Why do people engage in necroposting?

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The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of necroposting, where new members respond to old threads, sometimes years after the last post. Participants speculate on the motivations behind this behavior, suggesting that users often stumble upon threads through search engines like Google and may not notice the post dates. Some believe that the "Similar Threads" feature could lead users to unrelated older discussions, while others consider the possibility that users simply want to contribute to topics they find interesting, regardless of the thread's age. There is also a debate about the appropriateness of necroposting, with some arguing for automatic locking of old threads to prevent confusion, while others highlight the value of reviving discussions with new insights. Overall, the conversation reflects on the challenges of managing forum interactions and the varying awareness levels of users regarding thread activity.
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I'm curious about this. Especially when it is a new member whose first post is a response to a thread that has been dead for 5 years.

I have this hypothesis that people stumble on a thread through google, and have such an urge to respond to it, that they register at the forum to do so. But

1) that seems like an awful lot of trouble and sometimes the replies are to rather mundane threads that don't seem all that inspiring.

2) they would have to go back an find the post the googled after they joined. That seems a bit too much trouble in itself, unless, I suppose they bookmarked it.

Another idea, more implausible, is that an internet surfer discovers a forum like PF and says,

"oh, physics! I love physics! And here's a whole forum devoted to physics!
sayyyy... I bet they'd love to hear about my favorite baked potato toppings, or how I kicked my sunflower seed addiction. I'll join up and see if they have any threads on that!"

How do you think it happens? Should I survey necroposters and find out?
 
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I thought it was the Similar Threads for links at the bottom of many threads and users who don't notice or examine the post dates.
 
OAQfirst said:
I thought it was the Similar Threads for links at the bottom of many threads and users who don't notice or examine the post dates.

hmm.. maybe that's it. Maybe it is a distraction thing.

Scenario: new member joins up for homework help. Cruises through some threads. One homework problem thread is about rates of spitting sunflower seeds. There is a similar threads link at the bottom of it to an ancient thread on "sunflower seed addiction". Noob is procrastinating, is enticed, clicks, et voila!
 
:smile: sunflower :smile: seed :smile: addiction :smile:

EDIT: After a search, I see I missed that thread.
 
Interesting topic. I'll get back to you about it in 2014.
 
zoobyshoe said:
Interesting topic. I'll get back to you about it in 2014.

Maybe that's it, zooby...really, really slow thinkers.
 
OAQfirst said:
:smile: sunflower :smile: seed :smile: addiction :smile:

EDIT: After a search, I see I missed that thread.

Surely we have one somewhere.

zoobyshoe said:
Interesting topic. I'll get back to you about it in 2014.

:smile: Excellent, Zoob!
 
lisab said:
Maybe that's it, zooby...really, really slow thinkers.
More like Notathinkers.
 
  • #10
  • #11
One hypothesis could be that sometimes, people from the past reply to a thread in their present but that end up being our past .

Simple and answers the question!:biggrin:

I googled seeds addiction but didn't get that thread ..
 
  • #12
I really want somebody to bump this thread 3 years from now.

BTW, was this posted before or after somebody necroposted on a 4 year old thread originally by Math Is Hard up in Academic Guidance?
 
  • #13
OAQfirst said:
I thought it was the Similar Threads for links at the bottom of many threads and users who don't notice or examine the post dates.

It's been happening since before we had the similar threads function I think. One cause, maybe, but not the cause.
 
  • #14
But how can I kick my sunflower seeds addiction?
:wink:
And why has this necroposting thread appeared again?It was first discussed in 1957.::biggrin:
 
Last edited:
  • #15
Blast, i thought this thread would be about the dark doings of the sisters and what they send each other. frogs legs, eyes of newts etc.
 
  • #17
I think it's mostly people linking from search engines like Google. They link directly into a thread and don't notice the dates.
 
  • #18
I have my own theory, I think its Evo making herself new accounts to do it just so she can lock them again :biggrin:
 
  • #19
I only necropost. Ooops. I mistakenly posted here. Now I feel aweful.
 
  • #20
No, you were simply moving fast enough that relativistic time dilation kicked in, and the seven minutes since the preceding post looked like seven years to you. :biggrin:
 
  • #21
Evo said:
I think it's mostly people linking from search engines like Google. They link directly into a thread and don't notice the dates.

At least sometimes people look for a particular question that is reused by their teachers (or it is from from some book and was already posted as such).

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=96833
 
  • #22
Its rare but I think some of them are from people who actually decided to use the search function to see if there already exists a thread about a topic they wish to discuss.

Most are probably through a search engine though. That's how I found PF, via an old thread on a topic I was looking up. I had sense enough to lurk a bit. Not enough to refrain from posting like I knew what I was talking about though.
 
  • #23
Archives cause necroposting. There is really only one cure.
 
  • #24
TheStatutoryApe said:
Its rare but I think some of them are from people who actually decided to use the search function to see if there already exists a thread about a topic they wish to discuss.

Most are probably through a search engine though. That's how I found PF, via an old thread on a topic I was looking up. I had sense enough to lurk a bit. Not enough to refrain from posting like I knew what I was talking about though.


This is a good point. I wonder whether a person that's been flamed for starting a new thread on a topic that's already been discussed several times is more likely to necropost than the random person.

How many threads about dating do we really need, anyway?
 
  • #25
What does it matter? Are the new threads all better than the old ones?
 
  • #26
We don't have any rules against posting to old threads, it's just that our rules have changed a lot over the years, so a discussion that might have been allowed, or went unnoticed a few years ago, might be forbidden now. We do tell people not to open new threads if there is already a thread on the subject. Then we tell them not to post to old threads. :rolleyes:
 
  • #27
Evo said:
We do tell people not to open new threads if there is already a thread on the subject. Then we tell them not to post to old threads. :rolleyes:

That's something I've seen on another forum. They'll tell a new member that they already had a thread on the subject and lock their thread. Then when the poster finds the old thread and posts in it they will say "No Zombie Threads" and lock that one. Of course over there they just like to mess with the n00bs.
 
  • #28
TheStatutoryApe said:
Of course over there they just like to mess with the n00bs.

I know just the forum you're talking about.

Ironic, isn't it.

Of course, the cool thing about that site is that trolls have their own forum just for trolling.
 
  • #29
Someone with a little PHP knowledge could easily write a plugin that automatically closes old threads. That would take care of necroposting.

Of course, then you'll have to promise not to get mad when someone repeats a topic.
 
  • #30
Evo said:
I think it's mostly people linking from search engines like Google. They link directly into a thread and don't notice the dates.

That's how I got involved with PF in the first place. It was a mistake, but one that has proved incredibly beneficial to me.
 
  • #31
hokie1 said:
I only necropost. Ooops. I mistakenly posted here. Now I feel aweful.

To be honest, I think this thread is dead.
 
  • #32
Danger said:
That's how I got involved with PF in the first place. It was a mistake, but one that has proved incredibly beneficial to me.

Yes, me too, Danger. I don't remember what I was looking for at the time...probably didn't find what I wanted, but I certainly found what I needed. Been here ever since.

Ain't if funny how life works sometimes...:smile: !
 
  • #33
lisab said:
...probably didn't find what I wanted, but I certainly found what I needed.

I think there's a song about that.
 
  • #34
lisab said:
Ain't if funny how life works sometimes...:smile: !

I wouldn't say so much 'funny' as that the odds fell in your favour. There are thousands of useless sites out there, but you ended up in this one. It was your own mentality that caused you to remain here, which is where the 'luck' factor falls apart. You are still here because you have found a community that respects your intellect and your personality. I, for one, am glad that you're here.
 
  • #35
Evo said:
We do tell people not to open new threads if there is already a thread on the subject. Then we tell them not to post to old threads. :rolleyes:

Yeah, that does sound like a weird set of rules when you put it that way. :smile:

I wonder how many necroposters know that they are reviving an old thread, and are taking that into account in their response, and how many think they're joining a currently-active conversation, not realizing that many or all of the other posters may be long gone?

My impression is that we have many of the second kind of situation. I remember someone posting to a four- or five-year-old "which college should I go to?" thread in Academic Guidance, addressing his response to the person who started the thread, obviously unaware that that person had probably graduated from college by then!
 
  • #36
OAQfirst said:
I thought it was the Similar Threads for links at the bottom of many threads and users who don't notice or examine the post dates.

I think it is almost always users who don't notice the date. After all if one doesn't know enough to look at the date (myself often times), then that mistake is easy. Maybe threads should be automatically locked after a period of inactivity. That would prevent mistakes of this sort.
 
  • #37
wildman said:
Maybe threads should be automatically locked after a period of inactivity.

That might be counter-productive as far as the site goes. There have been some very valuable necro-posts, with someone bringing a new perspective to an issue. Maybe some sort of special label could be applied, though, to make people aware that the thread has been dormant.
 
  • #38
Locking old threads is not a good idea - there are threads (like good ... sites) that are intended to be open forever. Perhaps better idea is to display message "you are going to post in a thread where nobody posted for the last six months, are you sure you know what you are doing?".
 
  • #39
Borek said:
Perhaps better idea is to display message "you are going to post in a thread where nobody posted for the last six months, are you sure you know what you are doing?".

Right, for a general "new reply" to the thread. For a direct response to a particular post (via "quote"), I'd display the message "the post you are replying to was made on <date>. The person who posted it may no longer even be here, or may have forgotten all about this discussion. Are you sure you want to continue?"
 
  • #40
jtbell said:
Right, for a general "new reply" to the thread. For a direct response to a particular post (via "quote"), I'd display the message "the post you are replying to was made on <date>. The person who posted it may no longer even be here, or may have forgotten all about this discussion. Are you sure you want to continue?"

So what if the person is no longer here? If the reply was meant solely for the person who posted, then the reply could have been made via PM. And what's wrong with taking six years to make a really well thought out one-line reply to a post? :rolleyes:
 
  • #41
I have locked old threads in GD & P&WA because most no longer meet our guidelines. If someone has something important enough to discuss, they can start a new thread following current posting guidelines, no need to dredge up a bunch of bad posts.
 
  • #42
Funny enough I just found a message for me on Myspace from someone asking about an old thread I posted here on PF.
 
  • #43
How many necroposts do you get? I see one every now and then. It doesn't seem like a lot. Maybe placing an idle lock (different from the crackpot/nonscientific lock) would be a solution. The user can post but the moderator of that part of the forum must approve the response to remove the idle lock and to reopen the thread for posting from all users.
 
  • #44
Evo said:
I think it's mostly people linking from search engines like Google. They link directly into a thread and don't notice the dates.

Danger said:
That's how I got involved with PF in the first place.

lisab said:
Yes, me too, Danger.

Same here. My 1-year PF anniversary is less than a week away :smile:
 

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