# How do zombie threads get resurrected? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270 "2014-02-13T19:16:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/21 "2014-02-14T06:08:45Z")
I think you guys are thinking too hard about this. [Click here](http://www.straightdope.com/). See all the links for Thread Spotting? They each go to a zombie. Most of the time, when a new poster disinters a zombie thread, there’s a link to that thread on the SD main page. We don’t notice it because most of us have bookmarked the message board, not the main page. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/22 "2014-02-14T07:12:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I think you guys are thinking too hard about this. [Click here](http://www.straightdope.com/). See all the links for Thread Spotting? They each go to a zombie. Most of the time, when a new poster disinters a zombie thread, there’s a link to that thread on the SD main page. We don’t notice it because most of us have bookmarked the message board, not the main page. I’m not sure the reopened zombies are mostly from Thread Spotting.The message board does rate quite highly in Google results, especially for more esoteric topics. I mentioned it as a warning in a a thread about a memorial to drowning victims in a creek in Maine :- the thread itself quickly showed up as the first Google result for the search terms “drowning memorial creek maine”. (And I see it still does). And this thread is now the first Google result for “zombie threads resurrected”. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/23 "2014-02-14T07:31:30Z")
It has something to do with Tina Youthers and Worcestershire sauce. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/24 "2014-02-14T08:06:33Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Or pleasantly surprised to see an interesting topic under discussion. > [@enipla](#): > > This. Don’t see what the big deal is. Amen to the above. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It looks to me like people search for topics near and dear to their [del]mania[/del] interests and SDMB stuff often comes up high on the lists, especially for fringey topics. Or – I’m fairly new to SDMB: I enjoy using SDMB’s own search facility, to look back for past threads on subjects that interest me. It appears to me that SDMB threads have, on the whole, a shorter average life-span than those on pretty well any other board on which I spend time. I am thus appreciative of SDMB’s having an efficient search facility, on which past discussions of interesting topics can be found. I’m glad that it’s possible to (as I have done a few times) revive a past thread on which one might have something that one would like to say; and on which others might be pleased to have the chance of doing same. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/25 "2014-02-14T09:56:26Z")
yeah, one solution would be to show the threads creation date, as well as the last post. Or another is to say “ZOMBIE” on the subject list if an old thread is resurrected after a while ?? The default list t could be made to go back a bit further so that people can find a recent thread . perhaps the search could more obviously give a date limit, and default to “not more than 3 months Old” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/26 "2014-02-14T15:23:28Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > If people don’t read the already-obviously-visible post date, what makes you believe they’d understand the significance of an undocumented color coding system, or take the time to read a color-coding legend to assess how unfresh a post is? Yes, yes, the old “only stupid people make mistakes” argument. The post dates are small and easy to miss - I don’t think I ever look at them unless some specific question about who posted when comes up. An icon indicating an old thread would be both trivial to implement and useful. Some kind of in-line alert - a colored bar across the bottom of the last post (in your choice of “RGB Outdated” shade AND a line of text - OLD DISCUSSION or some such - would be even more useful. A pop-up to the first few new posters alerting them to a zombie resurrection would be most useful of all. I’m not sure how you took that down a road of having to memorize a color code or some other esoteric approach. > [@vontsira](#): > > Or – I’m fairly new to SDMB: I enjoy using SDMB’s own search facility, to look back for past threads on subjects that interest me. It appears to me that SDMB threads have, on the whole, a shorter average life-span than those on pretty well any other board on which I spend time. The SDMB is notable for having less continuing topic drift than any other board I’ve ever visited. If a topic goes on for 300 posts, you can be assured that the last 10 posts still have something to do with the original topic, even if by successive concatenation. When a topic is exhausted, the thread drops out of current use. When a topic reoccurs, many users will find an appropriate existing thread and pick up the conversation. I agree that that’s a useful pattern and being able to search quickly is a blessing. But the problems of reanimating zombie threads is that they sometimes spark raging arguments or wild tangents before the critical realization is made that the comments were made a year, five years, ten years back. So SOME alert that effect can only be to the good. It’s a useful gloss on what’s already here. (And a blighty pox on boards where topics drag on for months or even years, accumulating hundreds of posts and thousands of views as it wanders from one subject to another to another, because the participants are either too lazy to start a new topic or are more there to “hang out” than actually have meaningful chats.) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/27 "2014-02-14T16:07:30Z")
Why has no one answered the topic question? You need 2 live chickens, a virgin, a goat (gotta have the goat), and 17 tubs of lard. At midnight on a full moon… ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/28 "2014-02-14T16:33:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Newbie Googles a topic, an old thread is at the top of the list, they sign up to answer without noticing the date(most of the time), make one post and are never heard from again. You know, I’ve actually tried to recreate some kind of a Google search that would bring me to a zombie thread after a newbie opens it. For most topics its not a very easy thing to do. Many of the zombies are opened by one-hit wonders who post something (usually adds no new info to the topic) and are never heard from again. My guesses are that 1. They use the entire internet as their message board and just wander from location to location to give a banal opinion 2. Some troll gets his jollies from making a different user every day, digging up a Zombie, and then going back later to lurk at the results (kinda like kicking an anthill) 3. Spammers prepping an account to use later. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/29 "2014-02-14T17:04:24Z")
as mentioned people google it. why do people post to old threads? people may not notice old dates. there are forums (and this might be more technical/factual ones) where the style is to have general topics and people just add onto existing threads, new stuff is at the end and people use a ‘last read’ function. this is a broad spectrum forum where people readily start new very specific threads. so people might come from a different style. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/30 "2014-02-14T21:44:51Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I’m fairly new to SDMB: I enjoy using SDMB’s own search facility, to look back for past threads on subjects that interest me. It appears to me that SDMB threads have, on the whole, a shorter average life-span than those on pretty well any other board on which I spend time. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The SDMB is notable for having less continuing topic drift than any other board I’ve ever visited. If a topic goes on for 300 posts, you can be assured that the last 10 posts still have something to do with the original topic, even if by successive concatenation. When a topic is exhausted, the thread drops out of current use. When a topic reoccurs, many users will find an appropriate existing thread and pick up the conversation. I agree that that’s a useful pattern and being able to search quickly is a blessing. But the problems of reanimating zombie threads is that they sometimes spark raging arguments or wild tangents before the critical realization is made that the comments were made a year, five years, ten years back. > > So SOME alert that effect can only be to the good. It’s a useful gloss on what’s already here. I would take it that the minimal topic drift here, is part of the “organic” culture of this particular board; have seen no sign of its zealous enforcing by moderators. Just, this is the way matters are inclined to be, here… In general, things seem to me to tend to have on SDMB, a short life. Current threads, seem to run to two pages thereof at the most; more often, only one. The search facility turns up at the most, five pages; which – according to the popularity of the key-word – can go back a decade, or only a very few years. I’m not complaining about this: I personally prefer greater opportunity to delve into the past, such as is available on some boards; but things here, are done the way they are, and there’s no reason that catering to my likings should be a priority. Nonetheless: while agreeing that zombie-reanimating should be done with care, I see it as having a beneficial side. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/31 "2014-02-15T03:07:59Z")
I don’t really mind zombie threads. It can be a bit of a shock sometimes seeing long ago posters suddenly posting anew (until you look at the dates eventually). There is one thread I would like to see updated because it was never resolved. It was in the Pit and dealt with a no-knock warrant executed in some southern city, at the wrong address, where an elderly woman was shot and killed by police. I always wondered the outcome of that but don’t remember enough of the information to search. Bob ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/32 "2014-02-15T03:14:03Z")
All interesting answers. There seems to be a bit of a controversy on how zombies are handled. What bugs me about the old threads coming back is that I read them, form an opinion, start composing an answer in my head and then before I can type it some odd comment makes me say “Hey, how old is this thing, anyway?” Then I’m mad because I wasted my time on a thread from before I even joined the board. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/33 "2014-02-15T03:47:39Z")
I reanimated a few zombies before I realized that the new version of tapatalk was not defaulting to “unread”, but to “picks”. Whatever the heck picks is supposed to be, they were nearly all ancient threads. I posted a query on ATMB and was advised how to change the default. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270/34 "2014-02-15T03:49:07Z")
_Makes not to self to resurrect this thread in 2027_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-zombie-threads-get-resurrected/681270.md?page=1)