For me, it was that the Internet never forgets and that you should never enter your real name. In my opinion, both of these rules are now completely ignored.

  • @Sanctus
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    1362 months ago

    Dont believe anyone on the internet.

      • @proudblond
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        192 months ago

        The modem made noises when connecting, but if someone picked up the phone, your internet would just stop working and they’d get their dial tone.

        Now dot matrix printers, those were real pterodactyl sounds.

        • @[email protected]
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          42 months ago

          Modems can still make noise. As recently as five years ago I still had to work with modems. A lot of them now have silent mode though

        • @[email protected]
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          42 months ago

          Modems also make noises when connected. However, the noise of them connecting is more distinctive because they go through a handshake where you can hear distinct tones, but then negotiate a higher baud rate involving modulation of many different frequencies, at which point to the human ear it is indistinguishable from white noise (a sort of loud hissing). If you pick up the phone while the modem is connected at a higher baud rate (post the handshake), you’ll hear the hissing, and then eventually you picking up the phone will have caused too many errors for the connection to be sustained (due to introducing noise on the line), causing both ends to hang up. You’ll then hear the normal tone you hear when the called party has hung up the line.

          • @toynbee
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            12 months ago

            Decades ago, I saw a (one of many) "you might be a geek / nerd if … " list (referencing “you might be a redneck”). As of this moment, the only one I remember is “you leave the modem speaker on after connecting because you think it sounds like the ocean - the perfect sound for surfing the web!”

    • @iamdefinitelyoverthirteen
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      I used to get hella annoyed that my mom would be online all afternoon so I would pick up the phone and blow into it for a few seconds until I heard AOL man say “Goodbye.”

    • Dizzy Devil Ducky
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      12 months ago

      I’m not that old but was dealing with that in the mid-2000s before my parents finally switched.

  • Stern
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    1152 months ago

    Don’t feed the trolls.

    Of course nowadays its nearly impossible to tell whos spouting racial slurs to get folks mad and whos doing it because they’re just an asshole.

    • @[email protected]
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      I remember when it was just funny edgy humor that was clearly satirical for the most part because a lot of us were just dumb kids. It was abrasive and stupid but you had this feeling everyone was in on the joke.

      But bizarre satire has turned to deeply held conviction.

      I’m not just sad that the mean spirited trolling persists, but that it’s gotten more sincere and often must be taken seriously. :(

  • @Jordan117
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    1042 months ago

    When you share something cool, link back to the original creator or where you found it from.

    • @hightrix
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      2 months ago

      I’d argue this is the opposite of what was asked.

      In the early days, no one would post sources or attribute “stuff” to anyone. We’d all just share what we thought were cool pictures.

      Now, everyone gets mad when you dont post the name of the artist and their socials.

      • @[email protected]
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        52 months ago

        What people are really mad about us the fact that artists are (and always have been) starving. We throw so much food away, let the artists cook for fucks sake.

      • @Jordan117
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        42 months ago

        This might be more of a blogosphere-era thing I guess. Even when most people blogging did it for pleasure rather than work, it was always considered polite to “hat tip” (h/t) the source of a given link, if you happened to find it on someone else’s site.

      • @[email protected]
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        I would posit a big part of this is because early-net days were primarily for just socializing and sharing cool stuff (heck yeah, I miss it.) Artists probably didn’t make a majority of their living through the 'net. If something was shared it was likely just “I think this is cool, folks!”

        Nowadays, to say the Internet is heavily commercialized would be a massive understatement. Every little interaction is monetized. Many people make their entire living through e-commerce. It’s just how things went.

        Meanwhile you have a billion faceless sandfleas with repost-botfarms trying to hustle cash with the stupidest methods possible.

        You’ll see entire channels where animations or paintings or whatever are circulated on socials like youtube, twitter, or tiktok with the artist tag conveniently cropped out (if there was one).

        Some are outright stealing the work for profit (selling tshirts or something), while others are just using it to farm clicks, which is also a route to profit.

        The artist who made the work is cheated, perhaps unaware, as some click-grifter gets all the attention. And that sucks. :( As an artist myself, I try to make sure I share the sources for stuff now, because recognition is a form of thanks, at the very least.

        I miss the sharing internet…the attention economy has basically turned the internet into a sociological illustration of “The paperclip apocalypse”. :(

  • MudMan
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    872 months ago

    Social media killed online aliases and I have a hard time deciding if we’re all worse for it.

    Instinctively I still stick by that, though, as you can tell by my anonymous profile with no bio, but when I volunteer any amount of personal info these days people are often confused that I’m not sharing openly who I am or where I’m from. Every time someone does that it weirds me out because in the 90s telling (and asking) people those things would have been such a suspicious, sketchy move.

    • @[email protected]
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      462 months ago

      in the 90s telling (and asking) people those things would have been such a suspicious, sketchy move.

      a/s/l?

    • @WhatAmLemmy
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      Shit, I provide every single service with randomly generated data, unless legally required. Just doing my part to pollute the training data.

    • CharlesReed
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      72 months ago

      Every time someone does that it weirds me out because in the 90s telling (and asking) people those things would have been such a suspicious, sketchy move.

      And now it’s come 180 in that some see it as a red flag if you don’t give up that information. I had someone on a different social media site accuse me of being a bot because I wouldn’t give up the specific town I’m from. I’ve seen it happen to others too. It is both fascinating and insane how viewpoints have changed regarding identifying yourself online.

    • @Kuma
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      62 months ago

      Not only telling your real name, you weren’t supposed to tell your real birthday, give away your phone number or where you lived, even just saying the city was a bit much. So filling in those things like on Facebook or LinkedIn feels very wrong but it would be even more wrong to have fake info there. So my new rule is, only add ppl I know irl to places I use my real info and everything else can I add anyone to.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 months ago

        Ugh, the world of “branded people.” Everything is like “Add a picture of yourself, or you won’t seem trustworthy!”

        Yeesh. Some artists and such can make it using a pseudonym, but it’s rare in more professional circles…but now if you hope to be taken seriously as a professional, you’re expected to put your real super genuine self out there.

        …and we get news stories of people being harassed and doxxed literally to death. It’s crazy…

        • @Kuma
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          42 months ago

          Yes that picture thing happened multiple times at my old job. They kept pestering me about give them a pic to add to the “about us” page and I had to use my face in all channels (jira, slack email and so on) because “otherwise I can’t tell who is who”… my current job handled that much better, they asked for a pic (if I wanted to) to be used as reference for an artist (always the same) to make an avatar and that is now the avatar my coworkers and I use in presentations, systems, emails, webpages anything, we never use real image of our coworkers unless the person wish for it.

  • @[email protected]
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    792 months ago

    When reading a long text, disconnect from the internet as soon as it has loaded so you don’t pay for the time you spend reading.

  • @[email protected]
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    642 months ago

    Don’t share your personal information online.

    Yeah that’s definitely not being followed anymore.

  • kingthrillgore
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    612 months ago

    “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” -Abraham Lincoln

    Social media, a gorilla getting shot, two US elections, and GenAI later, we have completely fallen off this one simple rule.

    • NostraDavid
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      202 months ago

      The amount of boomer bait on Facebook is staggering. The amount of Boomers falling for obviously AI-generated shite even moreso.

      • @penguinsAreRapists
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        152 months ago

        The amount of millennials falling for boomer bait is also staggering

        • @[email protected]
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          72 months ago

          I personally have the opposite issue. Things often sound way too much like satire these days when they get referenced or pop up in memes, then I find a reputable article talking about it. Everything sounds like [email protected]

    • @[email protected]
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      I’m with you on the no real names, no nudes. “Don’t dox yourself” was the norm pre-Myspace. Facebook made it almost fashionable to do so.

      I’m fine with shorthand and colloquialisms, especially in the era of the smartphone and their lack of physical keyboards.

      • @brygphilomena
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        122 months ago

        It made sense with t9 texting. Smartphones have easy to use keyboards and autocorrect. No reason to still type like you have to make 7 or 8 key presses to type “you.”

      • @[email protected]
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        2 months ago

        Facebook made it almost fashionable to do so.

        "

        Zuck: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard just ask

        Zuck: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns

        Friend: what!? how’d you manage that one?

        Zuck: people just submitted it

        Zuck: i don’t know why

        Zuck: they “trust me”

        Zuck: dumb fucks

        "

        One of many sources

      • @[email protected]
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        -22 months ago

        I’m fine with shorthand and colloquialisms, especially in the era of the smartphone and their lack of physical keyboards.

        It wasn’t even cool once t9 emulation came in. But writing with no regard for the audience, that’s apparently eternal.

        Put in the effort or eat the down-votes.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 months ago

      I don’t think people really do that anymore, people got faster typing and autocorrect got good

      I do use my real name in voice chats provided I’ve known the person for a few days at least, I hate being called by my username in voice

    • JackbyDev
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      12 months ago

      yah fr u tha fam

      The only abbreviations in that are fr and u. Fam is slang for family, not a text only abbreviation. “Tha” is just a transcription of how someone may say “the”. Like “da bomb”. “Yah” is either a typo of “yeah” or the same as “tha”. This feels more like an insult against people transcribing vernacular literally. Are you racist?

    • @[email protected]
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      I’m a faithful follower of never using your real name in social parts of the internet. We don’t need to know and we don’t want to know.

      Corollary: there are no girls on the Internet. The simplest way to promote gender equality is to not disclose gender in arbitrary conversation or in the profile. If you still do in an anonymous forum, you are likely trying to take advantage of privileges that the patriarchal societal structure offers you in that situation, and in doing so you are upholding it.

        • @[email protected]
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          Which IMO is a good thing. I don’t mind people having their own identity, but if nobody tracks pronouns (including traditional pronouns) then life becomes easier for everyone and there’s less drama. We need fewer pronouns, not more.

          • Dragon Rider (drag)
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            -32 months ago

            That sounds like something an agender person who just assumed they were cis because they went with the flow and never much thought about it would say.

            • @[email protected]
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              It’s just something a person who wants to see everyone as a unique individual instead of putting them in a box says. Doesn’t matter if it’s about skin color, gender, age, etc. Make it okay to be somewhere vague on a multidimensional spectrum instead of having to make everything black or white. In the end none of these factors even matter when we’re discussing which Bionicle is best.

              No, I’m not “assuming I’m cis”. I’m trying not to assume, period. I don’t need a label to know who I’m attracted to and it’s none of your business either.

    • @GrammarPolice
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      -62 months ago

      Nah, u wrong fo dat last part homie. Maybe if u tryna have an intellectual discussion then u can write in full n shi. But if it’s just a casual convo, then write casual

      • @[email protected]
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        142 months ago

        20 years ago, if someone said ‘u’ for ‘you’ then I assumed they were young. These days if I see someone use ‘u’ for ‘you’ I assume they are 60+.

        • @[email protected]
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          42 months ago

          These days if I see someone use ‘u’ for ‘you’ I assume they are 60+.

          Nah. Indolence knows no cohort.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun
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    602 months ago

    Don’t give your credit card details over the internet.

    Nowadays people have them saved in their damn browser for convenience.

    • @[email protected]
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      142 months ago

      Credit card usually isn’t so bad. It’s usually pretty easy to dispute charges etc, debit card on the other hand…no way that’s getting saved

      • @[email protected]
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        -12 months ago

        Have you had any experience with that? I keep hearing it, but usage of a credit card is expensive af

        • @[email protected]
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          142 months ago

          It’s only expensive if you don’t pay it in full every month. I’ve had my credit card for years and have paid $0.00 total for it whilst it generates at least 1% cash back or more depending on where used. Not much, but it adds up and makes it beneficial.

          • @ChapulinColorado
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            12 months ago

            I feel like a lot of small shops now (especially restaurants and convenience stores) charge for using a credit card in a manner that wipes out any benefit from “cash back rewards”.

            To me the bigger benefit is that a card that is opened many years ago (pair on time) gets you a better credit score. This will net you much better deals throughout life for major purchases like a car or home (if you are lucky enough to still be able to afford one).

        • @[email protected]
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          22 months ago

          Only time I’ve had fraudulent charges was when I was 18 or so and hadn’t yet got my first line of credit. They disputed the charges normally and froze the account. It did suck not having much money but I also was living at home still so I just avoided spending money for a few days until it all finished processing

        • @bitchkat
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          22 months ago

          I’ve had no issues disputing debit card charges.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 months ago

          I have. My bank did a chargeback like they would if it was a credit card. I was told it would’ve been a lot harder to get my money back if my PIN was used. But, I’ve only seen that option available for in-person purchaees.

  • @[email protected]
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    552 months ago

    I remember being taught in school to apply source criticism, and that seems to have largely died as a concept.

    This was back in the early 2000s…

  • @[email protected]
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    542 months ago

    You should use the Internet to get info out of it, not put your info there. If you do want to put info, it should never be traceable to you.

    I just don’t get why people want so much of their life online…

    • @RaoulDook
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      222 months ago

      It went from “don’t post pictures of yourself or your real name online because you might get strangers’ attention” to everyone trying to be their own version of a Max Headroom talking head to try to get the attention of all the strangers. Selfies, video selfies, talking head videos, reaction videos… all garbage.

      • @ChapulinColorado
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        Sometimes they do serve a purpose. While I don’t see the point of a “reactions” only YouTube channel since they get repetitive. Sometimes you wonder how people took a certain episode of your childhood anime or some episode with an interesting plot line like the red wedding. With that said, channels with no commentary and all “uh hu” or “that’s right” as the most useful additions from the “hosts” are trash.

        • @RaoulDook
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          12 months ago

          Yeah a commentary video with a creator of a movie or show is real content related to the other content, not the same as a random person’s “look at me” video

    • @thedirtyknapkin
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      212 months ago

      twitter built itself on doing this the most nonsensical and annoying way possible.

      • @[email protected]
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        112 months ago

        I’ve never used Twitter and every time I see a post with like… the original comment in the middle, a reply on top, and a reply again? On bottom? I’m like what the fuck is even how

      • JackbyDev
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        32 months ago

        Especially with quote retweets that are screenshots of threads with the quote retweets itself having a thread.

    • @mlg
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      72 months ago

      Breaking the rules to demonstrate how this looks dumb

      Don’t top post.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 months ago

          The thing that grinds my gears

          WARNING: I’m not actually a quotation tho my > character says that is what I am for in the specification & if you check my HTML markup I am a <blockquote> which also has a spec saying I must quote a source

          Markdown-itis is ruining semantics on the web just ’cause it doesn’t support callouts like a proper lightweight markup syntax for documentation, technical writing, & blogging. It is the wrong tool for these mediums but users forgo caring about semantics for the familar not even understand their tools or their outputs.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 months ago

      Gmail is super annoying at this, there is no way to automatically turn this off. I just have to delete the ellipsis every damn time

      • @[email protected]
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        22 months ago

        I like to think I’m reasonably intelligent but whatever the heck Gmail does with its reply “conversation” order absolutely bamboozles me. It decides to just hide messages in the middle seemingly at random too, and gives them all reply buttons.

        Agh!

    • @[email protected]
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      42 months ago

      … except when it’s a forwarded convo and then it’s okay, as per 1855.

      And then when is a conversation NOT a comment or update to something you’ve forwarded back? The answer is never.

      So it’s all good.

    • @Dasus
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      32 months ago

      Ew. Who does that?

    • DigitalDilemma
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      12 months ago

      Came here to say that. It actually predates common internet usage - Fidonet was a much bigger thing through the 80s and early 90s than emails, and BBS forums used it to distribute messages.

      Properly quote only what you are replying to. Quote a line, reply to it. Repeat on multiple points.

      Then wait a few days for a reply, of course, unless they were dialling into the same BBS.

      Now we have boards like this that do a pretty good job about displaying context and quoting is less needed.

  • @[email protected]
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    442 months ago

    Basic forum etiquette. It’s horrifying at work seeing teams “teams” (forums) used like chats, all the cross-posting and thread necromancy, people completely unable to keep topics confined to the appropriate sub-forum, etc

    • @[email protected]
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      202 months ago

      thread necromancy

      AKA “discussing something with new information more than 31 seconds after people got bored of it”

      • @[email protected]
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        162 months ago

        Necroposting is a slur by the terminally online against normal people trying to get shot done. They’re the reason why every Google search that leads to a forum ends with some guy asking your question and being told to start a new thread instead.

        • @[email protected]
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          62 months ago

          some guy asking your question and being told to start a new thread instead.

          If it’s done within a reasonable time period, it’s understandable. Hours or a day or two later depending on the forum.

          It’s different when someone saunters in years later with the “I’ve got the same problem!” quip to a post that may or may not actually be the same, and actually expects a response. That, to me, is necroposting.

          • @[email protected]
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            12 months ago

            This is the attitude that leads us to search results polluted with forum threads with bad, unchallengeable ideas (because they’re locked). Almost all web1 forum are becoming digital flotsam because of these bad moderator opinions.

            • @[email protected]
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              12 months ago

              This is the attitude that leads us to search results polluted with forum threads with bad, unchallengeable ideas (because they’re locked). Almost all web1 forum are becoming digital flotsam because of these bad moderator opinions.

              I thing you replied to the wrong comment, buddy. Nothing in your comment makes any sense in the context of my comment that you replied to. Nowhere did I say anything about locking threads or moderation.

              • @[email protected]
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                12 months ago

                The very idea of necroposting is the basis for these moderator opinions. It is not a neutral term, the idea of necroposting is a negative attitude toward all late posts, it is a permission that all moderators give themselves to delete late posts, lock threads or even, auto lock after a determined period of inactivity. It makes these ideas, prominent on search result into literally unassailable answers. Which is the secret desire of all moderators, to decide the final word.

                • @[email protected]
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                  22 months ago

                  I think you are ascribing to an entire community that which only a few descend to.

                  I’ve been a mod on forums before, and my only concern was keeping the signal::noise ratio high. In that regard, new “I’ve got the same problem” posts made many months or years after the current thread had gotten wrapped up only increases the noise; a new thread is far more appropriate for the latecomer and anyone who replies to them than continuing to use the old thread.

                  The difference is temporal, and dependent on the activity level of the forum in question: highly active forums should see new threads spawned after only a few days or weeks, slow forums could see follow-up comments in the original thread still being appropriate many months or even years later.

                  Being a good mod isn’t about power or control, it is ensuring the forum operates as effectively as possible for it’s users. Sometimes that means spawning new threads, locking old ones, or even banning bad-faith or misbehaving users. Once you moderate, you discover very quickly that moderation is a highly grey zone, with surprisingly little black or white.

        • @[email protected]
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          42 months ago

          I see necroposting as when it’s someone coming by months or years after the discussion is over and not bringing much of value to the table. So it’s more to do with the value of the contribution than the timeframe

          • @[email protected]
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            In a forum system that sorts by last comment that can be annoying. Which is why most systems seem to have moved away from that, it was one of the big innovations of reddit back when it started. But in a format where it doesn’t get more visibility for getting comments I don’t see why it’s a bad thing, just stop reading when you deem the topic done.

            During thr brief window between reddit apps dying and the old archive rule being revoked getting comments on old tech support posts with follow ups and/or additional questions was pretty great, and definitely worth the occasional whitenoise posts (“thanks!” " seeing the same problem in 2024" “I clearly didn’t read the whole thread and am asking something already answered” etc etc).

            • @[email protected]
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              12 months ago

              In a forum system that sorts by last comment that can be annoying.

              I’ll be real, I entirely forgot that was a thing. Why are you reviving terrible memories like that?!

          • @[email protected]
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            12 months ago

            How is that really different from the same comment 2 second after. It just isn’t.

            Just ban hammer low the value commenters don’t lock the thread for moderator convenience.