What qualifies as necro-posting ? And how to avoid it?

[Khichdi lover]

I got the feeling, that necroposting is frowned upon at physicsforums.
My question is what constitutes necroposting and how to avoid it? I am a beginner so don't know rules in details.


Suppose for instance, I have a doubt regarding a thread which hasn't been discussed for 3-4 months. The OP seems to be satisfied with the replies , but I have a few doubts in the reply.
Should I create a new thread and quote the old thread ?

Or , when it ok to post in such a thread ?

Note - the thread in which i wish to post isn't speculative in nature. it is straight maths.

[berkeman]

I got the feeling, that necroposting is frowned upon at physicsforums.
My question is what constitutes necroposting and how to avoid it? I am a beginner so don't know rules in details.


Suppose for instance, I have a doubt regarding a thread which hasn't been discussed for 3-4 months. The OP seems to be satisfied with the replies , but I have a few doubts in the reply.
Should I create a new thread and quote the old thread ?

Or , when it ok to post in such a thread ?

Note - the thread in which i wish to post isn't speculative in nature. it is straight maths.

Good question.

3-4 months wouldn't normally be much of a necropost, especially if your additional question is on-topic and would add to the thread.

Necroposting is often posting in years-old threads, where the discussion is largely done. This is confusing to the forum regulars, and can clutter the forums with fragmented discussions that go off-topic quickly.

Also, very often spam bots necropost (because they just search for specific terms in threads to respond to), so a necropost raises flags for the forum software and the Mentors.

The policy on necroposting can also vary a bit from forum to forum here on the PF, depending on the Mentor and their judgement as to whether the necropost adds to a still viable thread, or will just dredge up an old discussion and clutter the forum.

If you want to PM me about the thread you want to post in, I can take a look. Or PM one of the Math Mentors to ask them for their thoughts.

[Khichdi lover]

The thread I was interested was a maths doubt thread. The OP seems pretty much satisfied by the response. The reply consisted of a way to go ahead with a proof. I wanted to ask if a proof that I came up with is consise enough. I will PM you the thread.

Such a thing happened 2-3 times before too. But I was unsure whether to post or not.

[berkeman]

The thread I was interested was a maths doubt thread. The OP seems pretty much satisfied by the response. The reply consisted of a way to go ahead with a proof. I wanted to ask if a proof that I came up with is consise enough. I will PM you the thread.

Such a thing happened 2-3 times before too. But I was unsure whether to post or not.

I got your PM and replied. Since the thread is a schoolwork question (misplaced in a general math forum), it becomes a harder question. If you post your try at the proof, you may be providing the OP with the solution to a schoolwork problem, which is not allowed in general. On the other hand, if the OP has left the thread alone for a couple of months, most likely they have solved it and moved on, so your posting your version of the proof and asking if it is correct may be okay.

My advice in my reply to your PM was to contact one of the Math Mentors. One of them had replied in that thread, so they may be the best one to try contacting first.

[Khichdi lover]

yeah , I PMed one of the mentors who were part of the thread as you suggested. Thanks , issue resolved.

[berkeman]

BTW, here is an example of a pretty useful necropost in the EE forum. The thread is 3-4 years old, but the added information in the latest post would be useful for anybody searching the PF for that kind of information.

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=3548785&posted=1#post3548785

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