What is considered a necropost? «123...Next Go

lisasc360

keekee53 wrote: »

Can you guys like close old threads? I don't mind if threads are necro'd. Sometimes bugs or the discussions are still valid two years later. It really bothers me when we are having a current conversation on a necro'd thread and I go to respond only for it to be closed because it is necro'd.

I think it would be better if all old discussions were just closed and if someone wants to still discuss, they can create a new thread. Maybe some of the forums sections can be skipped like the creative corner as it was brought to my attention there are a lot of old threads there.

Not too sure that they can just skip sections like that since there would be an auto-locking of old threads in place. I think the only way to close any older threads is to do them one by one and I think that would just take too long to do as there is just too many old threads to go through. So it's still best to let the community managers decide on whether they need to be closed or not.

Wolfee

@EA_Lanna Thank you for making this thread. I never realized that it was a problem to revive old posts, but I do now. I actually necro'd an old post about Gay Parenting in the Sims 4 a few days ago by accident by giving useful information. The thread was closed the same day. I'm just glad people can still go to those old threads because my post could help someone in the future who searched for it on Google.

EA_Lanna

Wolfee wrote: »

@EA_Lanna Thank you for making this thread. I never realized that it was a problem to revive old posts, but I do now. I actually necro'd an old post about Gay Parenting in the Sims 4 a few days ago by accident by giving useful information. The thread was closed the same day. I'm just glad people can still go to those old threads because my post could help someone in the future who searched for it on Google.

Yes I saw the thread Thanks for adding that helpful info as it's like you said if players search that thread in the future your insights could really help them. After reviewing this thread, have you any questions regarding necroing in general?

Simburian

One forum I was on warned me that the last post to a thread was (dated) a long time ago. Maybe this might be useful to warn those who find them? It certainly stopped me from adding to it.

The actual information might be useful for those who haven't got most of the pack though with a rider that all problems in old posts probably patched.

EA_Lanna

Simburian wrote: »

One forum I was on warned me that the last post to a thread was (dated) a long time ago. Maybe this might be useful to warn those who find them? It certainly stopped me from adding to it.

The actual information might be useful for those who haven't got most of the pack though with a rider that all problems in old posts probably patched.

Yes we do try to inform and remind members on the rule when it happens in a post but I'm not sure I'd like to warn someone for it unless it was repeatedly done. Anyone can make a mistake once or twice

igazor

I think what @Simburian means is that an automatic text warning appears when we begin to respond to a thread that has remained dormant for a long time with an option to proceed anyway, as was also mentioned at the very beginning of this particular discussion before it got torn away from wherever it originally was and made into its own thread. Not that a human moderator generated formal warning is required. "Warning, this thread has not been posted to for 180 days. Do you want to continue?" or something like that. And yes, that kind of feature can indeed be very helpful.

EA_Lanna

igazor wrote: »

I think what @Simburian means is that an automatic text warning appears when we begin to respond to a thread that has remained dormant for a long time with an option to proceed anyway, as was also mentioned at the very beginning of this particular discussion before it got torn away from wherever it originally was and made into its own thread. Not that a human moderator generated formal warning is required. "Warning, this thread has not been posted to for 180 days. Do you want to continue?" or something like that. And yes, that kind of feature can indeed be very helpful.

Ahhh completely misread that so ^^ Thanks for clarifying, that would be handy. I can pass that on and see if it's feasible for the forum.

Simburian

Thanks @igazor That is what I meant.

Simburian

Sims3 is a legacy game now and is not likely to have anything new for it (except Mods and CC), not the concern of EA, so does it matter that those new to the game resurrect old threads to ask questions? This may be an annoyance to those who have played the game for some time but that seems a little bit selfish in my opinion. At least there were Prima guides for those to inform of new stuff.

Sims 4 is a game which is being updated and changed all the time with Packs and Patches and should be more carefully checked for outdated necro'd threads. Some are still current in terms of objects and interactions and bugs not addressed yet. There are no guides for it except those produced by external sites and some of those have started charging for theirs.

In Sims 4 we are all in the dark about what Packs contain except for nuggets of information from SimGurus and Forum posters who try to help. (Many thanks to them). No wonder Newbies thrash around trying to find their way.

Maybe a better Search facility might help with a "how far back" 1 year, 2 year etc., limit or what Pack?

lisasc360

Simburian wrote: »

Sims3 is a legacy game now and is not likely to have anything new for it (except Mods and CC), not the concern of EA, so does it matter that those new to the game resurrect old threads to ask questions? This may be an annoyance to those who have played the game for some time but that seems a little bit selfish in my opinion. At least there were Prima guides for those to inform of new stuff.

Sims 4 is a game which is being updated and changed all the time with Packs and Patches and should be more carefully checked for outdated necro'd threads. Some are still current in terms of objects and interactions and bugs not addressed yet. There are no guides for it except those produced by external sites and some of those have started charging for theirs.

In Sims 4 we are all in the dark about what Packs contain except for nuggets of information from SimGurus and Forum posters who try to help. (Many thanks to them). No wonder Newbies thrash around trying to find their way.

Maybe a better Search facility might help with a "how far back" 1 year, 2 year etc., limit or what Pack?

We do actually have an "Advance Search" feature in place. Just hit the "Go" button next to the search feature up top and it takes you to the advance search page.

Or you could do a regular search first and then hit the gray down arrow in the search box.

Once you get there, just hit the down arrow where I've indicated it in this picture.


This next picture shows you the advance search feature that does have a drop down box that will have: 1 Day, 3 Days, 1 Week, 2 Weeks, 1 Month, 2 Months, 6 Months 1 Year listed in it.


But even still, once new members create their account and make their post in an older thread and start looking for more threads with the same topic that they've just posted in, they don't know about the advance search feature providing that they are still using the forum site and not Google to get to the other threads. Which in some cases, they are still using Google to click on the other links matching their search.

But the problem lies with some new forum members using Google search which then leads them to here once they click on the link to the post that they see on Google. And once here, they have to create an account to be able to post their findings or helpful tips and hints. And even though they put in "The Sims 4" in the Google search box, it still brings up "The Sims 3" postings as well but the person ignores the fact that it states "TS3" in the title or they ignore the dates posted under the titles.

Take this picture for an example:

I did a Google search for "The Sims 4 Ghosts and this came up in my search. The 2nd link is a TS4 link to a thread about changing clothes for a ghost while the 3nd one is a link from 2009 asking how to make a ghost appear for TS3. So if someone who's a TS4 player that's searching for answers on how to make a ghost appear, then they're going to click on that thread and ask their question and not see that it's an old thread from 2009. But if they have the answer to making ghost appear in TS4, they're still going to click on that link as they're not paying any attention to the date.


Some had suggested earlier in this thread I believe, that there should be a warning box that comes up when someone presses the "Post Comment" button that will alert them to the fact that the thread that they're about ready to post in is X amount of Days or Months old (depending on what the management team can put in there) and that it's hasn't been commented on since then. Then it would go on asking if the poster still wants to proceed with posting in the old outdated thread, then they either click on Post or Cancel. Then I'm thinking that once it's been posted, then there should be some type of an alert that goes to the community managers letting them know that someone has posted in an old outdated thread that they can look at and decide if it should remain open or close it and create a new thread for the new member.

Hope this makes sense...

Simburian

This needs to be properly explained by the moderators @EA_Mage ? maybe? because I have never bothered to go beyond the general "Search" button at the top right of the page as I deemed it useless, gave up after a few tries because it does not give options clearly about Advanced searches.

Thanks for the information though. @lisasc360

lisasc360

You're welcome @Simburian... I don't think a lot people do as well when searching for something. I try to use when I'm searching for something in order to help other members, especially the new members in hopes of pointing them in the right direction in hopes that they can find what they need.

igazor

Simburian wrote: »

Sims3 is a legacy game now and is not likely to have anything new for it (except Mods and CC), not the concern of EA, so does it matter that those new to the game resurrect old threads to ask questions? This may be an annoyance to those who have played the game for some time but that seems a little bit selfish in my opinion. At least there were Prima guides for those to inform of new stuff

Most of us who spend all or the majority of our time on the Legacy Games section of the forum and are here to be helpful most certainly do not mind new, not already answered within the much older threads, questions being tacked onto them by New Members. That only becomes annoying when we try to answer and the thread gets shut down on us as a necro what feels like mid-stream, at least if the player having revived it has not yet indicated that their new questions have been answered satisfactorily. We should probably try to direct the player to a more recent thread that already includes the answers they seek, if one is available and easy enough to find. But that's why it takes human beings to moderate a forum and the job cannot be done effectively by bots or other automatic processes.

However, what we do tend to mind and should not be allowed to stand are disruptive things like "You don't know what you are talking about, you are all wrong, of course the game has werewolves (weather, universities, travel to the future, etc.)!" on a thread that hadn't been touched for years before the relevant EPs came out. Or, again, TS4 solutions and follow-up TS4 questions to TS3 issues, but those almost have to be oversights on the poster's part as well unless they are trying to be disruptive intentionally.

haleybob729

Does it count as necro-posting if a discussion was opened/started in 2015, but the last time someone posted on it was a few months ago?

lisasc360

haleybob729 wrote: »

Does it count as necro-posting if a discussion was opened/started in 2015, but the last time someone posted on it was a few months ago?

I do believe that just as long as people kept commenting on the thread from the time the thread started up until this year that it's okay. We do have threads that was created back then that's still being commented on such as the one in The Sims 3 General Discussion section titled "What Happened in your Sims 3 game today?" which was created in 2015 and still has members posting in it. But if it was one that was created back then but hadn't had any new comments to it in the last 1-3 years, then it is considered necroposting.

iamsweetmystery

I only first learned about "necroposting" a couple of days ago. I never knew it was such an issue for some people. I had seen on other sites where a thread would be "closed for comment" and you could only read it. The would be no comment box even available. Had no clue it was related to something called necroposting. I'm generally not big on frequenting forums or similar types of sites. I think if it is such a big deal, implementing a "closed for comment" system here would solve the whole issue.

lisasc360

iamsweetmystery wrote: »

I only first learned about "necroposting" a couple of days ago. I never knew it was such an issue for some people. I had seen on other sites where a thread would be "closed for comment" and you could only read it. The would be no comment box even available. Had no clue it was related to something called necroposting. I'm generally not big on frequenting forums or similar types of sites. I think if it is such a big deal, implementing a "closed for comment" system here would solve the whole issue.

I'm just going to quote what I wrote on the 2nd page of this thread so that I don't have to rewrite it again...

If you're suggesting a mass lock down on the older threads that haven't been commented on in years, then it was done by SimGuruDrake back in 2016 when a new member was going around reviving older threads just to get their post count up. But when they commented in them, they weren't posting anything constructive as they were just posting random letters and numbers, so Drake locked all older threads from 2009-January 2015 providing that the last comments were made in that timeline. But when they got locked down, then the threads over in the Creative Corner also got locked as well. And when someone had wanted to update their thread that they were using to share their builds in, they couldn't and had to ask for it to be unlocked so that they wouldn't have to create a new thread to have their builds and creations in. So then all of the older threads that got locked was then reopened again. So I think that the way that the management team is doing it now is better than having them all locked from the start so that nercoing posting doesn't happen as the them team can then determine if the thread warrants a locking or not...

EA_Lanna

Hey Simmers, thanks so much for adding your feedback and questions in here. We've taken it and added it with others feedback to put together this Necroposting guide to help answer these for the community. I'll close this off here now. If you review that guide and find there's still some questions remaining about the rule and how to follow it - pop into this discussion and add your question.