Thread necro vs repost...

[Three of Swords]

So I've been a member of this forum for a while. And a lurker for longer. I don't post often, but I do read a large percentage of the threads created.

Something I've been curious about for months is what the "old-school" members think is preferable: a Repost or a Necro.

(For those of you who aren't familiar w/ the term Necro, it's when someone posts on an old thread, "bringing it back to life".)

I ask because whenever either occurs, there are a lot of complaints. It happens all of the time. And many of those that complain are normally moderate posters, not the generally acerbic members (of which more and more of the older members are turning into).

Believe it or not, some members are new to this forum. Or they don't spend a large portion of their their lives on it and read almost every thread. They don't know if a topic is a repost of something that happened a year or more ago. Especially if it's a picture they saw for the first time--using the Search won't help for pics.

But let's say a new member DOES do a Search and then posts about something "that's old". Then they get bitched at for necroing a thread.

I guess newer or less active members are damned if they do, damned if they don't. (Or those w/ bad memories!)

/end rant

PS I actually wonder if this is a repost! But I didn't feel like necro'ing a thread if it was. And I've never reposted or necro'd a thread (up until now?). So I'm not butt-hurt about it. I'm just curious...

tl;dr - Answer the poll.

[AdamZ]

I feel like my post triggered this response...I joined a few days ago so yeah I would have never known what I reposted was a repost lol.

[Stealthpanda]

Not a huge issue, to me. Other people, flip sht like their cat was ran over by a Hummer... Cheers.

[kalimus]

I miss out on lots of threads too. And I don't care what people say... the search function is NOT that great. I can find things I'm looking for with it sometimes, but a lot of the time it brings up lots and lots of results, and trying to sift through them is often impossible.

The only things that bother me are the "which X brand is better" and "will X void my warranty". But even them... some things need to be talked about, because of so many different opinions

[Three of Swords]

Originally Posted by AdamZ

I feel like my post triggered this response...I joined a few days ago so yeah I would have never known what I reposted was a repost lol.

It was! I read it, and just shook my head...

[90503]

Sort of ironic, I guess, if somebody brings up an old thread about a subject they are interested in, then gets slammed for it instead of credited for a search...

I'd say a new thread would be better...I haven't seen a repeat topic yet that someone new or even not new, hasn't "learned something" from it....

The topics that get old real quick to me, are gripes over parking, birds, Wal-Mart, etc....If they are related to car care or getting familiar with features on the car...the more the better!

[AdamZ]

Originally Posted by Three of Swords

It was! I read it, and just shook my head...

Well, I am glad people griping about me reposting something got you out of the ninja mode. Ha

[hightower]

Can't vote on either cause I'm not "old-school", lol, but I prefer a necro myself.

[Cam2011]

My pop taught me that there is no such thing as a stupid question as long as it is legit. I agree that many do not live on the web, and when they come here and ask about something that to many is obvious (most likely since they asked as well and have has the question answered) we should be gracious enough not to belittle that person and simply answer their question. That said this site is better than most as the folks here are very knowledgeable and are quite willing to help.

[Overflow]

I find repost the most annoying.

I find necro hilarious because it's like going back in time and seeing how obsessed we used to be about the 5th gen coming out.

[TOMS1SS]

Bringing zombie threads back to life is more fun.

[Stealthpanda]

Originally Posted by Overflow

I find repost the most annoying.

I find necro hilarious because it's like going back in time and seeing how obsessed we are about the 5th gen Camaro.

Originally Posted by TOMS1SS

Bringing zombie threads back to life is more fun.

BRAINS!!!

[CamaroSkooter]

I would prefer someone necro a thread if they have read through the entire thread completely and still have a relevant question that hasn't been answered yet

Now, someone who necro's a thread just so they can reply only to post #1 without having read the rest of the thread....kind of annoying.

[DGthe3]

As one of the guys who has to go around merging re-posts, I'd have to say I'd prefer it if people necro'd. A bunch of reasons for this:

If they had a question, by searching for an old thread they might find the answer they were looking for -thus removing any potential conflict of necro vs repost. Also, even if it doesn't answer their question, they might find some background info that they can use to ask a better question, going from "I've heard this squeak. What could it be?" to something like "I've heard this squeak and I checked the ___ so I know its not that, and its not this other thing either ... any ideas?"

If they're posting up some sort of review or a piece of news, adding to an existing thread helps keep all relevant discussions in one place and keeps people from having the same conversation 3 or 4 times in different threads, intermixed with others just saying 'repost' (why they don't simply alert the staff to the repost is beyond me)

About the only time I'd recommend making a new thread, even if you find an old one on the topic, is if its some technical discussion where the old info is probably out of date. But even then, I can't think of many times when that would happen when there isn't some newer thread with current information in it.

Now ... about the search ... yes, it isn't all that great. Blame v-bulletin (the folks that make the software that nearly every forum on the internet) for that one. But if you use the 'advanced search' your chances of finding something useful go up considerably. It might take a couple attempts, but you can usually find what you need -unless the old thread has a less than clear title, like 'OMG, check this out!!!1!'