Necro time limit and pertinence?

[swillfly]

I just received a warning regarding necroing old threads. I am thankful for the warning instead of instant banning but am really curious as to what is necroing and what is acceptable discussion continuance.

There are many, many threads about a plethora of topics done before so rather than start a new thread that has been overdone I sometimes will just reply to a pertinent older thread using the official Steam Forums search tool provided.

However... apparently necroing an old thread is a no-no regardless of whether or not it is germane.

I can start new threads regurgitating the same-old stuff covered in countless other threads. Not a problem for me. However the flip side is that some people will post links to other threads that have previously covered that topic or become irritated about starting yet another thread that has been overdone.

Catch-22

Also, I'm not sure what constitutes necroing a thread. 'm guessing it has to do with a certain amount of time - is it over a week? over a month? over a year? I have no idea.

May be better to err on the side of caution and receive community ire than bans for starting topics that have been done many times before.

Constructive/helpful opinions?

Thx!

[ReBoot]

Posting in an old thread is fine, if you stick by the topic. By the exact topic, not something vaguely related.

[crunchyfrog]

It's also not entirely concrete. The rules are that it's not a good idea to necro.
So you'd need to have a bit more diligence in posting on an old thread, as ReBoot says. You would need to both go the extra mile to making sure it's REALLY germane and worth extending the thread for, versus making a new one.

For example, if you had an issue with Steam playing up, and you searched an old thread for similar posts around 2 or 3 years ago, then unless you have something really good to make regurgitating it worthwhile (like for instance, having an answer) tthen it probably isn't worth doing.

The simple reason is largely this - people are more likely to read new threads. And there's also the problem that just because you have similar symptoms, it does NOT IN ANY WAY mean that's the same problem. Many people fall for that one.

So, yes, err on the side of caution and make a new thread if it suffices.

[Tito Shivan]

I've taken a look at your warning.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/12/828937979134744743/?ctp=3#c3065249074201007059

On one side, to the best of my opinion, you did post an on-topic reply. On the other hand though you made the reply in an eight year old thread.
We're kind of playing in the edges in this particular case.

We're kind of getting into 'the spirit of the law vs the word of the law'... For such an old thread you could pretty much have made a new one and no one would even consider to report it as 'duplicate'

[Gus the Crocodile]

There is no rule against "necroing", and mods shouldn't be using it to describe infractions.

[⛤ .katia ˚⊹]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

We're kind of getting into 'the spirit of the law vs the word of the law'... For such an old thread you could pretty much have made a new one and no one would even consider to report it as 'duplicate'

what do you think about this one: https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3111395113758619162/#c5755024051042349925 ~ 173 days old thread.. but what a nice reply!!

[T9]

Warning for necro?
Ridiculous

[Jackhammer (Wholf)]

Originally posted by Gus the Crocodile:

There is no rule against "necroing", and mods shouldn't be using it to describe infractions.

Necoring is indeed not in the rules list on Steam but what I do know is that there was a huge thread about this topic going on with more information.

[Tito Shivan]

At the end of the day what people call 'necroing' is at most an specific kind of spam.
You don't 'necro' an old thread with an on-topic post (The rules actually advise people to look for existing threads) and if someone is posting off-topic comments he's just spamming.

Originally posted by taki:

what do you think about this one: https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3111395113758619162/#c5755024051042349925 ~ 173 days old thread.. but what a nice reply!! :reexcited:

I see it's been dealt with. Not appropriate language certainly.

[☆ƧQυiяяєL♫]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

... if someone is posting off-topic comments he's just spamming.

wat!

I like a can of corned beef over spam.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Gus the Crocodile:

There is no rule against "necroing", and mods shouldn't be using it to describe infractions.

Actually, Tito answered this clearly. Spirit of the law versus the actual wording.

Contract coniditons do NOT and never do iterate specific terms for every situation. They are often covered under umbrella terms.

For example, if you look at the user manual (if you can find one) for any household electronics, it will NOT say "please don't put washing up liquid in your BluRay player", but it WILL say "we are not responsible for faults down to your misuse of the product".

So in this case, it doesn't need to spell that out. The rules do say that anything untoward off-topic or whatever can be covered by discretion. Because as with everything there are ALWAYS edge cases.

[swillfly]

thx Tito. I thought I was law-abiding as I was still on topic. I didn't even bother to check the date - that's my bad. So I'll pay more attention to that when searching to avoid any unpleasantries.

Any idea what is a "safe" time frame to reply within?

[Gus the Crocodile]

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

Originally posted by Gus the Crocodile:

There is no rule against "necroing", and mods shouldn't be using it to describe infractions.

Actually, Tito answered this clearly. Spirit of the law versus the actual wording..

What Tito just highlighted is that the problem is spam posting, and posting on topic in an old thread is not a problem.

Thing is, even if a post is entirely constructive and not a problem, if it’s in an old thread that pops back to the front page it will invariably be followed by “who necroed this??” comments by others - because that’s the origin of the term, the ‘dead’ rising etc. Those posts are spam, but by acting as if “necroing” is a problem, mods are actually validating them.

When the problem is spam, call it spam, so people know what you’re on about. Using the term “necro” to describe these posts is counterproductive. It propagates a misunderstanding that causes further problems.

[swillfly]

Originally posted by Gus the Crocodile:

Originally posted by crunchyfrog:

Actually, Tito answered this clearly. Spirit of the law versus the actual wording..

What Tito just highlighted is that the problem is spam posting, and posting on topic in an old thread is not a problem.

Thing is, even if a post is entirely constructive and not a problem, if it’s in an old thread that pops back to the front page it will invariably be followed by “who necroed this??” comments by others - because that’s the origin of the term, the ‘dead’ rising etc. Those posts are spam, but by acting as if “necroing” is a problem, mods are actually validating them.

When the problem is spam, call it spam, so people know what you’re on about. Using the term “necro” to describe these posts is counterproductive. It propagates a misunderstanding that causes further problems.

Interesting. I am no intentional spammer. I have much better things (and games) to do. So the warning is fine in my book as I can see the Why. That said, I wish I knew what time frame constitutes "spam" or "necro" of a thread.

I have an idea on that.

[Aachen]

Spam is less about when a post is made and more about it’s content (or, frequently, lack thereof).

[swillfly]

Originally posted by Aachen:

Spam is less about when a post is made and more about it’s content (or, frequently, lack thereof). :spicecrystal:

I dunno. In my other post in Steam Community someone else hard defined necroing as spam.

Whole lot of vague and unknown rules to abide by... just saying.