Necro-threading question

I have a very significant amount of "forum experience", so I wanted to ask a community question about necro-threading.

In some communities, necro-threading is highly encouraged... and in others it is actually an offense worthy of an infraction, so I wanted to see which side of the fence BP.net was on. I'm a big fan of using the "search" feature (that's why it's there), but often the threads are really... REALLY old.

For those that are unaware of what necro-threading even is... it's the act of posting a new post in a thread that is over "xxx days old". Some communities have actual dates, so for example if a thread is over 6 months old, they want you to just start a new discussion. All of the data/info in that old thread is probably out of date, so just start a new one. Other communities want to keep the thread count down, so they say "I don't care if the last post in that thread is from 2005, just make a new post."

If/when I do necro-bump a thread, I will almost always post "I know this conversation is 2 years old, but ......" so that people realize that the conversation is being restarted after a long break.

Does BP.net have a policy on how I should ask clarifying questions to a thread which received its last post in 2013 (as an example). Should I start a new thread, or just post my question in the old one, and point out the thread is OLD?

We don't have a policy however bumping an old thread that is 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old by asking questions that long after will likely not get the answers a new thread will as most people do not revisit old threads.

If you want answers and views creating an new thread is the best way to go.

When someone answer an old thread or question someone that has not posted in years it's not about rules it's about common sense.

Do people think that someone still need an answer to their question 5 years later?

Do they think that someone who has not participated in 3 years will suddenly comeback and answer their questions?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

We don't have a policy however bumping an old thread that is 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old by asking questions that long after will likely not get the answers a new thread will as most people do not revisit old threads.

If you want answers and views creating an new thread is the best way to go.

When someone answer an old thread or question someone that has not posted in years it's not about rules it's about common sense.

Do people think that someone still need an answer to their question 5 years later?

Do they think that someone who has not participated in 3 years will suddenly comeback and answer their questions?

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To be honest I always appreciate it when people answer questions which might be yeeears old or add important information, provided it's a more general question than "my BP won't eat". Like, if it's a more specific and peculiar question instead.

Could always happen that someone else tries to google something weird, and stumbles across that particular thread from six years ago! In that case they wouldn't care if the final answer and the question are 6 years apart :) The original poster might not see it, but that random person found their answer ― Sure happened to me once or twice!

Thanks!

The reason I ask, is because I was searching for snake tracking software, and I found a thread here that was talking about iHerp vs HerperPRO vs Reptile Scan (and I know there was Vyper at one point too). I didn't want to ask a question in that thread, because it was 2-3 years old... but I didn't want to start a new thread if that was against the rules. I tried to see if there was a "policy" on this site, but I couldn't find one.

Thank you for your help. I will start a new thread, seeing as the "software discussion" has probably changed a lot in the last 2-3 years.