Link the old post in a new thread if you still have an issue

We got spammers, trolls, lazy people think it too much effort to read existing ongoing discussions despite sitting in their face, and so on, and etc...

I agree some posts shouldn't need be closed example suggestion, and idea, or etc things that are on going, and isn't resolved, or finished kind of thing.

The stupidest thing I've seen is someone going full R* necro a old discussion, and arguing with someone post that was decade old information which was correct at the time it was posted.

Originally posted by Dr.Shadowds 🐉:

We got spammers, trolls, lazy people think it too much effort to read existing ongoing discussions despite sitting in their face, and so on, and etc...

I agree some posts shouldn't need be closed example suggestion, and idea, or etc things that are on going, and isn't resolved, or finished kind of thing.

The stupidest thing I've seen is someone going full R* necro a old discussion, and arguing with someone post that was decade old information which was correct at the time it was posted.

Fair, tbh. I completely get, and agree to, why a lot of threads are locked. There's no shortage of necro replies that add nothing but noise like arguing or adding a pointless "thx!" 5-10 years later.

It's odd that threads are allowed to be open at all, though, when any necro for any reason always results in the same outcome. At that point they might as well auto-close the threads after a period of inactivity.

Or a simple "move to bug" or "vote as unsolved problem" ish button to mark them as being of continued relevance.

Seeing mods close threads because they're almost 2 months old is a bit, eh. May be lacking some tools here, guys.

Don't think it's going to happen. They seem to have adopted solidly that policy.

However I do agree they could at least not direct people to search for old threads if all they're going to achieve is to get that thread locked due to age.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Don't think it's going to happen. They seem to have adopted solidly that policy.

However I do agree they could at least not direct people to search for old threads if all they're going to achieve is to get that thread locked due to age.

If they have adopted it as a policy, why not just auto lock threads after 1-3 months of inactivity. There really is no point to keep threads open if they will be locked the moment someone replies to them. This will also reduce the workload of the moderation team so they have more time to deal with other things.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

If they have adopted it as a policy, why not just auto lock threads after 1-3 months of inactivity.

Because that requires coding.
It's more cost efficient to have a mod jump in in the couple necros people end up reporting.

It's still more cost efficient to have a human flipping burgers than build a machine to do it.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

It's still more cost efficient to have a human flipping burgers than build a machine to do it.

actually its not, its more cost effective to never pay a human being anything as a machine doesn't call off work or get moody long as you keep it greased up. how many burgers do you think 1 person can flip a day? a machine is gonna flip 10x as many in the same amount of time.

cost efficient doesn't happen when you have 1 guy from steam team wanting a burger and everyone else goes to Maggiano's across the street for the lunch special.

this is why you don't see a Mcdonalds on the block


Meanwhile maybe steam just needs to find something better then necro blocking old threads, surely steam could automate the thread lock and remove any moderator from needing to do anything.

give them more time harassing customers who point out flaws in the system

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Don't think it's going to happen. They seem to have adopted solidly that policy.

However I do agree they could at least not direct people to search for old threads if all they're going to achieve is to get that thread locked due to age.

They just need to update the message to tell people to search first and make a new thread if it doesn't answer their question. That is where many get confused. They think being told to search first means they have to then post in an old thread when it says no such thing.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Because that requires coding.
It's more cost efficient to have a mod jump in in the couple necros people end up reporting.

Some perhaps, but not much. Most of the required code already exists (timing and locking). They'd only require automation part to set a length of time a thread can be inactive for it to be locked. This is actually been a standard feature on most forum software for at least couple of decades. Sure there is some cost associated in implementation but it would save money in long term.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

It's still more cost efficient to have a human flipping burgers than build a machine to do it.

For now. I think legislation and regulation related to cooking, serving food and hygiene are the bigger issues. Food manufacturing plants are already largely automated and burger manufacturing would be very easy to automate if it isn't already. Meat pie manufacturing probably is as already 20+ years ago when I was making them, we were only only feeding ingredients to the machine on one end, adding rolls of plastic in the packaging machine and boxing the packages on another end. Machines did all the rest.

I'm working as cleaner now and in just 5 years number of duties previously done by hand or hand operated machines are now done by robots. More could be done (machines and robots already exist). Only reason they aren't are cost and scale of the operation (I work in fairly small town). I'm sure that not so distant future buildings and houses will be build robotic cleaning in mind so almost all cleaning jobs can be done by them. Accessibility laws have already made using machines easier (ramps everywhere and no risen door frames for people using wheelchairs for example).

This is essentially story of my life. I've entered all fields I worked at too late and have been made redundant sooner or later thanks to machines.

Nobody wants SpongeBob flipping their Crabby Patty.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

Some perhaps, but not much. Most of the required code already exists (timing and locking). They'd only require automation part to set a length of time a thread can be inactive for it to be locked. This is actually been a standard feature on most forum software for at least couple of decades. Sure there is some cost associated in implementation but it would save money in long term.

It's still coding time, for a Steam section that's been severely lacking features since day one and which is far from any of the Steam priorities in regards assigning priorities.

And how many necro'd threads are locked daily? 2, 3, 10, 20? There's not that many thread bumps happening any given time, been there, done that. And It's already part of a moderator work.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

This is essentially story of my life. I've entered all fields I worked at too late and have been made redundant sooner or later thanks to machines.

Cleaning stuff is one of those jobs where that's always going to need a human being. Truck drivers were meant to be made obsolete a decade ago. And now it turns out there's not enough human drivers.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Cleaning stuff is one of those jobs where that's always going to need a human being. Truck drivers were meant to be made obsolete a decade ago. And now it turns out there's not enough human drivers.

While I doubt cleaners will be out of jobs entirely, machines and robots are already reducing cleaners needed, especially in larger facilities. There already exist robots for multiple specific cleaning but they are not worth it if spaces needed to clean are too small as those machines still need to be cleaned and made ready for next operation. Also old facilities have too many obstacles for them to traverse (risen door frames, non automated or non sliding doors. steps instead of ramps, no elevators etc.).

I worked as assistive equipment cleaner (cleaning and disinfecting medical equipment, assistive and supportive devices and tools like hospital beds, wheelchairs, rollators, various crutches etc.) in my local hospital and I learned from visiting central hospital cleaners that there was a machine that could do my job entirely and central hospital was considering getting one. Machine would only need one person to to put equipment on conveyor belt and take them away when cleaning is finished and ensure machine does not run out of cleaning or disinfectant fluids and clean it once a week. Essentially sort of machine automated car washers and large dish washing lines use but modified for hospital equipment use.

Our hospital would not have use for such machine as current operations required only one part time cleaner but central hospital employed several full time staff so they might save enough in wages to make the investment worthwhile.

As for other cleaning duties, in recent robotic exhibition they showcased a robot that could clean toilets, sinks, tables, kitchen counter as well as put dishes into washing machine. While it'll probably take years to be ready for consumers (even more for average Jane or Joe to afford), the demonstration showed it can be done.

As for drivers, driverless cars have been in testing for years. In addition to various rules, laws and regulations (and various unions), the biggest obstacle for them are the human driven vehicles (for their unpredictability and them simply being on road (who is to blame if driverless car collide with human driven car or runs over someone)). They could already work on a road exclusively designed and used by driverless cars so you could in theory create highway crossing US from east to west coast and have driverless trucks transport cargo on it. All traffic on it would be remotely monitored like trains are.

Would it currently be worth the investment though? Doubt it. In future? Someday.

As for any other field? We'll have to wait and see. Who would've thought 15 years ago that warehouses could be 100% automated, yet here we are. Who knows what robots and AI can do 10-15 years from now. Do humans even have a purpose 50-100 years from now. Well, that's a dilemma future generations have to solve as I'll be buried 6 feets under by then.

Originally posted by Anonymous Helper:

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Because that requires coding.
It's more cost efficient to have a mod jump in in the couple necros people end up reporting.

Some perhaps, but not much. Most of the required code already exists (timing and locking). They'd only require automation part to set a length of time a thread can be inactive for it to be locked. This is actually been a standard feature on most forum software for at least couple of decades. Sure there is some cost associated in implementation but it would save money in long term.

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

It's still more cost efficient to have a human flipping burgers than build a machine to do it.

For now. I think legislation and regulation related to cooking, serving food and hygiene are the bigger issues. Food manufacturing plants are already largely automated and burger manufacturing would be very easy to automate if it isn't already. Meat pie manufacturing probably is as already 20+ years ago when I was making them, we were only only feeding ingredients to the machine on one end, adding rolls of plastic in the packaging machine and boxing the packages on another end. Machines did all the rest.

I'm working as cleaner now and in just 5 years number of duties previously done by hand or hand operated machines are now done by robots. More could be done (machines and robots already exist). Only reason they aren't are cost and scale of the operation (I work in fairly small town). I'm sure that not so distant future buildings and houses will be build robotic cleaning in mind so almost all cleaning jobs can be done by them. Accessibility laws have already made using machines easier (ramps everywhere and no risen door frames for people using wheelchairs for example).

This is essentially story of my life. I've entered all fields I worked at too late and have been made redundant sooner or later thanks to machines.

Eh its different, for a resteraunt you don't want to make food as fast as possible, as it will sit there and go bad. Its very different then a food manufacturing plant.

So a robot that can make 200 burgers a minute is wasted when you only need to generate 150 burgers an hour. Not to mention it might cost you less money day to day when its working, but when its not working you can't as easily replace it as you have no burger flippers to call in when someone is sick as they were replaced, and the cost to repair can be very high and take days or longer.

For high volume work automation is beneficial, but it doesn't always equate to day to day jobs at places like resteraunts.

There is zero need to search old posts in yhe suggestions board. Always make a new thread. Valve prefers if you make new threads.

Since Valve employees do not post here, no old thread is going to have an answer.

Im with OP on this.

Steam forums are often at the top of google searches.

Theres times to close necroed threads. But it shouldnt be the default reaction... Sometimes that thread is the only information that search engines are pulling.