# Just A Question About Zombie Threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 5, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965 "2014-01-05T20:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/1 "2014-01-05T20:26:16Z")
Every once in awhile, I get sucked into some zombie thread that has been revived and realize the info is either out of date, or the situations have changed or whatever. Is there anyway to make the little icon to the left a different color or shape to indicate this a thread that was started, say, over a year ago or longer? Or perhaps color code the dates of the first entries in a bright RED or something, to make note of the fact? Just wondering… ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/2 "2014-01-05T20:31:18Z")
I saw a zombie where a mod had put a note in the OP to say please note that this thread is x years old or words to that effect. If every zombie that’s noticed by a mod could have that done it would be great! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/3 "2014-01-05T20:55:13Z")
Take a look [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=10567043) and tell us what you think. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/4 "2014-01-05T22:20:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Take a look [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=10567043) and tell us what you think. 🙂 I don’t think that link says what you think it says. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/5 "2014-01-05T22:30:10Z")
It did! That link used to show a list of threads asking for zombies to be marked in some way. Now it doesn’t. What the heck happened? ---
**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:** [January 5, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/6 "2014-01-05T22:44:58Z")
The SDMB doesn’t keep a history of every search forever. The search IDs expire after a while. Any link referencing a specific search ID will not work properly after the ID has expired. Sorry folks, you can’t zombie an old search. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/7 "2014-01-05T22:52:04Z")
There’s no way to automatically mark old threads. Depending on the forum and the situation, some of the mods try to indicate resurrected threads by some manual mechanism (e.g., adding a footnote to the bottom of the OP noting the date.) However, this is usually done ex post facto – that is, not until someone has posted to an old thread. I sympathize, really I do, I’ve also been drawn into reading a thread and forumlating a response, only to notice that the thread is ancient. But we’ve been over this, and there’s not much we can do, other than remind folks to check dates on posts. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/8 "2014-01-06T03:03:46Z")
Many zombies arrive and stay for a long time. Like many old people, the may strike some as repellant but sometimes they hold a lot of valuable information and have seen a lot of stuff you which is new to you. I’d much rather see a zombie than a list of cites to their corpses in a post. I’ll tell you something weird, though: all threads, even this one, can be revitalized. All it takes is a bump, fast as a blink. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/9 "2014-01-06T03:16:45Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Many zombies arrive and stay for a long time. Like many old people, the may strike some as repellant but sometimes they hold a lot of valuable information and have seen a lot of stuff you which is new to you. > > I’d much rather see a zombie than a list of cites to their corpses in a post. I’ll tell you something weird, though: all threads, even this one, can be revitalized. All it takes is a bump, fast as a blink. You really do care, don’t you… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/10 "2014-01-06T03:20:13Z")
All posts give the day or date and time the post was made. This is in plain site, right above the poster’s name. Why don’t you read it? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/11 "2014-01-06T03:25:57Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > All posts give the day or date and time the post was made. This is in plain site, right above the poster’s name. > > Why don’t you read it? Because the pale grey doesn’t really stand out against the paler grey. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/12 "2014-01-06T05:45:48Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > You really do care, don’t you… 🙂 Religiously, some might say. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-a-question-about-zombie-threads/677965/13 "2014-01-11T04:12:33Z")
If you use Firefox or Chrome, you can do the trick yourself with a Greasemonkey script (which can also function as a Chrome extension). I use one written by fellow Doper **Polerius** , which I got from [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13438467&postcount=60). It places a big warning just above the first and last posts on the page (on Page 1 only) of any thread older than 1 year (configurable in the code), like this: This thread is 1 years and 91 days old! If you use IE, you may be out of luck…but maybe not, I’m not sure these days.