Why are forums so anal about old topics and posts?

[Zakamutt]

clean  clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean clean

Seriously do some people have OCPD

[babiker]

The Fuwa staff. You allways wanna be one of them.

[Dark Ariel7]

Well, not what I expected when I performed a revival ritual but this is good too...

I just like new threads because I hate going through several pages of stuff wanting to reply to that stuff and realizing that it is too late. I mean when a thread has like 15 pages people don't really even remember what they posted on pg 1 or how they felt about it at the time.

[crunchytaco]

I've necroed a thread or two and they got hot replies for a few weeks. No one seemed to complain. I'm also sure I've asked several questions here that have been answered before without upsetting the status quo here. 

 

The thing is, there are always new members who are enthusiastic to answer. You finish a fresh VN and you want to do nothing more than to do discuss it. I'm not sure I've met an older member here who've moaned about the same old, same old. If they're that burned out, they're due for a vacation from here soon anyhow. 

 

But of course I've seen tons of those reactions you've mentioned on other forums. 

[Okami]

I think that necroposting is better then making a double thread, firstly because points that people already made will still be there in that thread, secondly while it's not big deal if we have 2 or 3 same threads it becomes annoying when we have 100 of the same threads.

 

That said I don't really think that we have a problem with this here on Fuwa.

[Nosebleed]

Tay has just posted a thread regarding this topic. For that reason i am closing this one down as discussion should be redirected to the new thread

You can give feedback here

[Dark Ariel7]

I actually prefer the 100 thread option. for reasons stated in my previous post.

[Tay]

The topic in the improvements board is specifically about policies. The philosophical debate about necro vs new topics is as old as internet bulletin board sites, and, if'd like, can be discussed here.

[babiker]

I'll just say this:

 

If newbies don't get the chance to talk about all the stuff they came here to talk about, regardless if it has been talked about or not, they'll just leave. I started a topic about saya no uta, and I'm sure it has been talked about before. But I still enjoyed the heck out of it, it got like 140 replies or something. If I had to go searching for an old thread and replying to that instead, I wouldn't have enjoyed it in the least. Plus it would have bugged some people (for some reason).

 

So if you ask me, repeated threads>necromanced thread.

 

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!!

[Dark Ariel7]

I'll just say this:

 

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!!

I never understood why people can't just do this.

 

Another reason I like repeat threads is because I-like most people- like to hear(read?) myself speak. And to be frank most things have been already said anyways.

[sanahtlig]

This is a subtopic of a larger debate--that is, what is the purpose of a given forum?  Typical answers would be a forum exists to share information and ideas, and to socialize, and one's position in this debate will be influenced by which of these you tend to prioritize.  Those in the former camp prefer the forum environment to be optimized for information dissemination, which means having discrete forum topics that stay on topic and have minimal redundancy.  Those in the latter camp prefer a looser environment with freeform conversational discussion--who you're talking with may be more important than what you're talking about. 

 

The information dissemination camp frowns on necro posting when it doesn't add to the discussion, creating redundancy and filler, or when the topic itself is no longer timely or relevant.  The socialization camp frowns on it because the conversation between the original participants is over--they would prefer new threads starting a fresh conversation instead.  While multiple redundant threads can be a result of suppressing necro posts, the information dissemination camp would frown on redundancy no matter the form it takes.

 

In short, those who like a very organized forum environment (the information dissemination camp) would tend to prefer necro posting over redundant threads (as long as the post adds to the discussion), while those who like freeform discussion (the socalization camp) would tend to prefer new threads for fresh discussion. 

[Dark Ariel7]

This is a subtopic of a larger debate--that is, what is the purpose of a given forum?  Typical answers would be a forum exists to share information and ideas, and to socialize, and one's position in this debate will be influenced by which of these you tend to prioritize.  Those in the former camp prefer the forum environment to be optimized for information dissemination, which means having discrete forum topics that stay on topic and have minimal redundancy.  Those in the latter camp prefer a looser environment with freeform conversational discussion--who you're talking with may be more important than what you're talking about. 

 

The information dissemination camp frowns on necro posting when it doesn't add to the discussion, creating redundancy and filler, or when the topic itself is no longer timely or relevant.  The socialization camp frowns on it because the conversation between the original participants is over--they would prefer new threads starting a fresh conversation instead.  While redundant threads can be a result of suppressing necro posts, the information dissemination camp would frown on redundancy no matter the form it takes.

I find this to be a very concise way of phrasing it. I would agree that I am in the free form camp in general.

[babiker]

 I would agree that I am in the free form camp in general.

Count me in

[babiker]

Rooke posted this on another thread, regarding my post:-

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.

 

I don't mind old people joining a discussion, but they don't have to if they don't like it. And they can just copy/paste what they posted in any old threads, if they want to join. But for them to join a discussion for the sole purpose of nagging about how "we've already talked about this" just sounds ridiculous.

[Nosebleed]

You see right now our userbase is relatively small. We can still manage threads with some effort.

But now imagine we just allow any user to make the thread they want to. And imagine this as our userbase grows. It'll get to a point where there's tons of threads discussing the same thing, discussion will be hindered by this since it'll be divided, you get a dumpyard of threads, making it harder to search, and nobody comes out the winner.

Before you get to this point it's better to prevent new threads discussing old topics all together because we're still at a manageable level

You're saying the fuwa staff is a clean freak, and with all the reason to, because we want to be able to make this site manageable for us and accessible for other users and if you start turning into a dumpyard of threads you're just hindering discussion. There is absolutely no reason a new user can not use an old thread. It's just the better solution to keep the forums' integrity.

The moment we start allowing new threads with old topics to be created is the moment we allow our forums to become the dumpster that are forums like the MAL one where i see the same thread 5 times in one page.

[Zakamutt]

If the same thread is on the same page you can obviously merge it, lol. You don't have to use big forum policies on smaller forums. Adapt. If we ever do get big enough for there to be enough redundancy that there's an actual post overload, reconsider. What is best for one place is not the best for another, think about that.

[Nosebleed]

For me unless a topic is like over a year old there's no reason to make a new one on the same matter. This is also why i suggested a time limit for "what is old" so we can have a more solidified system regarding necrobumping.

Sure we'll merge newer threads if there's duplicates, but why not bump old ones? You'd be doing everyone a favor.

[Kendjin]

To be honest, some threads do get brought back up and people don't shut them down. Its usually less people bitching about an old thread coming up.

 

The issue is when the reply is a reply to something that hasn't been relevant anymore.

 

If someone posts in a year old topic and rekindles it, people will post and it will be alive again.

 

But if someone posts up a solution to something a year ago, its not really relevant anymore.

[Dark Ariel7]

*now to wait for the discussion to die down and necro again in a few months* Muwahahahaha

[Heizei_koukousei]

I'm guilty, I bring old forum games back especially on MAL