Community Standards Regarding Old Thread Revival?

[RSDean]

Is there a strong community consensus against reviving old threads? I was reading one from 2017/8 about wargaming in the 1970s and was in a nostalgic mood after a day at Historicon yesterday …

[Tactalvanic]

thats probably a yes/no poll question, and duck as the strong opinions fly but hey its a forum and the idea is that you can search old posts etc, go  back years into old discussions and posts, so nostalgia and research into ancient forum posts of long forgotten lore is a given?

I don't mind it, especially if its an interesting old thread, maybe something I have not read before, or forgotten ( yeah my memory sometimes cannot remember 5 minutes ago) etc.

and many of the old threads have some really interesting stuff in them.

So revive away I say.

[carlos marighela]

Not aware of one. As this forum is more often than not project related and people dip in and out of projects, it's not unknown for people to revive their own threads or others to inquire as to their status.

About to revive one of my own as it happens.

[Elbows]

I wouldn't revive a thread with two exceptions:

1) It's your thread...in which case, go for it.  If you picked up an old project, go nuts.
2) It's suddenly relevant.  A product finally came to market, or a movie is being made about the subject of a game, or a new company purchased an old set of rules, or a game is getting a new edition, etc.  Sometimes a Kickstarter doesn't deliver for 4-5 years and then it does...those kind of threads might be relevant/useful.

Simply adding to a long-dormant conversation?  I'd skip that.  No one will remember it, and it is just pushing other current threads off the front page.

[Iain R]

I'm with Elbows on that one.

[commissarmoody]

f you find something to be relevant to your interests then it doesn't hurt to communicate. It's up to the rest of the community and original poster to decide if they want to partake in reviving a old thread.
Now it's probably not polite to just spam a bunch old posts all at once. But this isn't Twitter or Facebook so as long as you are not trying to sale love potions or dodgy finance/political ideas, I say go wild.

[Daeothar]

I've revived loads of old threads of mine containing projects I was revisiting and this is pretty much how I post my own work most of the times to be honest.

There is no hard 'law' that forbids you to resurrect an old thread that you find you want to respond to, but I must add that I've on occasion found a thread at the top of the stack that was interesting, started reading it and then realised it was more than a decade old, with just one new post at the bottom.

And if that post has something relevant to add, it can rekindle the whole conversation and that's good. But most of the time it's something along the lines of 'nice paintjob' or 'I agree' and those posts are better left not posted if you ask me, as they just clutter up the board and don't really add to the thread.

Again; threadomancy is not prohibited, but if you're going to do it, do it for a good reason. Just my €0,02.

Obviously I will now set an alarm 5 years into the future to respond to this thread

[RSDean]

Probably best not, overall …

[swiftnick]

Sounds like an interesting thread so yes please!

[ithoriel]

If it has stirred thoughts you think others may find interesting then I'd say go for it.

But, as has been said, if you have nothing new to add then enjoy the nostalgia and move on.

[FramFramson]

I would add that if the creator of an old thread is still an active poster (something fairly easy to check), there's no faux pas in letting them know you've discovered and are enjoying an old project project of theirs. Most people are quite pleased with free praise! Plus other members might see and enjoy an old thread they missed (or saw, but hey a little nostalgia is fine).

I wouldn't say you even have add "something new" or be at pains to say something "interesting" in that case, though it's a bit awkward if you just reply "great thread" or something equally terse or nominal like that. Put a little effort in.

But I also wouldn't worry too much unless you're running around and doing it to a whole bunch of threads or something. There's no hideous consequences or wagging social ostracism if you necro an old thread, and even one awkward thread necro is hardly a banning offence.

[Easy E]

I know a lot of forums frown on Necromancy, but let's face it; Forums are dying anyway. 

One of their only advantages is that what you put on a Forum, doesn't necessarily go down the memory hole instantly and can easily be found again.  I think it is time Forums really lean into this feature and remove most of their "No Necromancy Bans"  across the board. 

It is not like Forums are nearly as popular as they used to be!

[robh]

I know a lot of forums frown on Necromancy, but let's face it; Forums are dying anyway. 

One of their only advantages is that what you put on a Forum, doesn't necessarily go down the memory hole instantly and can easily be found again.  I think it is time Forums really lean into this feature and remove most of their "No Necromancy Bans"  across the board. 

It is not like Forums are nearly as popular as they used to be!

I think you will find that forums are actually going to be gaining, not losing, popularity.  Now it is (thankfully) the hate ridden social media sites that are dying. The days of free to use, centralised, monopolistic control of internet discussion by mega corporations is over, they have gone so far to one socio-political extreme that they have lost touch with reality and users are abandoning them in droves.

The future is a far more de-centralised websphere, much like it used to be, with diverse groups of like minded people gathering around specialised or specific fora (or whatever format these new groups take) and not opening up to public.

[Doug ex-em4]

I think you will find that forums are actually going to be gaining, not losing, popularity.  Now it is (thankfully) the hate ridden social media sites that are dying. The days of free to use, centralised, monopolistic control of internet discussion by mega corporations is over, they have gone so far to one socio-political extreme that they have lost touch with reality and users are abandoning them in droves.

The future is a far more de-centralised websphere, much like it used to be, with diverse groups of like minded people gathering around specialised or specific fora (or whatever format these new groups take) and not opening up to public.

I hope you’re right - apart from all the other considerations (moral, political, corporate power etc) I never could get the hang of Facebook, for example. Just too bitty and confusing. So I hope that the rumours of the death of that sort of social media are not exaggerated!

Doug

[TWD]

I hope you’re right - apart from all the other considerations (moral, political, corporate power etc) I never could get the hang of Facebook, for example. Just too bitty and confusing. So I hope that the rumours of the death of that sort of social media are not exaggerated!

Doug

Facebook isn't going away any time soon, almost 3 Billion users world wide
It continues to grow albeit with a small slowdown
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/

Instagram likewise continues to grow and is forecast to do more
https://www.statista.com/statistics/183585/instagram-number-of-global-users/

What happens to Twitter remains to be seen but is still used by over 350M people worldwide but has lost users this year and the forecast is that more will leave next year
https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-users-does-twitter-have

None of which is to suggest that forums won't continue (or even grow) but it won't be at the expense of Social Platforms in the short to medium term.