Policy concerning bumping old threads??

[hyjack01]

Today I bumped a 2 month old thread. It was locked this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bumped the thread by posting some of my experiences I had today with the threadtopic: the Kerisdagger. I had the feeling that my experience with this weapon was clearly different than 2 months before and therefore asked for some new experiences of other old posters..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I also have seen threads locked because the topic was the same as other older threads, my question is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whats the policy regarding updating info on 'old' subjects??

[tripsis]

Each individual moderator uses his or her judgment to determine a few things when an old thread is locked:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the 'bumper' of the old thread is thoroughly contributing to the topic and encouraging the continuation of a discussion, then we usually let the thread stay. But if it's someone just saying, "I agree," "Bump," or "Good topic," then we lock it, because the 'bumper' is not contributing much at all.

[Dragontotem]

Well, as far as i have noticed, usually if you bump a month old thread, it will get locked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, thats as far as I know =]

[Celt23]

It's called 'gravedigging' in forum slang. It's annoying because bumping a two year old thread is, well, annoying and offers for no discussion as it has obviously already been finished.

[Militaris]

It's called 'gravedigging' in forum slang. It's annoying because bumping a two year old thread is, well, annoying and offers for no discussion as it has obviously already been finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are several occasions where this is not true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- When there has been a new development.

 

 

 

- When there is more room for discussion.

 

 

 

- When starting a new thread would duplicate discussion.

 

 

 

- When said thread is related to or relevant to another discussion currently occurring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I personally feel many of the mods are a bit lock happy on this forum in cases of old threads. It only takes one mod to lock a thread, several could of thought such a thread was fine and decided to leave it open but if one is trying to look 'busy' or just like the 'power' locking a thread gives them over users then it would be locked and a chance for valuable conversation would of been ceased. (Mods rarely question other moderators decisions it would just create unnecessary friction)

[tripsis]

I'm sorry, Militaris, but I fail to see where you get that information :? I don't know a single mod who is "lock happy" or just likes their "power over other uses." Yes we all have different judgments over which old threads should be locked and which shouldn't. And if an old thread is locked when it shouldn't have been, not all other mods catch that or will notice (contrary to popular belief, we don't see everything. Like when people post on a forum that's misplaced or inappropriate and say, "A moderator will lock this soon, it's in the wrong forum," that's not necessarily true if we don't know about it *cough*report post function*cough*).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a moderator is not about "having power over other users," it's just about keeping the forum a friendly, happy, safe place to be. None of us are perfect and we shouldn't have problems confronting each other. We all make mistakes at some point, just like everybody else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And most importantly, if you would like to know more specific reasoning as to why a thread was locked, you may contact the moderator who locked it. Or if you have a problem with the lock or disagree with it, you may contact an administrator directly to help you sort it out.

[Gugge]

I agree with Hyjack and Militaris. Old posts where the poster do contribute to the post should definitly not get locked, but sometimes are. I *think* this is often is due to a forum user seeing it as breaking the rules and thereby report is, stressed mod comes along and doesnt read it all but just look at the dates and lock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I suggest a new policy among you mods. When you see an old post get a reply that does contribute to it, for one of the reasons Militaris stated, I suggest that you as a mod make a reply and say that something like "I am aware that this is an old topic, but since poster xxx [has new info or whatever reason] it is ok to bump this up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do that, you will get less risk that another mod lock it. You will also signal to the forum users that they dont have to report it as spam or reply "dont bump old topics".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the 'bumper' of the old thread is thoroughly contributing to the topic and encouraging the continuation of a discussion, then we usually let the thread stay. But if it's someone just saying, "I agree," "Bump," or "Good topic," then we lock it, because the 'bumper' is not contributing much at all.

 

 

 

Wouldn't it be a better policy to just split off the "bump". That would let the topic stay unlocked, but would send it back to the page it came from. Sometimes very good topics are locked for this reason, and that is a shame in my opinion.

[Militaris]

I'm sorry, Militaris, but I fail to see where you get that information :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I gained it from personal experience.

[Dragontotem]

 

I'm sorry, Militaris, but I fail to see where you get that information :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I gained it from personal experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you've been modding tip.it eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, i agree with tripsis [not 'cause she is a mod, but because i think the same way she does :| ] that every mod has a different judgements etc.

[Cruiser]

 

 

I'm sorry, Militaris, but I fail to see where you get that information :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I gained it from personal experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you've been modding tip.it eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mili is an ex TIF mod. He does have some sense of what he's talking about when it comes to these things even if it has been a while since he's officially modded the boards. Things around here havn't changed much over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rastorbator thread in T&C is a prime example of how to bring back a dead thread. 2 months old, brought back by new interest and input and you have a fresh conversation on the matter.

[Dragontotem]

Mili is an ex TIF mod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, sorry, i didn't know that =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My apologies Mili =)

[hyjack01]

Anyways, i agree with tripsis [not 'cause she is a mod, but because i think the same way she does :| ] that every mod has a different judgements etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's exactly the reason i'm asking for a guideline/policy ... I'm not judging mods.. I'm convinced 95% of them are doing their job to their best knowledge..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would just be less confusing if all mods would check a threadbump the same way and/or would follow Gugge's suggestion for explanation.

[inferno_char]

Ok I'm going to start by getting to the route of this whole thing by looking at your original point in starting this topic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'm right in assuming this was the topic that was locked with your post on it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?p=4426622#4426622

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my opinion, the mod in question was right to lock that topic not only because you bumped a 2 month old topic but also because what you had posted was steering off-topic of what is what originally supposed to relate to. In that instance you should of created a new topic regarding the suspected change of the dagger hit occurance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now back to your question. If a post has been inactive for a month or more then yes it would be appropriate to lock it if someone who isn't the topic owner tries to bump it. As tripsis said it is based on the mod's own personal judgement of what the bumping post contained. We don't lock topics because it is fun we do it to try and maintain a healthy topic cycle on the forums. It is just more work for us to maintain.

[tripsis]

Yes, I know that Militaris is an ex TIF mod, but my point is that there is a whole new batch of moderators now, separate from the ones that he worked with. That's why I don't think it's fair for him to draw conclusions about the many moderators that he has never worked with :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And building off of what inferno_char said, I think that thread was locked correctly. If an item/feature is updated, you don't have to dig up an old thread about it to discuss a change, I think we can all agree that something like that should have a thread of its own. Since continuing on with the old thread would drive that thread off-topic anyway from the original idea :?

[Gugge]

Now back to your question. If a post has been inactive for a month or more then yes it would be appropriate to lock it if someone who isn't the topic owner tries to bump it. As tripsis said it is based on the mod's own personal judgement of what the bumping post contained. We don't lock topics because it is fun we do it to try and maintain a healthy topic cycle on the forums. It is just more work for us to maintain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just keep in mind that the forum rules *HAVE* been updated to allow an old topic to be bumped up, if there was legitime reasons. Look at Sith's post (post 7) in this topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=1150

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before that, bumping an old topic was a strict no-no. But since about a year back, it is clearly allowed if the new post has something to add. And personally I can absolutly not understand why you say only the topic owner can bump his own topic. Anyways, all mods having the same policy regarding this (as with regarding all other forum matters) would definitly make it easier for the users to follow this rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That rule change also clearly states that the post should NOT be locked if the reply is nonsense, but that the nonsense should be split off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(as for my personal opinion, I dont think Hyjack went offtopic. Maybe his error was to actually use the word "bump" :? instead of typing a scentance or two about why he continued in an old topic instead of creating a new?)

[hyjack01]

That was indeed the locked thread, Inferno.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really can't see how my post isn't related to this thread. i followed this thread from the first day (I do a lot of Kalphite-slaying) and was sincerely questioning the current effects of the dagger. So, verifying some max hits was the purpose of this thread wasnt it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But ok, if the guideline would be that only threadowners could do the bumping, I can understand, however it's a bit in contradiction with the adjusted forumrule mentioned by Gugge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, it's not my intention to make this a neverending discussion, but the policy seems still not clear to me.. :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A side note: the easy thing to so, seems to start a new thread. My personal view on this is that Tip-forum could do with a lot less new threads to make the whole forum better useful. 80% of the new threads in discussions and help sections are variations on an old topic, just plain old news (you can check if search engine works.. :-k ) and/or could be stickied ( I need 1 million gp tomorrow, I need 99magic fast, ...).

[Red_Tanya]

I think the Moderator who made the call may have been a bit hasty on this particular call... and I'm going to over-rule him and re-open the topic (for all the reasons already mentioned, as it actually was still contributing to the original thread).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But there are other rules about questioning a staffmember's actions, and I see this as a subtle attempt to do so, regardless of the "overall" encompassing of the "bumping old threads" rule.

 

 

 

Everyone seems to comprehend the spirit of the way the rule is written now. No need to nitpick it apart. Judgement calls will be made and most times will be correct. We're only human. Occasionally something slips by or gets interpretted incorrectly, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Moderators do a fantastic job considering the responsibilities placed with them. They bust their butts and get very little in return. Please try to work with them (privately) if you feel something just isn't right, and if you still feel the need after that, contact an Administrator and we'll also try to fairly resolve your issue(s).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, this topic will be locked.