Necroposting- Yeah or Nay?

I have a question...

On one topic the other day someone brought up a discussion that was closed pretty quickly. They were told to use the search function although the older topic was well over a year old.

On another topic someone brought up an old topic and was told: 'Necroposting' - bumping a long-dead thread - is, for the most part, not permitted.Feel free to start a new thread on the same subject, however."

Is there a rule in place that we can go by for when to start a new topic and when to resurrect an old thread? I searched and could not find one, and it seems to be pretty much up to the whims of individuals mods.

 

I think it might be down to the subject. For example - you have something new to add to a Lit thread on a book, comic, or author. Use the search function if there isn't a thread on it on the first page or two. If the thread you find is locked, PM one of the forum mods to either unlock it or give you permission to post a new thread. Same in Collecting if you have something new to add on an existing collectible. For videogames, if you're playing an older game for the first (or second time), see if there is a thread on it before starting a new one. Most forums have a 'posting rules' thread or an 'info for new members' thread that sets this out.

 

Yeah, that was me. There isn't exactly a specific timeframe, but in this case it was pretty clear cut - the thread itself had been inactive for over six years, most of the users who had contributed to it no longer post in Saga (or on the forums at all), and there have been similar threads on the subject since.
(It had also been locked, for that matter, the user who bumped it was the OP)

The thread itself wasn't so much dead, as dessicated, and given the opinion-based topic ("Were the Empire really the bad guys?"), it wasn't so chock full of specific information and quotes that a new one would suffer without the previous posts, unlike, say, a discussion heavily referencing material from script drafts, designs and interviews.
Also, some relatively popular topics, e.g. the Hayden vs Shaw as Anakin's ghost debate, can get bogged down and stale with a couple of users going back and forth over minor issues, so it doesn't hurt for such topics to be 'rebooted' with new threads now and then.

As far as the Saga & CT forums are concerned, I'd probably say it's safe to start a new thread if there isn't an existing one on the first three pages, unless it's a particularly in-depth discussion several active users might wish to revive. Reviving a two-year-old thread in less active forums like Music and LFL wouldn't be a problem, either, if there wasn't another recent one.

As far as timeframes are concerned - six months would hardly be considered necroposting, six years definitely would. So the cutoff would be somewhere in between. It really comes down to individual forums and subjects.

 

Thank you! I appreciate it!

 

in short:

depends on the whim of the mod. And what kind of day they are having