I was in MPSIMS, and saw this thread… I started reading it, and I suddenly had a deja-vu moment! Seemed like I had read this before!! I looked closer, and noticed that all but the last post were dated months ago!
Obviously, this thread had faded away, and was revived by the last poster… my Q is this: how long do threads remain active?
If I am browsing through threads that are, say 250 years old (OK, I know!), can I reply to them? What is the cut-off?
A thread which is open…is open. If new information would benefit the fighting of ignorance, or even make life a bit more enjoyable for the reader, you can share it.
Howsoever – there is a tendency to let old threads die a natural death and not resurrect them. And some members, moderators, and other such entities find it a bit tacky to do so. In particular where a former poster of some notoriety was the OP – as I recently discovered.
If a thread should be closed, rest assured that our intrepid moderators and polymniscient administrators will use their godlike powers and lock it.
If you find an old thread that you’d really like to contribute to, but you’re worried that it’s ancient history, you can start a new thread and post a link to the old thread. (I’m presuming you know how to do that? )
You can say something like, “I see that this was already discussed last July, but I just wanted to add…” That way a thread full of old dead arguments doesn’t get pointlessly bumped to the top of the list by a “me, too!”
IMO, the statute of limitations for resurrecting old threads is about 2 months. Time moves at a different pace here; a week is old news, a month is history, and 6 months ago was practically prehistoric.
The thread in question, Nasty Practical Jokes for fun or revenge, about pranks you did at camp, etc., seems to have been added to several times after long gaps.
Some other threads were in this “remeniscence of youth” vein and keep resurfacing.
I’m guessing people just reacall some of the old threads and like to see them again.
Not worth worrying over. If it’s got any “legs” at all, it will go again for another couple of days and then sink for another couple of months.
And if it no longer has legs, it will sink out of sight in a matter of hours.