# Why are people so gung ho about not posting on old threads? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 6, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139 "2013-03-06T00:17:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/41 "2013-03-09T14:43:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Now granted, there are the occasional really good resurrections, where a new posters has brains and rational thought processes and actually _thinks_ before they post. Hah! He said brains. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/42 "2013-03-09T15:41:16Z")
If you post in an old thread people moan about zombies. If you dare post a thread about a subject that has been discussed before, people moan and give you a load of links to old threads. You can’t win. People are just moany gits. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/43 "2013-03-09T17:51:47Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Not so amusing is to see the dead ones… Exactly. It’s downright disconcerting to be writing a reply to someone and then suddenly realize that they’ve been deceased for five years, even if they weren’t a close friend. If they were, well, I could see it ruining a person’s entire day. All threads over one or two years old should automatically be locked. If anyone does have a good reason to post to one, they can ask a moderator to unlock it. Even if vBulletin doesn’t have this functionality built in, it should be fairly trivial with a scheduled SQL statement. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/44 "2013-03-10T07:37:57Z")
Most of the reasons I’m not keen on Ye Olde Threads have already been covered (mainly the not liking reading through four pages of backstory before realising the date is sometime in 2003 and most of the people involved are no longer here). Personally, I’d like to see threads automatically locked after three months or so of inactivity, and if someone wants to bring the topic up again, they can start a new thread and link to the old one. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/45 "2013-03-10T08:00:40Z")
> [@Bones\_Daley](#): > > How difficult would it be to program the forum software to automatically add a footnote …in large capitals …and maybe even in red text… to any thread which had gone three months without any fresh input …saying > THIS IS NOW A ZOMBIE THREAD…PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY FURTHER POSTS UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF SIGNIFICANCE TO CONTRIBUTE. > > There, that should do it …now I can go and lie down … But most of the thread necromacers apparently just find the thread on Google and maybe glance at the original question before weighing in. Maybe one in 20 might read right to the bottom and see the footnote. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/46 "2013-03-10T18:57:32Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Why is it irritating? To paraphrase **C K Dexter Haven** : > > Imagine I read a 3-page thread about X. My mind is arguing with people, agreeing with people, thinking of my response with wonderful insights trying to remember what I’m planning to say. And then, I see my own name, posting exactly what I was planning to post and I check the date. :smack: I have done this too, with the same head-smack. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/47 "2013-03-10T23:04:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > This said, most zombies are resurrected by drive-by posters who contribute little new information or remain to participate in the thread. Most zombie resurrections I’ve seen consist of the aforementioned “me too” posts that aren’t really relevant to an “annoying neighbors” thread that was posted and likely resolved three years ago. It’s irritating because if I forget to check the date of the OP (which is often, because until the beginning of this year this wasn’t a problem on the scale that it’s become now – why is that, anyway?), I end up offering advice to someone who doesn’t have any use for it, and hasn’t for for years – and as mentioned, may not even be around to read it anymore. I like the community aspects of this board, but it needs to be current in order for it to be meaningful. Otherwise I’ve just wasted 20+ minutes of my time reading a no-longer-relevant thread. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139/48 "2013-03-11T02:20:50Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Why is it irritating? To paraphrase **C K Dexter Haven** : > > Imagine I read a 3-page thread about X. My mind is arguing with people, agreeing with people, thinking of my response with wonderful insights trying to remember what I’m planning to say. And then, I see my own name, posting exactly what I was planning to post and I check the date. :smack: that shows mental stability. maybe a good thing. after doing that a couple times i trained myself to check for dates going in to a thread i didn’t recognize. most of the time it works. i’ve seen a healthy number of threads recently where people supplied good answers between 3 and 11 years later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-gung-ho-about-not-posting-on-old-threads/652139.md?page=2)