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(Edited Mar 28 2024, adding bullet about OTC and amending layout a little)
Edited by Mrph1 on Mar 29th 2024 at 10:55:20 AM
Lost in Space
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Basically this, although I'd have used a different analogy. 
We look at the context of any actions taken against someone and consider holistically and subjectively whether we feel like they'd make a good moderator (or herald). Prior thumps and suspensions may weigh against you, but consistently being helpful and contributing to wiki maintenance are positives.
The most significant factor, however, isn't represented by any of this. It's the sense that the person broadly agrees with the way the wiki is being run: its moderation policy and its overall goals. We want people who will fit in and be able to speak with our collective voice, not run around causing trouble.
That doesn't mean they have to robotically agree with everything: we have plenty of debates among ourselves on policy. It means we don't want someone who thinks that the Zero-Context Example policy is BS.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Title
Question: Would someone who bumped a thread get a thump?
Ok bitch it's Weezer and it's Weezy
Lost in Space
We don't always thump thread bumps; it depends on context.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Speaking of, how long must a thread be inactive for for bump posts to be considered rule-violating necro posts? I'm asking this because there are some threads that haven't been active for 2-3 years that I'm really hesitant to post on, because I don't want to necro a dead thread by accident.
Edited by DivineFlame100 on Mar 2nd 2021 at 7:37:23 AM
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
Depends on where they are as well. A Project thread is always viable for posting on, even if it hasn't been used in ten years. A media thread for a specific work is also viable, even if nobody else has posted since the OP.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Redmess
I think a media thread can always be posted in, no matter how long it's been inactive, as long as it is relevant and on topic. Sometimes threads that have been dormant for months or years can have a sudden resurgence in interest, for example from a re-run or a Colbert Bump, or just a plain old Wiki Walk.
I never really liked the idea of threads being off-limits after a certain amount of inactivity. It just stifles participation in the forums, and it encourages the creation of duplicate threads for no good reason.
Edited by Redmess on Mar 2nd 2021 at 5:11:34 PM
Optimism is a duty.
Agreed. There's nothing wrong with keeping the Galaxy Quest discussions to the pre-existing Galaxy Quest thread.
A procrastination in of itself
OTC has had threads be revised after like 9 years without issue. It just has to be revived with a substantial post that makes a good effort to restart the conversation, rather than a one sentence reply to something said years ago.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Redmess
I've occasionally seen threads get locked for the simple reason that a mod thought a new post wasn't relevant enough, though. That seems like an overreaction.
Optimism is a duty.
Angry babby
Like that Wario thread? I didn't see the thumped post but I didn't like the reasoning that amounted to "this thread doesn't need to exist because there's no new games to discuss." Fandom doesn't die just because the franchise does.
Dagded Dujardin
Yeah, I get the whole thing seemed like shitposting/wonderposting, but thumping it was kinda of unnecessary. Maybe just a warning response would've sufficed and even then...
"Bingo! If two species hate each other, they will wipe each other out on their own."
Title
I did, and it was just a Headcannon about Wario. It wasn’t off topic at all, so I’m wondering why it was thumped.
Lost in Space
A "head cannon" is a large firearm mounted in or on your skull. "Headcanon" is some personal idea you have about a work. Nobody cares about the latter and bumping an old thread just to post it is worthless.
If you have a head cannon, I'd very much like to see photos, but it's not really on-topic for the video games forum.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Dagded Dujardin
I do think headcanons can be discussed without them being seen as offtopic, IMO.
Lost in Space
In an ongoing conversation, perhaps, and if they are slightly more coherent than a fever dream.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Dagded Dujardin
Fair point
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
I dunno about old threads not being locked from a bump for no reason. Two years ago, I bumped the Gakuen Babysitters thread to talk about the anime adaptation that was running at the time, and it was locked instantly. That was even an example of talking about something new.
Redmess
Yeah, it feels like some mod is/has been a bit overzealous with the thread locks at times.
Optimism is a duty.
Necro locks and hollers have always been contentious because it often seems like they happen with no discernible reason beyond "this thread was old". I do make a point to ignore these hollers.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
A procrastination in of itself
I tend to only hollar them when a person has engaged in necromancy without actually adding to the conversation, that’s my personal distinction between necromancy (bad) and revival (okay), if a person is actually introducing life into an old thread or just a mockery of life.
Also a lot of the older OTC threads are from a time before the section was as strict about thread quality.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Veteran Editor IV
Is making a Google Docs not allowed for wiki use now (just how Discord or other forums are not meant to be used for roleplays)? Just asking based on this post. Are things like the database for Trope Pantheons considered a problem (it's viewable by everyone and linked to on the page, but editable by only a select group of people)?
Edited by Piterpicher on Mar 5th 2021 at 10:10:47 AM
Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
Lost in Space
The issue isn't storing documents on other site; that'd be absurd. The issue is having off-site discussion forums, chats, and the like, that we can't moderate and that may form their own little cliques and dramas that then get imported back to our forums.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
That reminds me of the time some troper unilaterally replaced all of the content on UsefulNotes.Planets and put the original content in a Google document that they linked in a commented-out note. Yeah, I can understand why Google docs for storage are very fishy.
Edited by DivineFlame100 on Mar 5th 2021 at 9:25:02 AM
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
Can you imagine, the drama cleanup crew getting drama on the doc they're using off-site to clean up drama on this site? It's not that it can't work, but it's like Sam Vimes; not even the appearance of something fishy can be allowed here. It's a very nice fur coat, but Detritus has to blow it up so that it doesn't even look like it might be a bribe.
I use Google Docs for creating new pages, so it's nothing against the service, just the role proposed for the service. There's plenty of grey where I don't feel the need to comment between using it for ban evasion cleanup and using it to create/update another wiki page. Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Again, these aren't absolutes. The moderators reach a consensus just like everything else on this wiki. I've been mildly amused at how much I could guess at the dynamics behind the scenes before being elevated, but it isn't run any more formally than the frontier out here troper-side. If all the moderators look at the record and go "Yeah, they broke the rules a few times, but the last suspension was two years ago and they've demonstrated good judgement in the same situation since" or "They have a slight tendency to wander off-topic in the ON-topic forums, but that doesn't affect their role as Herald", then it won't amount to much.
It's like getting an F in primary/grade school. It's more about why you got the bad grade than how badly you did. If you are consistently getting less than 78% and slipped up one time to earn an F, you probably won't be considered to represent the school for anything. On the other hand, if a student who scores 85% and above gets three F because something happened at home, then they'd be encouraged to take a role once some distance has occurred. (Please don't take this analogy as saying the moderators have a grading system, it really isn't anything like that formal.)
Not to speak of anyone/anywhere in specifics, but I did read some discussion recently that we'd like more people to step up into more Herald positions. Honestly, I was toying with the idea of asking about the Radio Herald because I felt it would be a safe place to build more of a leadership role. If I hadn't been thinking about it already, I might've turned down the offer of moderator. Link to TRS threads in project mode here.