How do guests find old threads?

The four recently closed zombie threads in IMHO, all resurrected by the same guest, brought this question to mind, though I have also wondered about it before, since I’ve noticed it happening before.

How do guests find these threads? They can’t search. I know sometimes a member will link to an old thread within a new one, and someone inadvertantly posts to the linked thread, but that doesn’t seem to account for all instances of zombification.

Any ideas?

You can change the number of threads you are viewing at the bottom of the page. So, a guest can go through old threads page by page. There are message boards which don’t frown on zombies.

Thanks. I didn’t realize how far back one could go that way.

A related question-- what’s so bad about zombie threads? The ones that were resurrected today were sort of a hoot, gathered some interesting new posts from new members and/or people who didn’t notice them the first time around, etc, before being decapitated. And I like being reminded of ancient posters. What’s the harm?

I’m not sure about the answer to the OP either, if there is one beyond what dalej42 offered.

As far as the zombie issue goes - yes, it’s a hoot to see old threads, but I’d say it’s better to let new threads gather replies than to bump old ones where half the original participants have gone. Kinda craps up the discussion. Quoting Dex in the etiquette section: