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[spicy]

Forget it. It doesn't matter. Please don't post here anymore

[almost cool]

what if when i search the forum i only find "old topics ?"

[hihosilver]

You know, you have some good points there.
I think perhaps it came out of people posting in old topics and others got annoyed with it when they'd already seen the topic before.  I do like your ideas, perhaps it should be okay to post in old topics.  Sometimes it can be annoying, but when it's something like this I guess it makes more sense...
good points

[RudySchneider]

The whole point about NOT regurgitating old topics is that, in most cases, there will be no benefit conveyed to the original poster.  That's not to say that someone new to the forums can't benefit,but the whole purpose of posting in the first place is that the poster had something to share, or was looking for guidance, or had unresolved questions.  After a couple of months, the likelihood that ANY of these is of interest to the original poster is fairly remote.

On the otherhand, I see absolutely nothing wrong with someone resurrecting an old post as a point of reference for a new problem, or questions about issues within the old post.  But simply re-acknowledging that "it was great" doesn't really contribute new information to the original poster.

Or am I just obfuscating?

[ENSONIQ5]

I agree with Rudy on this one.  I would encourage new users to sift through the old posts, there is much info and inspiration in those pages, but avoid posting in them unless you have a specific question, best demonstrated by bumping.  It would be better to start a new thread, with a link to the old thread if necessary.

[almost cool]

boys? Do we need to pull this into a political debate? You guys are arguing like (Purely as an exapmple )a married couple!

[hihosilver]

almost cool:  It's not an argument, and yes, the debate is useful as other members as well as you can now understand why we don't bring back old topics.

I completely agree with rudy in this case, and with Ensoniq5.  I don't believe threads should be bumped, but I do definitely find that people should use them as references.  If you want to ask something about a thread, just give a link in a post and ask what you will.  But I agree, things like, "hey, that's nice!" shouldn't be brought in here.

[spicy]

Yeah I get yoru point. O.K? So let's leaveit like that. I made a mistake, (Thought the picture was ace). It should only be used as a reference to other people. So it helps them.
Almost Cool: It's not an arguement, it learning
Hihosilver: I agree with you and Ensoniq5

[Olias]

The whole point about NOT regurgitating old topics is that, in most cases, there will be no benefit conveyed to the original poster.  That's not to say that someone new to the forums can't benefit,but the whole purpose of posting in the first place is that the poster had something to share, or was looking for guidance, or had unresolved questions.  After a couple of months, the likelihood that ANY of these is of interest to the original poster is fairly remote.

On the otherhand, I see absolutely nothing wrong with someone resurrecting an old post as a point of reference for a new problem, or questions about issues within the old post.  But simply re-acknowledging that "it was great" doesn't really contribute new information to the original poster.

Or am I just obfuscating?

Hmm, I have to say I disagree.  I personally would take interest in any response to any of my posts, no matter how old, and I'm sure some others would, too.

Ultimately, it depends on whatever policy Steve and/or the forum admin decide upon, but to my mind, if someone took the time to flip through old posts and found something about your work they wanted to comment on, I can't see why that wouldn't be of interest to the artist.

[RudySchneider]

No argument there, Olias, as long as it's something truly constructive, and not simply yet another fanboy- (or girl-) type acknowledgment like "that looks great!"  The whole point of the forums is supposed to be as an information exchange.  Once a thread has been dormant for months, anyone resurrecting a thread to merely comment, without providing any NEW information, is not really providing benefit to the community as a whole.

I have seen in the past several NEW members dredge up long-dead threads simply to say "I like it," which is great, but adds no value to the original poster, or to the community as a whole.  Now, if they have a question about how somehing was done, or use it as a point of reference, such as "I want to know how to do this...," then by all means, dredge away...

[Olias]

No argument there, Olias, as long as it's something truly constructive, and not simply yet another fanboy- (or girl-) type acknowledgment like "that looks great!"  The whole point of the forums is supposed to be as an information exchange.  Once a thread has been dormant for months, anyone resurrecting a thread to merely comment, without providing any NEW information, is not really providing benefit to the community as a whole.

I have seen in the past several NEW members dredge up long-dead threads simply to say "I like it," which is great, but adds no value to the original poster, or to the community as a whole.  Now, if they have a question about how somehing was done, or use it as a point of reference, such as "I want to know how to do this...," then by all means, dredge away...

Well, I'm afraid I have to disagree there as well.  No one but the poster can determine whether or not a post that says nothing more than "I like it" adds value to the poster.

While information exchange is certainly a valuable use for the forums, I'm sure there are people posting their work here not so much for the express purpose of exchanging information, but to display their works to the one group of people that can most appreciate them - other anim8or users.

Besides, one "I like it" post to an old thread isn't going to harm much...that thread will spend a day or two in the limelight then fall back off the front page as activity in the newer, hotter threads everyone's watching keeps them circulated on the front page.

[RudySchneider]

Olias --- I'm not trying to be argumentative, and you have some valid points, but...

The primary reason Steve closed the original Anim8or.com forum was precisiely because of pointless posts.  Too many meaningless "I like it" and "Better than I could do" posts, consuming HIS bandwidth.  Granted, it's always nice to get recognition for your efforts, but the whole point of a forum is not to showcase YOUR (figuratively speaking) works.  YOU (again, figuratively) can do that on YOUR own website, and consume YOUR own bandwidth, for which YOU have to pay.  The REAL value of a forum is in the exchange of information, techniques, and tricks, and as a tool for training others.

[Olias]

Olias --- I'm not trying to be argumentative, and you have some valid points, but...

The primary reason Steve closed the original Anim8or.com forum was precisiely because of pointless posts.  Too many meaningless "I like it" and "Better than I could do" posts, consuming HIS bandwidth.  Granted, it's always nice to get recognition for your efforts, but the whole point of a forum is not to showcase YOUR (figuratively speaking) works.  YOU (again, figuratively) can do that on YOUR own website, and consume YOUR own bandwidth, for which YOU have to pay.  The REAL value of a forum is in the exchange of information, techniques, and tricks, and as a tool for training others.

Hmm, well I don't know anything about Simple Machines Forums, but based on my experience hosting a couple of Invision Boards over the last several years, bandwidth on many forums has become pretty much unlimited, even on the free boards.

Furthermore, a post of just text, i.e. "I like it" consumes such a minute amount of bandwidth as to be a non-issue.  The only times we ran into bandwidth issues is when an image file actually uploaded to the site was repeateadly quoted, this problem was easily solved by linking offsite to Photobucket, Imageshack and so forth.

Again, I don't know how Simple Machines handles it, but I'm willing to bet bandwidth isn't the issue it was several years ago.

[RudySchneider]

I see your point.  You don't see mine.  I think I've said enough.

[Olias]

I see your point.  You don't see mine.  I think I've said enough.

Nah, I do see your point - in fact I experienced your point a few years ago on another forum I belong to.  It was a forum set up for a player association for an online game, which one of our friends set up out of his own pocket.

Well, I go to log in one day and get a 404 error.  We had other channels to communicate with, so I found out what had happened was one of the members uploaded a dozen or so vacation picture, those huge JPEGs you get off a hi-res digital camera.  After a few days of people looking at the pics (and the images downloading over and over again), the month's alottment of bandwidth was eaten.

It wasn't really her fault, as she nor anyone else knew anything about what did and didn't eat a forum's bandwidth.  Most of us didn't even know there was a limit or how any of it worked.  That served as our education on the matter.