Please Stop Closing Relevant Older Threads!

FlopsyPrince · April 4

The information in many older threads remains relevant, yet they will often be closed if a reply is made after more than "a while". I could see this if the details have changed, but many things have not and just auto closing them is not helpful.

I came across a recommendation for a guild I was in on the PS4 years ago and which I just rejoined on the PS5 recently. I am not sure if that got whacked, but the guild remains and deserves a reply (to myself) that it is still active and I did rejoin.

As I said, closing incorrect threads is one thing, but closing them when the remain relevant (and may even point out a long-standing issue) is not good.

spartaxoxo · April 4

There's no way for them to determine the relevancy of a guild posting other than age. In general, it's better to make a new thread if a thread is too old. Even if the information isn't irrelevant, someone's opinion may have changed.

I'm not saying all of them should be automatically closed, but many other ones are best closed.

Tandor · April 4

Bear in mind that these things are dealt with by Moderators who are neither developers nor necessarily players. As such they know nothing much about the game, and certainly can't be expected to research whether a guild from years ago is still active and recruiting. There's a separate sub-forum for that.

jaws343 · April 4

If it has been more than a patch since the topic was discussed, frankly, that information is no longer relevant. This game changes so much patch to patch.

Just create a new post, and reference that old one if you must, but create something new, and actually relevant to the now, not 3 years ago.

FlopsyPrince · April 4

jaws343 wrote: »

If it has been more than a patch since the topic was discussed, frankly, that information is no longer relevant. This game changes so much patch to patch.

Just create a new post, and reference that old one if you must, but create something new, and actually relevant to the now, not 3 years ago.

This is simply not true. I have found far too many older threads to be relevant. I also gave an example of my own, which is likely closed now. Though perhaps not.

I know we are in the age of "only the most recent news matters" but that is simply not true.

Eliminating the past discussion or requiring a link to the old discussion (something I found quite hard to do, at least for a specific reply) is not helpful.

baconaura · April 4

ya, i dont like them closing bug tickets. obviously we are bringing it up because it is still broken and still a bug.

e.g. castle thorn visual bug for last boss, where the safe AOE disappears. its brought up every update, but ends up getting deleted, because it referenced a post from the previous update.

If they keep closing it, they wont know how long this bug has existed for and how long it has been neglected.

kargen27 · April 4

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

If it has been more than a patch since the topic was discussed, frankly, that information is no longer relevant. This game changes so much patch to patch.

Just create a new post, and reference that old one if you must, but create something new, and actually relevant to the now, not 3 years ago.

This is simply not true. I have found far too many older threads to be relevant. I also gave an example of my own, which is likely closed now. Though perhaps not.

I know we are in the age of "only the most recent news matters" but that is simply not true.

Eliminating the past discussion or requiring a link to the old discussion (something I found quite hard to do, at least for a specific reply) is not helpful.

Past discussions are not eliminated. It is far easier for you to link to a thread you think is relevant than it is for a moderator to read that thread then go do the research to make sure all the information in every post is still accurate.

Xoz · April 5

I believe that forums mods should know enough about ESO to determine if a thread is actually outdated before closing it, but it simply isn't the case. In fact, it isn't necessarily their fault.
There is indeed an overwhelming amount of closed threads that are still relevant and incredibly helpful but were closed simply due to the date they were posted.

I presume it's a policy that works only sometimes. In retrospect, it may be a safer route of moderation given that not all forums mods can stay UTD on everything like some players can.
I dislike the reality of it, but I think it's common across all gaming forums in general.

FlopsyPrince · April 5

Xoz wrote: »

I believe that forums mods should know enough about ESO to determine if a thread is actually outdated before closing it, but it simply isn't the case. In fact, it isn't necessarily their fault.
There is indeed an overwhelming amount of closed threads that are still relevant and incredibly helpful but were closed simply due to the date they were posted.

I presume it's a policy that works only sometimes. In retrospect, it may be a safer route of moderation given that not all forums mods can stay UTD on everything like some players can.
I dislike the reality of it, but I think it's common across all gaming forums in general.

A quick skim of a few would have prevented unneeded closures, but it is probably a policy now.

JustLovely · April 5

Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not relevant!

vgabor · April 5

baconaura wrote: »

If they keep closing it, they wont know how long this bug has existed for and how long it has been neglected.

and isn't that the whole point you think?