I try not to make a habit of it but a couple of times I’ve been dinged by the mods for resurrecting threads that are more than three months old. This usually happens when a new thread links to an old one. I know I should be more dilligent in checking the last post date before posting myself but is there anyway the message board can warn me or stop me from posting? The mods sure noticed right away, were they notified somehow?
Perhaps the mods have a better memory than vB does. 
There is currently no way the system can warn you that your query has been asked and answered already. Sorry.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
Padeye, I want to ask this in a non-snarky, non-confrontational, non-critical, totally friendly, merely-satisfying-my-curiosity sort of way.
Okay?
Okay.
How did you manage to bump a thread from July of 2000? Were you searching for “neutron star” threads, or what? Was it linked from another thread?
Just curious.
K?
K.
[insert peace-and-serenity emoticon here]
I think PadEye was referring more to a feature that would warn you before allowing you to resurrect an old thread. This feature would check the date of the last post to the thread, display a message saying “You are about to engage in thread necromancy. Do you wish to continue?”, and provide you with a yes/no choice.
I seem to recall this sort of thing being discussed before. If it was, it was voted down (obviously). Can anyone refresh my memory as to why?
Technically, it’s possible to implement your suggestion. However, as per SDMB policy, no modification of the message board code will be done. Any such modification would void the support agreement between vB and us, as well as make the upgrade to new versions a lot more tedious for our technical staff.
Padeye, what you received was not a warning; just a gentle note. It was quite evident that you had no intention of breaking any rules, and simply didn’t realize the OP date. It happens to all of us sometimes.
Yes, in this specific case, the mods were informed via our trusted “Report post” feature.
Not to speak for Padeye, but there was an active thread on the topic of neutronium. Within it were at least two links to older threads on the topic, including the zombie thread mentioned.
I’ve always found it easy to forget which thread I’m in when I’ve opened a few links to old ones.
If you run across an old thread, and you’ve read the whole thing, and you have something truly useful to add, what’s the harm in the resurrection? For example, if the thread died after 28 posts and nobody had the answer to the Original Question, and you happen to know it, what’s a Doper to do?
It depends very much on the situation. A thread in the General Questions Forum, or Comments on Cecil’s Column, or Comments on Staff Report, we’re less concerned about reviving old threads. But it depends on the thread, and it depends on the reason for the new post/revival. If it’s to provide an answer to a question that has gone unanswered, then revive the thread. But if it’s to respond to something that someone else has posted…
The main reason that we dislike the revival of old threads is that the people who engaged in the original discussion could be long gone. Some folks come here on a reasonably permanent basis, but others try us out for a while and then stop posting.
So, reviving a thread in Great Debates or the Pit that’s two years old, to tell someone that they’re full of shit… well, that person may no longer be around t defend they’re position. Or may have long forgot what the argument was. The issue may have been long dead – why pick at a scab? why re-open old wounds?
That’s the reason behind the policy.
And, basically, if you’re not sure: then open a new thread and provide a link to the old thread. “Hey, back in 2002, someone asked here [link] whether Rodney Dangerfield was still alive, and no one knew, but today I just found…”
Ugh, I did that once; clicked on a link in a recent thread, didn’t look at the OP date, posted, looked like a complete shithead because I bumped a 27 year old thread…
I now find myself posting little disclaimers every single time I link to a thread, to wit:
NOTE: THIS IS A VERY OLD THREAD!!! DO NOT POST!! BUMPING THREADS IS NAUGHTY!!!1111eleven
I still say that should be a rule.