Hi everyone!
I have noticed that lately there has been quite a few instances where people have been replying to ‘dead threads’ and I wanted to address the handling of this.
Often times, the response is a cold ‘Don’t revive dead topics.’ to new members who most likely are not trying to spam but instead are trying to figure out their way around the community, and do not receive the warm welcome they deserve!
Why Does This Happen?
I know most people generally frown upon replying to old topics, but lets take a moment to clarify why this is the case. Here is the reference excerpt from the FAQ:
Do not necropost topics that are concluded. If you want to continue the discussion or have additional input on an old topic, that’s ok!
This is probably a bit different that what you’ve seen being enforced by forumers!
What Does This Mean?
If you look at the FAQ, here is what we should gather:
If a forumer is doing any of the following, they are violating this guideline:
- Responding on old patch notes/bug threads (if not locked)
- Responding to concluded contests
- Reviving old arguments
- Reviving threads where the OP has explicitly said the conversation has ended
- Spamming on any old thread (or new ones for that matter!)
However! All of the following are well within the guidelines:
- Leaving feedback on old concepts
- Adding new insight to old conversations
- Posting questions/comments on old threads related to the topic
And the like!
How to Respond
In any of the former cases, you can politely respond to them, telling them that they are not supposed to be reviving dead topics.
If you receive a rude response, best to just ignore them at that point. They will eventually give up and leave.
In the latter cases, welcome them to the community, thank them for the feedback, add your point of view; all are perfectly OK and no rules are being broken!
Something along the lines of “Welcome to the community! I’m glad you liked this topic, but this is an older one; check out these newer ones!” etc, etc. Is probably your best bet!
In Conclusion
There’s been a lot of rule reciting and some people are being a little cold towards new members who are not necessarily trying to break the rules! Hopefully we can ease up on newcomers and try to make the forums a more welcoming, friendly and fun place to be!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
– LilRubyKinz
