how old does a thread have to be for posting in it to be considered necromany?

Necromancy qualifies for when a post has been made in a topic after the topic has 4 weeks of inactivity. The post is descontructive, and does not help the discussion.

Necromancy is alright if the post is constructed to help generate discussion, or if you state your opinion and it is backed up with supporting details.

...why is this called necromancy in the first place? that is why i got nailed for it when i first joined-i never would have guessed the meaning of "necromancy" as it is used here. the definition on WordWeb is:
"Noun: necromancy 'nekru`mansee
The belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world"

so how does this mean double posting?

Necromancy is raising/reviving the dead, so it's used to describe the (evil) revival of dead topics

It doesn't mean double posting, Pikachu_Mom. It means bringing back a post that has not been posted in for awhile. Bringing up a "dead" topic is what is considered necromancy. As Truestar said, the general wait time before a topic is considered "dead" is after a post has not be made in the topic for four weeks.

However, there are times when necromancy is okay, such as answering an unsolved problem or generates discussion. Unfortunately, necromany is usually spam.



Hope this clarifies things

The admins and mods kind of altered the meaning to suit the forums. It's not an accurate description of what necromancy really is, but it's the best word that suits the situation.

Well, it IS better than Posting-in-a-topic-that-has-not-been-posted-for-more-than-four-weeks....
Also, I think necromancy in stickies is OK unless the query/post is completely pointless, right?

-Gardevoir~

Yes, it has been stated before that necromancy in stickies isn't as bad as a regular topic. It may be a clarification in rules for a new member.

If the rules were posted Augst 4th, 2004, and a new member arrives today and needs clarification, it's generally okay for them to revive the sticky or announcment.


And what I said did come from a moderator.

Posting-in-a-topic-that-has-not-been-posted-for-more-than-four-weeks is usually necromancy already, unless something significant is contributed to the topic/question or the person gives an opinion which is throughly backed up.



Yes, stickies and announcements can be "revived"; that's why they are stickies and announcements, because they are highly important topics that might need posting in every now and then. If the post is completely pointless, it qualifies as spam, so they will be deleted even if it is not a sticky or announcement.

EDIT: Oops TS posted his reply before I was done with mine

Thats what I thought, and I meant the name. Posting-in-a-topic-well you get the point- is a far larger name than simply "necromancy". I thought stickies conducted....an "aura", Jk.
I like winking.

-Gardevoir~