old threads are still alive, wtf...

[Deleted User]

I got a few notifications in the last month, congratulating me for having a few threads that have lots of views. I think one got 1k and another got 10k
I dont really care about this xp stuff, and I have a weird question-

wtf. why do people read those old threads?! they are so outdated! what did they search to find em? one was about cubic ninja when ninjhax was still a thing, the other about some problems with aureinand when it was the bestest cfw... I assume I got those notifications recently because somebody visited those threads in the last week... I forgot that I even had those threads! I always assumed that unless the thread is successful and has some important info, that will be relevant for a long time- it will die in the darkness of the forum, and if the forum would have had problems having too many threads- I wont have anything against deleting those threads as they are pretty useless...
I hope this person who saw the threads actually got some useful information,but if not- I cant imagine a situation in which there's nothing more important to do than browse some old posts from 2015...

 

[Cyan]

I sometime get "likes" for old posts I did years ago.
I think people might also do searches on google, or other search engines and find old threads.
A lot of people are also following outdated youtube tutorials, which have static links and references to old threads. People don't know it's old, they just read and follow the first thing they find.

I'm happy to find very old threads still readable, sometime I know one information was in them, and I'm glad to get what I'm searching. not necessarily in the guide or first post, but people posting comments might post links to useful tools, apps, websites, etc.
Old is not always wrong. You just need to look at the post date and understand there's probably better tools available and you shouldn't follow old information only.


edit:
I just got a random like from a 2006 post.
Thunder hawk, you did it on purpose, right? it was a question, not even an answer.

 

[FAST6191]

Edit. It appears Cyan beat me to the punch, will leave mine up though.

I have been getting them for 360 releases when I had posted them.

It is more that as people take things to reddit and facebook and both of those avoid indexing by search engines then things go up in the rankings. As far as old 3ds hacks go then I imagine it is something like someone looked on youtube, found an old video (dangerous as that is), did a search and landed on your post. If it is something that might trouble people if they did it then by all means edit it to put a link to https://3ds.hacks.guide/ or something. Alternatively it was only really with the 3ds that Nintendo really started doing major updates and hack-counter hack. To that end if someone remembered an old hack they might have used that as a jumping off point.

As far as deleting old threads then that gets tricky, or at least requires active moderation. Some things we do around here do also remain the same -- if I pull apart a GBA game it will be the same data in it as was in it back maybe 2001 when it was first released. Similarly for the GBA then prior to the everdrive and EZ Omega... actually even then there is still a reason I can link http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 and it is useful for new reviewers or helpful for people that found stuff in a box in the attic.

 

[smileyhead]

wtf. why do people read those old threads?!

Just sush and accept the XP bonus.

 

[Deleted-355425]

This is the whole point of a forum though, it archives information which others can read and find easily when ever they wish.... its not facebook.

 

[Deleted User]

I sometime get "likes" for old posts I did years ago.
I think people might also do searches on google, or other search engines and find old threads.
A lot of people are also following outdated youtube tutorials, which have static links and references to old threads. People don't know it's old, they just read and follow the first thing they find.

I'm happy to find very old threads still readable, sometime I know one information was in them, and I'm glad to get what I'm searching. not necessarily in the guide or first post, but people posting comments might post links to useful tools, apps, websites, etc.
Old is not always wrong. You just need to look at the post date and understand there's probably better tools available and you shouldn't follow old information only.

I accept with everything you said. the thing is- the threads I was talking about have NO USEFUL INFO in them and I dont think any search engine will bring em up unless somebody will really look for this specific thread... and I dont see the point in looking for them

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Edit. It appears Cyan beat me to the punch, will leave mine up though.

I have been getting them for 360 releases when I had posted them.

It is more that as people take things to reddit and facebook and both of those avoid indexing by search engines then things go up in the rankings. As far as old 3ds hacks go then I imagine it is something like someone looked on youtube, found an old video (dangerous as that is), did a search and landed on your post. If it is something that might trouble people if they did it then by all means edit it to put a link to https://3ds.hacks.guide/ or something. Alternatively it was only really with the 3ds that Nintendo really started doing major updates and hack-counter hack. To that end if someone remembered an old hack they might have used that as a jumping off point.

As far as deleting old threads then that gets tricky, or at least requires active moderation. Some things we do around here do also remain the same -- if I pull apart a GBA game it will be the same data in it as was in it back maybe 2001 when it was first released. Similarly for the GBA then prior to the everdrive and EZ Omega... actually even then there is still a reason I can link http://gbatemp.net/threads/buying-a-gba-flash-cart-in-2013.341203/page-18#post-4756995 and it is useful for new reviewers or helpful for people that found stuff in a box in the attic.

yes of course thats true... but those threads have no tutorials- they were not even useful when I posted em, I think they are something along the lines of "help me with that very weird problem" and "I wonder how..."
I dont care enough to ask admins to delete em, I dont see a reason for them to "die" but I also dont see a reason for em to "live"...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

This is the whole point of a forum though, it archives information which others can read and find easily when ever they wish.... its not facebook.

the point of forums isnt to archive just useless information as it wont help anybody... when I search for info I dont care about some old threads from 2001 unless they have some use...

 

[Subtle Demise]

I accept with everything you said. the thing is- the threads I was talking about have NO USEFUL INFO in them and I dont think any search engine will bring em up unless somebody will really look for this specific thread... and I dont see the point in looking for them

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


yes of course thats true... but those threads have no tutorials- they were not even useful when I posted em, I think they are something along the lines of "help me with that very weird problem" and "I wonder how..."
I dont care enough to ask admins to delete em, I dont see a reason for them to "die" but I also dont see a reason for em to "live"...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


the point of forums isnt to archive just useless information as it wont help anybody... when I search for info I dont care about some old threads from 2001 unless they have some use...

Somebody probably had the exact same question as you and searched it.

 

[Costello]

when search engines crawl and index the site it still counts as one view, so you get XP bonuses in those cases too

 

[mightymuffy]

Somebody probably had the exact same question as you and searched it.

This. Also OP you joined in 2015, so your topics are at the most 3 years old! Your definition of old varies greatly to mine - I actually received a like from a post I made in 2006 or so too earlier this week, didn't see any problem with it.

 

[JellyPerson]

Remind me to reply to this post in a decade.

 

[Jayro]

On the PC, I sometimes see "Similar Threads:" and it will show all relivant threads, regardless of age. Then some moron (ME) won't pay attention to the date and reply to the thread, resulting in a necrobump. I recently bumped a thread from 2007, OOPS! (We really should auto-lock threads that are over a year old with no new replies.)

 

[Deleted User]

when search engines crawl and index the site it still counts as one view, so you get XP bonuses in those cases too

oh that makes more sense

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

On the PC, I sometimes see "Similar Threads:" and it will show all relivant threads, regardless of age. Then some moron (ME) won't pay attention to the date and reply to the thread, resulting in a necrobump. I recently bumped a thread from 2007, OOPS! (We really should auto-lock threads that are over a year old with no new replies.)

nah sometimes some tool becomes useful after a long time of being useless

 

[Subtle Demise]

On the PC, I sometimes see "Similar Threads:" and it will show all relivant threads, regardless of age. Then some moron (ME) won't pay attention to the date and reply to the thread, resulting in a necrobump. I recently bumped a thread from 2007, OOPS! (We really should auto-lock threads that are over a year old with no new replies.)

I've done that before! If what you're saying is relevant to the topic, it's preferable to bump an old thread instead of making a new one, especially in cases where there's an app or homebrew and the author decides to update it after a year. It won't get noticed if they just update the first post.

 

[DarthDub]

On the PC, I sometimes see "Similar Threads:" and it will show all relivant threads, regardless of age. Then some moron (ME) won't pay attention to the date and reply to the thread, resulting in a necrobump. I recently bumped a thread from 2007, OOPS! (We really should auto-lock threads that are over a year old with no new replies.)

No, I don't want GBATemp to become like GameFAQs.