Policy on Necro Threads?

[no_zero369]

What is the current Community Policy on Necro threads?

Have seen a few threads from many months ago get revived by a new post.  If memory serves in the past IF someone reported them as necro, then the Mods would lock them from further comment. 

Just wanted to check as I have been dutifully reporting necro threads and haven't seen them locked.  So do not wish to increase the Mods workload if this is no longer a concern or I am not understanding the policy correctly.

Thanks in advance for any clarifying information!

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@no_zero369 

Yes you should report the thread for the mods to lock. 

If mods are not locking necro threads when asked to you should @ mention sheila@ebay 

Sheila has been having trouble with her @ mention notifications so I am tagging brittanie@ebay.   too 

[no_zero369]

Thanks @comics-scifi-collectibles 

Appreciate the kind reply!  Just for my edification, what is the "cutoff" time for a thread to be considered necro?  3-months?  6 months? older? Something in between?

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

@no_zero369. I am not sure about the time line.   Personally I think anything a year or more is necro.  Although it also depends on the topic, if a policy or procedure is being debated that has changed then a thread should be locked sooner. 

sheila@ebay. How old should a thread be before it's reported as necro? 

[coffeebean832]

The old rule was 6 months- I don't know if that's still in place.

Personally I think an OP should be able to revive their own thread within a year- but that's just me. 6 months is a good enough timeline for reviving someone else's thread.

[sheila@ebay]

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@comics-scifi-collectibles wrote:

@no_zero369. I am not sure about the time line.   Personally I think anything a year or more is necro.  Although it also depends on the topic, if a policy or procedure is being debated that has changed then a thread should be locked sooner. 

sheila@ebay. How old should a thread be before it's reported as necro? 

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I'll ask the Team Lead about the process for Necro posts. I'll add my response here once I get an answer.

[valueaddedresource]

One exception I would suggest would be threads related to Managed Payments.  As more sellers are activated in MP, it's likely they will look to older threads for answers to their questions.

While I can appreciate often it is more useful and best practice to start a new thread, it might be good for old threads to be allowed to be revived so new MP sellers can tag OPs to get additional information or clarification on how a certain situation was resolved or handled.

My vote would be to allow a little extra grace period for payments related posts during the MP transition this year.

[pburn]

@valueaddedresource 

That would be a good idea, except there have been a number of changes to Managed Payments program and/or processes since in went online. One recent example would be the inclusion of coin (etc.) sellers into Managed Payments.

If people can still actively access those threads with outdated information without getting the "this information is old" warning, members will not realize they're accessing outdated threads or that policies have been superseded. 

That being said, I think, rather than a specific time frame, perhaps whether the information in the thread is still relevant could play a part in whether a thread is closed.

I also think there's a difference between a thread that has been completely dormant for months versus a thread that may have originated some time ago but has been consistently active with new posts every week or two.

[sheila@ebay · Accepted solution]

I missed posting to this thread sooner. Here's the response I got from the Team Lead.

Any thread 6 months or older without any significant discussion* is locked in place.  Moderators post a closing message that includes a link back to the forum for users to post a new thread on the topic if they wish to discuss it further.

*"without any significant discussion" means the thread is not still regularly receiving replies (although it may have 1 or 2 replies since dying off, or may have recently been bumped with a reply

[no_zero369]

sheila@ebay 

Thank you for securing that clarification!  Much appreciated!!!