Internet etiquette...

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NT social rules exist online too...

I never knew that people get pissed off if you open up an old thread after 6 months or so. WHY?!

And if I never knew this, what else am I missing?!

That tends to be the mods and some users. other users won't care. Some forums won't care about that at all



double/triple/quadruple posting is bad in some cases.

normally there are included as site rules.

How would I ever have known that?
So a person should just start a new thread, even if it covers a topic already covered?
Counterintuitive.

THE MOST ANNOYING IS USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It is classed as shouting.

I can see why digging up old postings can be annoying. Sometime I start reading a "new" thread that looks interesting. After a few posts I start to think "Deja vu" then the penny drops that I read this six months ago.

It isn't a crime; but some people "bump" old threads just for the hell of it rather than to add a new contribution to it, which can be irritating.

If you post a new thread the NTs will say, "WTF noob use the search feature"

BUT

If you post in an old thread the NTs will say, "WTF noob I hope you realize that thread has been around for two years now".

You can't win with the NT catch 22s. They will complain no matter what you do.

As with all things involving other people, there are expectations... and those always lead to problems. Some threads have relevance after an extended period; others have expired, personal narratives where the original participants haven't been on in years. Some people want all information in a single thread, regardless of age; others find the segmenting over time to see the evolution of responses is preferable. Try not to take opinion as a personal attack; if you were really doing something inappropriate I'm sure a moderator would be contacting you.


M.

hmm, I think it depends on the community. In some communities people will appreciate it if you take the trouble to search if a thread already exists, while in others it's preferred to create a new thread.

And then there are always individual people who disagree on these things. So person A might think X, person B might think Y is better. If you do X, person B will complain, if you do Y, person A will complain

For this reason, it's good to have community rules (like the sticky posts on this forum)

The regulars of a group have read the thread and to them, its old rehash and stale, the dynamics and momentum of the topic is gone and perhaps the OP is no longer there to answer or defend. and they feel the newbies should recognize this instinctively. Interestingly, if I understand ToM right, its a "fail" on the regulars who get upset. Yes, the conversation is old, but to someone who has never seen it before, is it not brand new? Just to assume someone brand new will know instinctively that everyone else has talked about something to death (of topic) and the thread is stale, is a BIG assumption.

What I would like to see is a post being stale dated after 6 months, and just removed completely so no one can access it (it could be done, I am sure) . The conversation may be valid. However, what ticks someone off is to see the same old thing coming up (especially if they had a point of view that was fairly strong). Really, there are only so many things one *can* talk about on any given subject (before it wanders off and becomes something new and different from the original idea - one reason why I almost never answer something after 2 or 3 pages have been created on a subject, what I am thinking, most likely as been said, and the stream of thought has changed anyway), but if a new conversation was allowed to leap off on its own, instead of being resurrected with old ideas, maybe some new facet could be explored. Just putting it out there to all site designers as "food for thought"...

I guess it depends on the type of thread. The confusion for me is that I assume it's a new thread, and will have totally forgotten any involvement I had 6 months ago, so I end up wasting my time reading and perhaps even repeating my opinion. It's a real issue when the OP was looking for advice, because there now is a good chance that I'll be responding with advice to someone long gone. Which is, simply, a complete waste of vauable time.

Other discussions I think it's fine, although it would be nice to see some sort of marking indicating what has happend. For that foggy memory of mine.

Perhaps the most logical thing to do is to reference the older thread within a new one. That keeps it very clear what is old and what is new.

Basically, try to use some common sense. People don't like to feel confused, but there are times it is valuable to use previous information rather than repeat it. I do get tired of answering the same questions a zillion times, but I also want to see clearly how timely the discussion is.