This isn't so much a suggestion...
By
Aett_Thorn,
Posted on: 2009-04-21 22:59 in Suggestions and Ideas
Actually, when there is a relevant post among the dusty threads I have no issue with reviving it. We've lost a lot of important information to forum purges in the past, I don't think necroing things is a terrible act necessarily. However, there IS a good informative "how to search" thread too.
heh, case in point, I am on a different completely unrelated forum and wanted to find out whether anyone listed City of Heroes as a game that they played - since they have a "other games you play" section. Their rules specifically state, "search first!" ... like all good forum posters I SEARCHED FIRST.
And apparently even though the mod of that forum likes COH but can't play it, it took him another post before he said "DON'T NECRO POST!!!!"... I pm'd him in the hopes that he'd unlock the thread (since I kind of wanted to actually TALK to the people in it) but I'm not holding my breath.
It does seem silly to have a "search first but don't necro" rule.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
There's a difference between a dead topic that hasn't been brought up in months or years, and a topic that gets mentioned on almost a weekly basis.
Also if you read the forum rules and guidelines:
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Cross posting is not permitted. As a courtesy to others before beginning a new thread, please look to see if an active thread on that topic has already been established using the Search feature. If so, place your comments there instead. Multiple threads on the same subject clutter up the forum needlessly and many good ideas may be lost. Use the Search link to keep discussions about one topic to one thread only.
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They clearly tell us to search first, and why. They aren't going to bother reading a bunch of clutter.
My advise, before posting do a search over the past three months, if you don't get anything then it's probably safe to make a new thread on the topic.
You still may catch some flak because people tend to conceal their suggestions under strange titles that didn't come up in your search, but at least you tried.
Under Rule 5:
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No thread necromancy. Necro-posting is responding to an old discussion thread and is a form of thread bumping. If you wish to discuss an considerably older topic, create a new post and link to the older discussion.
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Of course, under the same rule is
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Bumping posts in order to keep them near the top of the list is also prohibited. Likewise, the use of "/signed" posts are discouraged in that it doesnt engender constructive discussion.
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and we see how often that gets obeyed. 
The official "good practice" is: Search for similar posts, but if it's an old post, create a new one and link to it.
Of course, how old is "old"? Nobody but Mod 8 knows.
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Personally? I don't give a flying [censored]. If people want to present their idea, I don't care if it's been presented thirty times before -- it's new to them, and the worst it'll do for the forum is inspire someone to make up a new boilerplate. Likewise, as Zekiran says, there's plenty to be gained with a thoughtful necro.
Searching is good form, but it's not the sole keystone preventing the collapse of all civilization into chaos.
Well, there's a limit either way.
Generally, do this:
1. Search. Go 3-6 months, and read through what's been said. 3 mo is usually good.
Going to paste my boilerplate "how to search" here, because doing it this way really does make what you get back more relevant.:
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1. Click on "Search" up at the top of the forum.
2. On the left, under "Forum(s) to search," select "Suggestions and ideas."
3. On the right, Keyword Search Terms. This is probably where your problem was if you did search. Try the following, exactly as typed:
+topic -"re: "
This will search for anything with the string "topic" in the title.The -re: portion of it removes replies, so you'll see the root of every thread that comes up, letting you see just how many threads there are on this. (The last helps for other subjects, as well.)
Be sure to put the space between the colon and last quote.
4. Click the "In subject" radio button. This is a search, not a cute blonde in a bikini. Here, you want to ignore the body.
5. Leave Username Search blank.
6. Date range, Newer Than, change the 1 to a 3, and the time to Months.
7. Result format doesn't matter. Click on "Submit."
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Use the most common portion of the search. For instance, if you were looking for server consolidation topics, think about it a minute before you search. What else could it be called? Server merge, server combination, combine the servers - is anything in common? Yes, the precise string "server" (which will bring up server and serverS - it just matches the pattern of characters.)
Read through the replies. See what the original ideas were and how the conversation went. Does it match yours? Does it go *beyond* yours?
Do you actually have a different view, or something to add? Or is it pretty much the same, or answered in that thread?
If you get a recent post - go ahead and bring it back up if you have questions. If it's a couple of months back, and you don't think it's really addressed - link to it.
"I did a search and came across (link,) but I have a different take that might work better." (Or "I have a different take on it."
Linking gives a point of reference without necro-ing a thread that's potentially no longer relevant from being too old (while we have forum purges, threads with rednames don't get wiped.)
The main value of things like kneejerk injunctions to use the search function, or parsing rules about dead topics, or arguing that a post doesn't belong HERE but rather THERE, is that is provides an important psychological boost to the users who are driven, by whatever issues, to try and assume an authority they do not in fact possess and to feel cool by trying to tell other users ow to behave.
Wannabe netkops, polishing their junior G-mod badges, are irritating at worst and amusing at best, except on those occasions when a user is suckered into accepting their authority, apologizing for some alleged transgression.
The appropriate response is, of course, either open rejection of their presumptuous posturing, or simply ignoring it.
My scrapper doesn't need an AoE. She IS an AoE.
Also something to keep in mind:
We're not really against the same topic coming up over and over again. It's the people who post on the same topic without doing any research into it whatsoever.
Take the following as examples:
Topic A gets the following 3 posts:
I want feature X!
I want feature X!
I want feature X!
No matter what the replies are to those three threads, the same ill-informed posts keep getting put up there.
Now, let's go to Topic B:
I want feature Y!
I want feature Y!
I want feature Y! And I understand some of the arguments against feature Y being implemented. I will go into each argument against, and try to posit my own responses to those, and try to make my case for why feature Y should be put into the game as long as some of these arguments have been abated.
Do you see how the search feature might lead to more of the second case here? It allows people to increase their knowledge of a subject so that they can better prepare their idea. Maybe they can even find ways to mitigate past criticisms of a similar idea.
THAT is what the search feature should be used for. To better educate yourself on the subject BEFORE posting.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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The main value of things like kneejerk injunctions to use the search function, or parsing rules about dead topics, or arguing that a post doesn't belong HERE but rather THERE, is that is provides an important psychological boost to the users who are driven, by whatever issues, to try and assume an authority they do not in fact possess and to feel cool by trying to tell other users ow to behave.
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Swing and a miss.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
That's adorable, Thorn.
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The main value of things like kneejerk injunctions to use the search function, or parsing rules about dead topics, or arguing that a post doesn't belong HERE but rather THERE, is that is provides an important psychological boost to the users who are driven, by whatever issues, to try and assume an authority they do not in fact possess and to feel cool by trying to tell other users ow to behave.
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Swing and a miss.
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More along the lines of "swing and miss so badly you hit yourself."
It's more of a question related to a response that I see on here daily.
*in an ominous voice*
"Use the search function!"
I thought I read somewhere that reviving dead topics was against the rules as well. Also, considering how rapidly many aspects of the game and the world around us are evolving, wouldn't it be valid to address a topic again after a certain time period?
I mean, a year ago, how many people would have thought that something like the mission architect was a realistic idea on CoH?
Just some food for thought...
(I'll take my forum beatings now, thanks!)