Old threads

[Γαῖα]

I always thought instead of starting a new thread that its always best to seek out your question in an old one.
However upon research all i found was threads not really scratching the surface and when finally a person makes an attempt to explain something, along comes a moderator who shuts it down with the quote,

"This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion".

Confusion from what exactly, wheres some helpful signposting from moderation to an existing post that would more than cover the topic.

So whats the proper course of action, is it to make a new post ?

[Crazy Tiger]

The paid mods only look at the dates, not at context. A few threads that in the past weeks had been revived with on-topic discussion got locked for being older threads.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

The paid mods only look at the dates, not at context. A few threads that in the past weeks had been revived with on-topic discussion got locked for being older threads.

♥♥♥♥, that sucks.

[Jerry]

With that kind of strategy, you have to wonder, why they don't simply implement a script, that closes every thread without activity for six months.
The line between "Don't post a topic that already exists" and "Don't necro threads, that are long dead" always feels like an uncertain one to walk. And I openly admit, that posting a "same here" in a thread of 2012 is rarely helpful.
Shutting topics of older dates without regard to the content does not seem like the right strategy though. I hope, they find a reason to reconsider that, but for now... let's play it safe and say, if the last post is older than three months, stay away from it (I do hope, they judge by latest post, and not by start date).

[J4MESOX4D]

It's a lose/lose situation really - you either revive an older thread that is still perfectly relevant and it gets locked by virtue of age, or create a new one and be told there's already lots of threads on this already and to post in those. The way the locked threads are often left in limbo or in mid-discussion is also disappointing to see because users then either have to start from scratch in a new thread and hope the contributors assist there or just leave it be.

[Pscht]

Originally posted by Jerry:

Shutting topics of older dates without regard to the content does not seem like the right strategy though.

Just like the things they post when closing a thread, the decisions "close yes/no" are absolutely boilerplate[en.wikipedia.org]