# Longest-running message board thread?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 26, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169 "2009-10-26T12:54:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169/1 "2009-10-26T12:54:22Z")

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I’m an occasional participant in a game thread on another board that started nine years ago and has been posted to regularly ever since. Are there examples of longer-running threads than that? I suppose there are zombie threads that get resurrected years later, but this one has been near the top of the first page of the forum for most if its life. And perhaps there are things like IMDB or Amazon comments pages that go back years, but I wouldn’t really call them threads.

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**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169/2 "2009-10-26T13:28:42Z")

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Is it a discussion about when Duke Nukem Forever is going to be released?

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169/3 "2009-10-26T14:14:29Z")

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I think there’s a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special thread around here that gets re-opened annually and has been going for at least 8 years, possibly 9.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-running-message-board-thread/515169/4 "2009-10-26T16:04:48Z")

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WAG: It’s probably on The WELL. The WELL has been running since 1985, and its rather archaic organization basically looks like a message board where never-ending threads are to be opened and added to until doomsday (called “topics”). At one time back in the old days, they resisted streamlining their interface precisely because they wanted the interaction to force people to read before commenting.

> **[The WELL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_WELL)**
>
> The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, normally shortened to The WELL or, alternatively, The Well, was launched in 1985. It is one of the oldest continuously operating virtual communities. By 1993 it had 7,000 members, a staff of 12, and gross annual income of $2 million. A 1997 feature in Wired magazine called it "The world's most influential online community." In 2012, when it was last publicly offered for sale, it had 2,693 members. It is best known for its Internet forums, but also p The WELL was...