How long is too long?

Screw it, I'll necrothread like a forummancer.

I don't even really think about it, I just comment if I have something to say. At worst, nobody reads it and I was shouting into the void for a minute.

But the Lemmy userbase isn't massive yet, so those week+ old posts still see more engagement than you'd think.

Given how little activities there are on most lemmy posts, I usually comment everytime I find a post worth commenting.

I usually decide whether to comment or not based on comment count instead of time. I'll happily comment on weeks or months old post if it only had one or two comments, but skip over hours old post if it already has plenty of comments.

Be the person who finally posts a solution to a seven year old program, which then helps out one person needing that solution next year!

a relevant response is timeless

Never. If it’s not locked and I have something to say imma say it.

I guess we'll see if I comment next week

I don't see a problem with posting to very old ones, even years old. There will always be someone after me who will approciate more context or information.

I'll necro a years-old thread without blinking. Never bothers me when somebody does it to a comment of mine, though I usually no longer have any idea what I was talking about.

As a long time former lurker I'm trying to go based on active conversation, others saying what I had to say, and if it's something I'm interested in devoting time to. I'd say that is my criteria and not really how old the post is. The content.

I think it really depends on the context of the post for me. For example, I wouldn’t bother to comment on a news article from 2 years ago, but a tech support request in a retro gaming forum might have some new relevant information

I feel like this is something that arises organically in each community; on bigger r*ddit subs anything older than a few hours usually didn’t get read or responded to, but on Mastodon I’ve seen plenty of convos come back to life after weeks. If you have something meaningful to add, go for it. If nobody sees it, oh well

I do not impose artificial limits on myself.

If you have something to contribute, it is never too late. This isn't like forums where you "necro" a post.

If there aren’t many comments (and I have something useful for the OP) or if i have a question, then even a month is okay IMO.

But if it’s a post getting a ton of comments on a super popular sub or something that hit the front page or r/all… I give up even after 24 hours because my comment will never be seen.

BUMP

Depends on the thread. Some things are going to be essentially useless the next day. Others might be in hours, or never reach EOL in terms of there being a point in commenting.

Honestly I'm still trying to get over my lurker habits. They're very hard to break.

For me it's generally a couple of days. Any longer and I feel I'm necro'ing the thread, though I have broken that guideline on occasion

If its a serious question thread and I don't feel it has been answered well then I may comment even if it's weeks old.

I'm still reddit brained I would think anything after 24 hours is too long. but other people are right if you have something to say it's never too late lol

I just set a calendar reminder to let you know in 7 years.

@Witjustworks I really don’t pay attention tbh

Comment whenever you want, but based on Reddit I wouldn't expect a reply after a thread is more than 2 days old. That may end up being different here.

Weirdest response I ever got was 2 years after I posted. Like, who are you talking to? I’m a completely different person now.

In smaller communities, a week or 2 isn’t so strange.

I don't look at time. If I have something to comment then I do.

There's no set time in terms of when I might comment: It would depend on the thread's context.

Unless I'm helping someone, I try to refrain from posting on anything older than a day. I also don't try to add comments on everything I read cuz opinions are like assholes

For most threads, I won't comment on anything older than 2-3 days. In part because I comment largely with the hopes of discussion and it's unlikely I'll get replies in threads once they've fallen off of hot. But for stuff like a newly released movie discussion thread, I can go for several weeks after it was posted. There'll be more people watching the movie a few weeks in. Google was pretty good at finding the same thread when you googled "movie reddit". I sure hope the Fediverse gets similar soon.

I was vary much an "/all" super lurker, but as of recently we’ll see if an old dog learns new tricks.

It depends on the nature of the material. If you wandered by, say a post about some AR glasses that you happened to own and could provide useful information, it'll still help people for years into the future. There really is no time limit to those. If it's just an opinion on some current event, or cool pic, then after a few days it probably has little to no value.

I think after a few days it's fair to expect nobody else but the author of the post and the commentators to see your reply. But if it's a niche thing it still might make sense to comment

Here, it just depends on what's on the front page. A week was too long for most anywhere on reddit, but here there are still some places where I think a week would be fine.