Necro = Illegal

It's not overly emphasized in the rules or FAQ because it's something which is considered to be obvious [to the typical individual]. Likewise, the site rules are already pretty open about being opposed to spam (while it isn't clear that the chat rules apply to the core site, spam is listed under the list of causes for suspension) [though those are admittedly a bit hidden]. Similarly, the disdain the community has for necroing has been fairly easy to take notice of, ever since the major increase in necroing maybe a year or so ago.

Unless staff has [finally] started cracking down on necroing, they only suspend necroing users when they do something especially egregious [such as spam-necroing or necroing with advertisements]. Of course, whether it's necroing an old thread or posting a new one, if it works against the best interests of the site (in maintaining a healthy, relevant* forum) you're risking suspension, even if it's something that is usually let slide.

*[Goofy stuff engages the community, outdated stuff does not. Not all necroed threads are outdated, but whimsical necroing comes across as deliberately counterconstructive misbehavior. If you want to bump a thread because you're updating the progression of a developing situation, or want to build off previous discussion points, that's typically agreeable. If you want to bump a thoroughly well-aged thread to banter with someone or post a meme or reignite drama or so forth, not so much.]

I'm not saying it wouldn't be of benefit for the rules to state such details more explicitly, nor am I arguing the utility of pushing the recommendation that such be done. None of my above statements were there to argue that the rules couldn't use polishing; Rather, the point was just to clarity that a suspension over this matter isn't something that came out of nowhere.

What I am saying is that it can't be held against staff if they suspend someone after that individual acts in a manner that is clearly inappropriate (even if the inappropriateness is of a level which is typically overlooked). Of course, that's the considerations to work with if you were suspended with legitimate cause. Else, your topic wouldn't really be about site rules, but about staff professionalism.

In short, it is useful to have the proper context for a situation when it is brought up for discussion.

In any case, given all the other minor updates of that sort that've been backlogged for ages and have been brought up via similar requests, a thread asking for such polish for any specific thing will just comes across as another meaningless thread to clutter the forums, to be buried under the mountain of things cg will likely never get to. Rather than that, a condensed "what guidelines still need polish" thread would be a more effective option.

Well if it's true, then that's bullshit. I do hope it was a one-time error on the part of an overzealous moderator and not something users will get banned for from now on.

Gotta love how toxic users and rule breakers are rarely punished, but you write one completely innocent comment and you get suspended (happened to me before, for a comment that indirectly mentioned trading, in a context where it was relevant). Another reason to stay as far away from the SG discussions as humanly possible :/

Oh yeah, and prepare for a blacklist shitstorm. People here are extremely touchy about their beloved moderators.

That's literally the policy of every single forum/board out there (maybe except 4chan)! :P

A Overreaction from a staff member from my point of view (based on the provided infos here) AND based on the thought that you are not a "alltime rulebreaker" that are under special rules by his posts.

A bit bad that it isn't clear in the rules and/or FAQ's.

It give really bigger problems at sg as a little joke or a conincidence necroing of a thread.

Well, that seems extremely heavy-handed. It's not like you spammed crap or just posted a smiley. While necroing an old thread can be annoying it also can be an honest mistake. Oh well, maybe it's time to reevaluate your generosity here.

I actually saw your original comment after you posted it. I thought you were being extremely helpful, as there was a mod who was going around doing the same thing you did there. If anything you should have been asked to come on board as a moderator, not suspended.

It would be great if this was marked as an official rule, as sometimes it can be funny to revive an old thread as part of a joke. Or perhaps, if it is an official policy, threads that haven't had a reply in more than 6 months can be shut down automatically.

While it is pretty pointless to point out a mistake someone made a couple years ago, I do find it surprising that's a suspension-worthy offense.

That said, I hope someone finds this thread in two years and comments ;)

You shouldnt be suspended for necro if its relevant. But the way you did it , lol :)

Wouldnt be more useful If the mod closes the thread? considering that there´s no use in commenting anymore.
Guy makes a mistake and gets suspended X days, but the thread still open. Seems pretty unfair to me.

You replied to a 2 years old thread, there is really no reason to do so unless there is a relevant new info, like an issue with keys provided in a bundle the thread is about or something. Banining you was probably too harsh but understandable As well.

Banning for "necroing" is stupid.
If posting to old threads is such an atrocity, why don't you (= the staff) just automatically delete all threads after some period of time?

Bans for doing something that mods themselves have been doing is unacceptable double standards....

On other hand I'm not always against necros... As they can raise the existing issues again... Refering to one of my slightly old threads...

Wow, thats an incredibly stupid rule. Even if you resurrected old topic how long its going to be bumped? Like minutes probably, no reason to suspend for it

Thank you for information.

I saw thread that was alive for 4 (!!!) years.
Where're MUST be function that close "old" threads if where's "hidden"* rule. Otherwise it make lot of mess and cases like this. Punishment must have a real reason but not mousetrap - that's why punishment is punishment.

*I mean something without exact definition.

What wtf is this crap... it's a trap for...

View attached image.

don't worry, lately they are on an overzealous quest to suspend people without a valid reason other than what you're told. ^^

enjoy the free days off sg, take it as a blessing to avoid the idiocy around here.

I always thought of that as an unspoken rule but suspending people for commenting in an old thread seems rather extreme in my book.

Robby, Steamgifts is notorious for enforcing "rules" that aren't actually written down anywhere.

Asking for the official site rules to be updated is a nice thought, but don't hold your breath.

Wow, as someone with the skill level of a noob and/or uninformed elderly person on the internet even after 20 years of being on it, I'm glad that today I found out that this type of thing can actually get you suspended.

(edited badly used words)

Robby, I have some bad news -- you could probably be suspended again, because technically you "called out" someone (yourself) for breaking a rule, and "calling out" is against the rules...

:D

There are multiple competing "issues" contributing to this subject:

• OPs very rarely lock their posts

• Thread necromancy when not completely relevant to the current time is frowned upon at best or receives suspension at worst, but IMO OP's necro was completely unnecessary calling out a trade reference in a 2 year old comment - Why not leave that to mods? (A common exception to unwritten rule: A past bundle with its own thread in Deals occurs again)

• If thread locking were to increase or becomes enforced after threads reach a certain age (created or updated), are we ok with people having to recreate threads for every time when necro is completely relevant (see above example)?

A mix of solutions are available:

• Don't thread necro unless completely relevant to the current time

• Encourage OPs to lock posts after comment activity dies down

• SG could add a brief guideline on thread necro

• After a thread has been created or not updated in X days/months, then threads are auto locked. This may slightly encourage bump spam closer to X timeframe.

Are you really sitting here trying to tell us that it's okay to bump a two year old thread so you can engage in backseat modding?

I'd give you a second, longer suspension for this post if I were in charge, because you know what you did was stupid and this is just willful ignorance at this point.

To be fair, that was an unjustifiable reason to necro. I'm typically fine with necros if there's a good reason to do so, such as ask a question/bring back life to a thread rather than create a new one - Responding to a 2 years old comment with something as unnecessary as the website rules, seemingly as a "backseat" moderator, is not something I can defend comfortably as I dislike this sort of practice.

Now, with that said, I do not agree with your suspension - I think it was unjustified unless you went around needlessly necroing multiple threads (as it falls within the spam rule), which, as far as I can tell from your description of the event, was not the case. I don't agree with your behaviour in the linked thread, but while I understand that moderation sometimes requires judgement calls without always following the exact website guidelines, your suspension was definitely uncalled for. If necroing isn't allowed, then the guidelines should be updated to reflect that. If it isn't, than there should be no suspensions - At most, a warning could have been provided in the form of a simple reply.

Some of the support/mods on SG tend to get pretty gung-ho with the moderation, and I too have, in the past, been subject to actions being taken that were not within the website guidelines - After disputing the moderator's decision with other support members via a support ticket, it was agreed that they (the mod in question) acted outside of the regulations, and the actions taken against my content was reverted - No harm done, but just to say it does tend to happen occasionally, unfortunately.

just out of curiosity, why did you decide to write that in that thread in the first place? you didn't notice it was 2 years old? which is kinda weird because you surely had to find that thread first or?