# Are zombies now dealt with by headshot? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019 "2013-12-23T15:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/1 "2013-12-23T15:51:24Z")
So there was this old thread that got resurrected by what probably was a drive-by posting; I posted afterwards, and now, while the thread is still there, both the resurrecting and my post are gone, returning the thread to its (well-deserved, IMO, which is why I’m not linking to it) rest. Now neither is any great loss, but I didn’t know that this was being done, i.e. I haven’t really witnessed any deletion of content (other than obvious spam, maybe) before. So is this a recent thing, or has it always been that way? Is this decision made based on content, or some new 'put ‘em down as they come up’ kind of policy? Again, I’m neither complaining about the loss of my post or the one that resurrected the thread, but I’m apparently hazy on the rules/operating procedure here and would appreciate clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/2 "2013-12-23T16:04:54Z")
The post was spam, so I deleted it and your response. That’s what we normally do when spammers revive zombie threads. If someone makes a new contribution to the discussion, we’ll leave it alone, but if the new posts are just spam and “Reported” or things like that, we’ll delete those. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/3 "2013-12-23T16:27:33Z")
I meant to add that if those posts had been made to an active thread instead of a thread from 2003, they would have been dealt with the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/4 "2013-12-23T16:35:54Z")
Awesome. Next time a spammer revives an old thread, I’m going to report it to the mods and post: “Reported for headshot”. That’ll make the whole thing so much more fun. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/5 "2013-12-23T17:32:50Z")
Cool! Now, what’s the code-phrase for new threads generated by spammers? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/6 "2013-12-23T17:43:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The post was spam, so I deleted it and your response. That’s what we normally do when spammers revive zombie threads. If someone makes a new contribution to the discussion, we’ll leave it alone, but if the new posts are just spam and “Reported” or things like that, we’ll delete those. OK, thanks for the info (and also for presumably fixing the typo in the title). I must’ve missed this being done previously, and just was surprised that the thread no longer turned up in my subscriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/7 "2013-12-23T17:50:30Z")
Right, by its nature this is something you might not notice since it kind of un-zombifies the thread: with the spam deleted, the thread no longer has any recent posts. This happens pretty often since spammers are responsible for reviving a lot of zombie threads. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/8 "2013-12-24T03:39:06Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Cool! Now, what’s the code-phrase for new threads generated by spammers? “reported for nad-shot” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/9 "2013-12-24T03:51:12Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Cool! Now, what’s the code-phrase for new threads generated by spammers? “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee. For Hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2013, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-zombies-now-dealt-with-by-headshot/677019/10 "2013-12-24T11:42:57Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > “Reported for headshot”. > [@Marley23](#): > > The post was spam, so I deleted it and your response. That’s what we normally do when spammers revive zombie threads. If someone makes a new contribution to the discussion, we’ll leave it alone, but if the new posts are just spam and “Reported” or things like that, we’ll delete those. AKA Rule #2, The Double Tap. 😃