[cfoley]

Hey, a newbie revived an old thread in the Java forum the other day. It was a 2 year old thread but he asked a reasonable question. He didn't understand the solution posted and asked for clarification.

Unfortunately, instead of help, he was berated by someone with an Expert tag, down-voted by someone with a Mentor tag and had the post split by a moderator so that "important context" (in the words of the newbie) was lost.

All this in his first posts on the forum. I don't like that newbies get treated like this but what really gets me is that someone who asks a reasonable question is treated like this. I get the no necroposting rule but like all rules, they should be enforced with some common sense.

Here's the thread:
http://www.dreaminco...ating-elements/

[skyhawk133]

I agree and will bring this to the attention of the team and forum leaders.

[cfoley]

Thanks.

[Craig328]

Necroposting rules in anything other than the "Hang Out" forums need to be ignored. In this case it was a programming question and the newb asked for clarification. It was a reasonable request and to get flamed for it sucks big time. It'd be like ragging on someone who opened an old book for an answer to a question. I'm guessing it needs to be explained in each forum by the forum leaders when it happens. The programming posts are MEANT to be an archive so whupping on someone who asks about an old post kind of defeats the whole purpose.

Now, on the non-programming chat forums, yeah, necroposting for the most part ought to be flamed.

[Dogstopper]

If the necropost adds to post (for say, Googlers), then I always leave it. If it is a HLP MEH PLZ post, then it is more like hijacking a thread than adding to it. With old topics, it is better to link to it if help is needed, but if it a post the CONTRIBUTES to the post, then I say it should be left. I disagree with the berating and downvoting for things like that and I think that the rep system should not be used in that fashion unless the member has over 50 posts. Perhaps, it is a good idea to unite our ideas so that the Moderators and Forum Leaders are not constantly working against each other.