# "It's been awhile since we've seen \[poster\], their last post was \[months/years\] ago" **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 29, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466 "2025-09-29T00:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/1 "2025-09-29T00:43:42Z")
I like this feature, it’s a nice touch. Curious a little about it..what’s the longest time of being away recorded so far? Anyone see anyone who had been gone for, like, 10-12 years? Or maybe it only records the time length that these boards have been around making a max possible “been away” date of only 5 or 6 years ago? I notice it disappears after awhile. I had one announce my return and it had said a good long while (three years or so), but going back to that post, it’s no longer visible, at least to me. Maybe it disappears after a poster sees it? Or after a certain amount of time by default. I could have sworn I saw one really long time length before, like…seven years, but I could be misremembering. If it disappears after a certain amount of time, I don’t expect there to be any way to link back and prove times anyways. That’s it. No problem with the rules or a mod decision, just plain ol, “talkin about board features”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/2 "2025-09-29T00:50:30Z")
I saw a 20 year gap within the last 2 years. I have no clue how to find it though. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/3 "2025-09-29T04:46:27Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I saw a 20 year gap within the last 2 years. I think it was within the last year - maybe even within the last 6 months. ETA: might have been a poster following up on a thread they’d started from 20-odd years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/4 "2025-09-29T07:29:39Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I notice it disappears after awhile. I had one announce my return and it had said a good long while (three years or so), but going back to that post, it’s no longer visible, at least to me. Still visible to me. Just below the 4 months later message, I see the following: > It’s been a while since we’ve seen Idle\_Thoughts — their last post was 3 years ago. > [@Finding old links](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-old-links/990345/26): > > The “Ask The…” Anthology. Most all of the links still appear to work. Just…one of those long “collection” of threads if anyone cares to browse, as it seems some were getting nostalgic above… I searched for “It’s been a while since we’ve seen” and there’s no Looking at [discourse.org](http://discourse.org), it seems to be as designed. > **[Post notices for first-time and returning users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-notices-for-first-time-and-returning-users/112078)** > > To encourage kindness towards users who are posting for the first time or may not have posted in a while we’ve created a new feature that calls special attention to these new/returning users. These banners are visible to other users, but not the... > These banners are visible to other users, but not the poster they apply to… and by default are only visible to community members who have been active enough to achieve [Trust Level 2](https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/). Reading [discourse.org](http://discourse.org), only admins can do a proper search. By looking for, “Welcome back”, I found the 21 year gap. > [@Being the last poster of a thread and then it dies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-the-last-poster-of-a-thread-and-then-it-dies/817751/3189): > > Sorry. I’m all out of grapes. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/5 "2025-09-29T07:42:24Z")
That was the one, nice. Someone had actually flagged it for some reason, that’s why I noticeed it at all. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2025, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/6 "2025-09-29T10:25:31Z")
It was certainly noteworthy, even if not a violation of a rule. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/7 "2025-09-29T14:11:44Z")
Didn’t someone who posted rarely say that it discouraged them from posting,as they wanted the attention on their post, not on how rarely they posted? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/8 "2025-09-29T18:01:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Someone had actually flagged it for some reason, that’s why I noticeed it at all. Can we flag a post just to say, “Hry mods this is a cool post, come check it out.” (Not a serious question.) ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/9 "2025-09-30T05:53:13Z")
That sounds familiar. According to discourse, the post themself doesn’t see the notification. Maybe @Idle_Thoughts could confirm? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/10 "2025-09-30T12:00:08Z")
They’d know it would happen, though, even if they wouldn’t see it; because they’d see it on other people’s posts. ---
**Author:** ![BannyMcBanface](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bannymcbanface/32/18858_2.png) [@BannyMcBanface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BannyMcBanface)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/11 "2025-10-01T16:30:45Z")
I’m back and you can’t stop me! ETA: And I don’t see any notice. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/12 "2025-10-01T16:34:03Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > According to discourse, the post themself doesn’t see the notification. Confirmed. I can see the notification for BannyMcBanface’s post (he’s one of our test accounts), but Banny couldn’t see it. (and now he can’t see anything because we banned him again) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/13 "2025-10-02T23:26:43Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > That sounds familiar. According to discourse, the post themself doesn’t see the notification. Maybe @Idle_Thoughts could confirm? I HAVE seen my own, twice, actually—that’s how I knew the time gone was three years----but seeing as how the settings make it so that the poster cannot see their own message, I can only presume I must have been seeing them at times when I was logged out. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-awhile-since-weve-seen-poster-their-last-post-was-months-years-ago/1023466/14 "2025-10-02T23:33:17Z")
Nevermind, I just logged out to try to verify if one can see their own message while logged out and it seems one cannot. Which is weird, because I know I saw my own before, back when I first made a comment in TubaDiva’s passing thread. Maybe the feature that hides it from the actual person wasn’t in place yet? No idea…but I did see my own shortly after I made it (on a reread). Early installment weirdness, I guess.