Revisiting our necroposting guidelines

[#1]

Necroposting is a name for "raising threads from the dead,” aka posting on threads that are six months old or more. Our current guidelines say that necroposting is never allowed.

However, we understand that users still land on old questions that in some cases may be out of date. Partners and Community Leaders may want to update these posts with more useful, current information.

We will be piloting a new approach to necroposting. If this pilot goes smoothly, we will update our necroposting guidelines. 

Proposed new guidelines:

In general, avoid posting on old threads (six months or more old), aka necroposting. However, you may post on old threads in certain cases. The rules are:

• Your post must add value to the thread 

• Your post must be specific to the user you are responding to (no cutting and pasting content in multiple threads)

• For now, do not update more than 2 old posts per day; we may remove this cap if the process goes smoothly

• Think from the user’s perspective, and give a complete answer to the problem stated instead of only advertising one app or solution. In other words, make sure you discuss alternative solution paths.

• Include a marketplace search link rather than a link to a direct app as shown below.

Example:

Note: This example shows best practices for answering any question, not just old ones!

Question:

I want to collaborate between two Jira projects which are in different Jira instances. How can I accomplish that?

Unsuitable answer:

Here’s our issue sync app, Everything But the Kitchen Sync, which solves your problems. You’re welcome!

Suitable answer:

Hi! There are various ways to do that:

• Application links: <Describe this in more detail>

• Issue Sync Apps: <Don’t only link to your app, but rather to the correct search terms in the Marketplace, like https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?query=issue+sync>

• Jira Automation: <Provide steps how to do that with Automation>

 (Note that I work for Punderful Products, which makes Everything But the Kitchen Sync.)

If you have any questions about these guidelines, want to double check a post, or want to link to more examples of "necroposting done right, the comments are open.

Thank you to @Matthias Gaiser _K15t_, Marketplace Partner representative on the Community Advisory Board, for raising this issue and helping develop these guidelines. 

[Dirk Ronsmans]

With regards to app linking. Is it still valid to provide a specific app when not affiliated but out of your own experience?

(of course if this is specifically mentioned)

[Inna Gordin]

@Monique vdB Thank you for this, and it would make content better, and much easier to understand how to respond! Incidentally, I just came to find an old post - through Google - about a problem and our app was mentioned, yet at that time, it was not available in Jira Cloud. Now it is, so it's good to go back to older posts to clarity. 

One suggestion I might offer is to allow linking to a newer post provided it offers a more recent solution. Something I think TripAdvisor does for old, "closed" forum topics (but more formally). There was a case I recently found, with old solution from 2016, yet another newer discussion provided answers. Please take a look here (scroll all the way down)... do you think this is appropriate? https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Validator-for-specific-issue-type/qaq-p/368292#U1617362. 

Thanks!

[Monique vdB]

@Dirk Ronsmans absolutely, recommending apps based on your own experience is encouraged! 

@Inna Gordin I think linking to a newer discussion on the topic is a great best practice. This is a great example of a place where it's useful to the question asker as well as anyone else who might search and land on the question!

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

@Monique vdB Thank you! I'm sure this will help avoid outdated content in community posts that come up higher in google searches.

In terms of app linking. Would a mixture of both be possible: Include a marketplace search link AND a direct link to your product?

For us as app developers it is helpful to understand why users are interested in our app in order to prioritize existing and new features. If we are not allowed to link to our app, we will lose knowledge, that helps us to improve and develop features that Atlassian users are actually interested in.

[Dave Liao]

Whoops, I've been necroposting (though adding value, I'd like to think) all this time!

I'm a fan of the new guidelines, since my necroposting wouldn't be considered as such under the new guidelines. 😅

[Monique vdB]

@Marlene Kegel - codefortynine that seems reasonable, we can try that out and see how it goes. So far we have not seen an uptick in complaints about necroposting or spam, so the new approach seems to be working well so far. 

@Dave Liao yes, I think some of our content curation efforts may also technically be "necroposting," but because users are still searching for and finding the content, it's still relevant! :)  

[Dave Liao]

It's awesome when an article about necroposting gets necroposted. 🙃

EDIT: I posted this after a spammer commented in this article. I marked the spammer's comment as spam, and it's now removed.