I have been to some forum where they don’t allow old threads to be revived. They even have a name for it – grave digger. I wonder, what is the rationale behind that? I am presuming that the threads, whether new or old, are relevant to the forum so what is the issue in commenting on an old thread? I’m not against that policy, just curious about it.
Do you forbid the reviving of old threads?
- Thread starter Corzhens
- Start date
TradingCardMakers
Resident
Really depends how busy your forum is in my point of view.
Marie 1988 Forum
Resident
With some exceptions I don't mind people bringing up old threads as long as they stay on topic
Shannon Apple
Resident
Back when our old forums were extremely active, absolutely, we put a restriction on it. The reason being that posts posted today often went to the second or third page. Bringing up old topics meant that new threads got pushed back even further.
Most forums are generally not as active as that nowadays, *shakes her fist at social media* so bumping old threads is fine within reason and provided it's being bumped with a decent post.
Back in the 00's it was most widely called a "necro" and still called that as far as I'm aware, not grave digging, when people revived a dead thread. Obviously coming from "Necromancy." XD. Am I showing my age now? Yes, I'm probably showing my age now. lol
Most forums are generally not as active as that nowadays, *shakes her fist at social media* so bumping old threads is fine within reason and provided it's being bumped with a decent post.
Back in the 00's it was most widely called a "necro" and still called that as far as I'm aware, not grave digging, when people revived a dead thread. Obviously coming from "Necromancy." XD. Am I showing my age now? Yes, I'm probably showing my age now. lol
Considering we're a gaming forum, I really wouldn't (even though we've only been around 3 months) because people pick games up all of the time, whether new or old, so if they want to post about a game that's six or seven years old I really wouldn't mind. But it really does depend on the genre/niche of your forum.
This is how I see it as well. I think it also depends on the context of the original post. Lets take gaming, for example.
Let's say someone created a thread about the Xbox One's launch price point at $499 and asked you if you were going to buy it. Obviously that topic should have a limited shelf life and someone probably shouldn't bump that thread in 2017 since it has been sub $300 for over 2 years now.
I tend to have them open unless is way to old and when it gets bumped and I think it's to old to be bumped then lock it. But then topics can be open all years as if the topic is "cats" it goes on for years as an discussion thread
Activity for the sake of activity is a bad practice in general.. but redundant content always has a negative impact on search as well. Search engines will punish you for it, but even in local search it's going to make tracking things down more tedious.
To me, it also gives the impression of stagnant discussion, like when you see rehashed topics on FP such as what's the best software, best console, best browser, etc. Sure someone new will unknowingly make redundant topics, but those should really be closed and reference the existing one, or merged when applicable.
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