Necro question

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419Eater is my life Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 312

I am a member of several forums, some 10 years or more. Like some members here in some forums I have 1000's of posts. Occasionally I/we see an old thread brought up on other forums that has been dormant for years. The usual response is to poke fun at the 'offender' and let the thread die again or respond to the issue of why the thread was refreshed.

Here I see the term 'necro' when an old thread is revised, a term I've never seen before. As well as the offending member is told rather strongly not to 'necro' an old thread.

So my question is; why the strong response against pulling up an old thread? If I click on page 1 and see that it's several years old, I then shift to the last page to find the current discussion, not much of a problem.

Please enlighten me.

Zamby

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:17 pm

I am not a moderator but this is my opinion as a long term member of this site (and many others).

first, there is a lot of turnover here - especially new members who come in, post a couple of times and then decide this site, or baiting is not for them. Following up an old discussion of this sort is just not very useful as the original participants may no longer be around to see it.

Even if a post is by an experienced member who is still around, it may not reflect their current views -- we were all new once and may have posted silly or stupid things before we knew better. Similarly, old threads may be outdated in other important ways - whether lad addresses that are likely to be abandoned now, or baiting approaches that are no longer condoned (this does change over time as we learn more about the way scammers operate, and especially where a baiting approach has the potential to involve innocent parties).

And finally, there are plenty of silly or stupid posts back in the archives (some from me, I'm sure) - but what does it serve to make fun of them in the present day? In my view the offenders are the lads - we should try and work together to make life hard for them - not fellow baiters.

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:35 pm

^ That's about it. Old discussions have gone over and aren't generally useful anymore.

Site policy here is simply to lock the thread and request that the offender doesn't do it again.

If you do need to reference an old thread, say a lad from last year suddenly mails you out of nowhere, start a new one and back-link the old one. That way everyone knows it's an old thread and not to reply to it Wink

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:11 pm

firehouse5 summed it up very well.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

The Guidelines can be your friend and answer questions like this, too. Very Happy

419Eater is my life Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 312

Thanks guys.

Zamby

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:12 am

[Trivia]

The term "necro" is actually not an Eater-specific term. You will find it on many forums, especially those with a significant population of members who are into gaming or go beyond the casual internet user.

Necro is derived from necromancy/necromancer:

From Merriam Webster's dictionary (the original term is NOT an internet term:)
Necromancy: conjuration of the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events

In gaming, a necromancer is typically a character with the power of raising the spirits of the dead.

When a thread is no longer active and useful, it fades out and "dies."
So when you "necro" a thread, you are essentially raising it from the dead.

[/trivia]

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:00 pm

It's all about relevancy, and the culture/etiquette of the site.

On this site, the more recent posts and happenings are considered the most relevant, so the culture is to not revive old threads.

On an alternative site I visit relating to retro-computers from the 1980s, the opposite is the case. A new member may post a query in a new thread, only to find that a moderator locks it, with a message "Yes, that was discussed in depth here"... and a link to the old thread.

The difference is that information posted in 2002 relating to a 1980s retro-computer is still relevant in 2015 - on 419 Eater, approaches and ideas relating to scam baiting evolve over time. Plus there is also a higher turnover of posts.

If you discover an old thread on this site, and you really wish to comment on it, you can still do so. However, instead of simply replying to the old thread, this site's etiquette appears to be to create a new thread and say "I was just reading this old thread... " (give a link to the old thread for those interested) " ... and was wondering why such and such did this..." etc.

Hope that explanation helps.

Leave the money on the fridge,

Grumblebum (aka Ted) Very Happy