth arguments (imagine that? ) going on during the time of the thread, so it's probably not a good idea to bring up old threads, because that dredges all of that up, too.

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. . . Thought I'd ask, because it seems to be frowned upon um....elsewhere.   

"Other places" occasionally even have the reverse thought orientation of trying to kill a discussion about _X_ subject by bringing up "We've hashed that all out before in _X_ thread" (maybe up to several years before). In turn, that saps the life from newcomers or others who never participated in _X_ thread back then. I.e., who wants to read through 25 to 135 old pages of a relic topic to catch-up on what already transpired and be restricted conversation-wise by that history.

In terms of automation, on highly active forums, the date to auto-kill a thread might (ideally) be after two months of no one replying to it anymore. But on far less active forums like this one, it probably should be a year or so.

That's so true, CC. I've noticed ''elsewhere'' that when a newbie starts a new thread on a particular topic that has been covered, some of the regulars will band together to blast the thread with comments like ''we've been over this, go check old threads.'' But, if that newbie bumps an old thread, he/she gets scolded for that, too. The newbie just can't win. lol

[Yazata]

There have been times when I haven't been active much on here, and have noticed upon wandering through a few sub-sections lately, that there are some very interesting older threads that I'd like to post in. Does anyone mind me bumping old threads?

I have no objection. I've done it occasionally myself. In fact I encourage you to do it, if the thread is interesting.

[Leigha]

There have been times when I haven't been active much on here, and have noticed upon wandering through a few sub-sections lately, that there are some very interesting older threads that I'd like to post in. Does anyone mind me bumping old threads?

I have no objection. I've done it occasionally myself. In fact I encourage you to do it, if the thread is interesting.

I feel this way, too but understand where others are coming from...