A question about forum policy

[Azanor]

I would like to ask a question about forum policy. If this is the wrong place please move it to the right one. I am asking it with no bad intentions and hoping to get a kind response..

My question is: Why does it get locked immediately when an old topic is brought back. I read the forum rules and there is no rule prohibiting it. Usually people are not being rude to each other nor trying to bother other people when they leave a message to old threads. Yet almost every-time it gets immediate lock .

Can any of the moderators please explain why this practice is in place, and tell if there is any policy preventing us opening back to old threads? If this is an unwritten policy, can you please make it a written one, so we all will be aware of it? If it is a written one can you please direct me there?

Thank You

[CBJ]

You must have missed rule 10.

We have an excellent FAQ. You can link search here or perform a detailed search here. 'Bumping' (replying to a thread not discussed since a long time ago) of old or out of date topics is not encouraged.

The primary reason for it is that old threads often contain out of date information, for example discussions of behaviour in older versions of the game that have long since been changed in a patch. There are other reasons too, like the fact that in a busy forum the same topics get discussed again and again, and resurrecting an ancient one is rarely any more useful than starting a new one.

Hope that clarifies a little.

[Rapier]

Why do I have an urge to put a note in my diary to bring this thread back in 24 months time?

[Antilogic]

Why do I have an urge to put a note in my diary to bring this thread back in 24 months time?

Aye. At this "bumping" isnt as bad here as some other forums- some I know will tend to pull back threads from 2002! Of course, crappy search engines dont help, but hey configure people!

[Lancefighter]

Why do I have an urge to put a note in my diary to bring this thread back in 24 months time?

Aye. At this "bumping" isnt as bad here as some other forums- some I know will tend to pull back threads from 2002! Of course, crappy search engines dont help, but hey configure people!

/me knows you could not POSSIBLY mean the eve forums

It depends, if a post contains relavent material, and is not really out of date (like the ship name thread someplace), then it wont immediately be locked. If the post contains irrelvant stuff, or the topic itself is out of date, there is no point leaving it at the top and letting people see false/out of date info, and therefore the post is locked.

[BugMeister]

- not even as a bad joke..

[The_Abyss]

Sometimes, on rare occassions, an OP returns to the original thread with an update on the topic. Moderators usually (and well) use their judgement on threads like this as to whether they should carry on or not. A selfish but still relevant example would be my own thread around February last year when I decided on a 12 month experiment to reduce my carbon footprint over the next 12 months, and I'll hopefully be reviving it in the new year with a relevant update.

Quite often, an old thread is revived innocently by a new user just searching for a topic and not realising how old the search result is. In those cases, as CBJ has said, the original information is likely to be out of date and a new thread is probably better.

[Azanor]

Thank you for the explanation. I appreciate it. And I wasnt sure if this question belonged to x universe or off topic. I will post it in off topic if I have any question regarding forums in the future.

[jlehtone]

Quite often, an old thread is revived innocently by a new user just searching for a topic and not realising how old the search result is. In those cases, as CBJ has said, the original information is likely to be out of date and a new thread is probably better.

Or the comment either answers a question presented in OP, or asks OP for more info, while the OP author no longer visits the forum, ie does not need an answer any more nor will answer any questions.

[Mars Mug]

What about linking to an old thread, e.g. ‘I just read through this old thread {link} and don’t agree with blah blah blah’, I assume that’s OK since it won’t trigger any automated e-mails due to updates? Is that perhaps a safer way to refer to a previously discussed subject?

[Paranoid66]

What about linking to an old thread, e.g. ‘I just read through this old thread {link} and don’t agree with blah blah blah’, I assume that’s OK since it won’t trigger any automated e-mails due to updates? Is that perhaps a safer way to refer to a previously discussed subject?

Maybe the old phrase let sleeping dogs lie applies. Is their any topic around here that fails to come around again. Ignoring the ones properly crushed by the moderators.

Sometimes its like you have ventured into Robert Jordens Wheel of Time series.