Can we stop the necroing?

Isn’t there a setting for this forum to close every thread that wasn’t active for some time? The wild necroing is really annoying and reduces the usefulness of the forum.



There were posters just the other day complaining that a new thread was made and not posting on the existing thread.

It’s impossible to please everyone.


Aside from having them take space in the top posts of the forum, what is the issue in bringing back posts that have unreleased features that some of the community would like to know the status of or like to be added?


Basically why people necro those specific threads. Only because they’re unique, and worth necroing to inquire further about.


This is quite an active forum (for a supposedly small player base) and not seeing necro threads taking up to much space at the top.
They can still be relevant to current discussions and can be scrolled past quite easily if not relevant to you.
There might be some, newer, threads (present company excluded ofc) that maybe deserve to have a shorter shelf life :stuck_out_tongue:


I can relate though and understand the disappointment of finding its a necro and not an upcoming feature :joy:


Today in discord someone asked why Steggs leaves. It’s confusing if such stuff gets back to the top.

A few days ago all the old stuff that never happened got necroed. This stuff is older then when I started to play Boundless, which means the forum shows me the first post when I click on it. I start reading until I notice it’s 2 years old which means it didn’t happen and won’t happen.

People necro stuff from the old world or about mechanics that don’t exist anymore.

A thread that wasn’t commented on within a month has lived it’s cause. It can still be linked to it for reference, but necroing it doesn’t reignite a discussion. It’s mostly used to vent because someone is unhappy with the situation.


Well said!
And it’s kinda not nice to the guys on the other end having all the old stuff brought up, that might have been scraped for serious concerns in development, or to make the game possible that we enjoy today.


I don’t really mind, i usually read topics from the start so i know what has been said before i add my 2c. So when a “new” topic is a necro i just patronus that badboy and carry on. I do however feel for people who respond to the title only not realising what has gone before. Meh, i can survive a 10s click detour so worth it for me when i missed something interesting previously


I’m fine with it, i only read the posts I’m interested in. Plus for me, I prefer to have all similar topics and conversations in one post as opposed to reading 10 different ones that cover the same idea or topic.


I’m going to reply to this topic again in 8 months.

Joking aside, I like seeing old posts come back up sometimes, let us know how things have evolved and what still needs attention. But I also don’t feel an urge to read everything. If I did, I could see that being really frustrating.


It will probably be just as relevant.

It’s no help that discourse ALWAYS shows some posts for you to read and if you’ve read everything current so if you’re not paying attention it’s easy to reply to something old.

I usually remember to check now but so many times I’ve started to reply to a post about an old bug or asking for help with something before I realize it’s from months (or sometimes years) ago.

Even though it’s caused some “false alarm” excitement I like the old dev art posts and whatnot coming up recently saw for the first time the old concepts for a drop box, something that people request it seems every other month, or more.

They’re bittersweet lol.


Add this is a suggestion. That will get ignored too :joy::joy:


we should necro this thread every time another thread is necrod


A vile and brilliant approach Sir, I applaud you for your ingenuity \ o_o /

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Locking threads for no reason other than they’re old is as bad as necro’ing threads. In lots of situations, updating an old thread is more appropriate than creating a new one. The useful resources thread, gorillastomp’s exo archive thread, the announcement/support threads for third party tools, any outstanding bug, etc. Just because some people have bad judgement about bumping old threads doesn’t mean we should punish everyone for it.


Yeah, plans can change during development. But if the developers have scrapped a feature because of a technical/implementation issue, surely the best course of action is to tell people about the change of plans? I know I’d much rather know that something categorically isn’t happening so I can take the appropriate action (whether that be putting the game down because it was a particularly desirable feature to me, or just accepting it and continuing anyway) than for conversation to just stop and never be spoken of again.

Which leads me to the conclusion perhaps necro-ing unresolved threads isn’t the worst, and in some circumstances is a better idea than always starting a new one. If we have 10 threads (started periodically to avoid re-opening anything) asking about the current state of a once-planned feature, it means there are now at least 10 possible search results to find asking about it. Any new player coming to the forum and dutifully searching for an answer before posting surely has a much lower chance of having the most up-to-date information?


I agree that on an inclusive approach it is a bad move to simply stop conversation at some point when you already have involved your players. This can be mitigated by persuing the inclusive approach in a weekly or monthly update on development.

Necro posting is fine if done right, this is a forum owners responsibility to resolve anyway. I have seen it done right and wrong but then again this is an unmoderated forum… I personally prefer the approach to link to old threads rather than rasing the dead for the sake of sparking a new conversation. That is a matter of personal taste I suppose.

However if you raise multiple threads that touch on the same subject, then it becomes annoying.

How about making a single thread: ‘State of development’:
can you give us an update about these features that were planned in the past etc.? (It’s irritating to see 12 old threads on a similar subject raised when you wanna read the new stuff) It might also be an attempt to shame or force a response while also leaving a negative impression on new players coming in. A matter of opinion.

I’ll simply leave it at this is a forum owners and their moderators responsibility to figure out.
Maybe our “unoffical new community manager” @Orrian can resolve this. Thank you for taking responsibility and have fun. This is basically your job now :3

edit: corrected typos as usual, there will still be typos, bite me :3


There is a feature for that. I guess it wasn’t active for all threads, but the recent news threads James posts have the “will automatically close if no message is posted for 14 days”.

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