http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=24960&page=1&pp=50&highlight=Whammo
Well… other then its really really old… lol… its the only fame I have connected to my nick… lol
Seriously, zombie threads are cool. I remember a thread I started on another message board – the whole board archive was rebooted but my thread survived!
I petition it be reopened!
It’s an old thread, let it rest in peace. 
(Though glancing through it, this thread has had more lives than a cat.)
It’s pretty much standard procedure to close old threads. We don’t close them all, but we do tend to discourage resurrection. Old threads tend to annoy, as in “why is THIS back again when I read it already?” Of course, not all old threads are as entertaining as this one, definitely one of our classics here. But still.
Most often old threads are bumped by trolls, who do it to, I dunno, be annoying? That’s the usual effect. When we find such threads, we tend to remove the troll post and close the thread without comment. This is probably what happened in this case.
Ultimately all these oldsters will be read only and it won’t be an issue.
Nothing personal, Whammo. Welcome back, how you doing?
TubaDiva
I don’t get it. You want people to read that but then not be free to add their own story? Why not just tell the people who complain not to keep boosting the thread and it will rise or sink based on it’s new popularity.
Ya know, Whammo, somehow I missed this the first few times around, and I am so glad you called this to my attention; it is hilarious!! Thanks!
…I noticed while browsing through the old thread that quietman1920 had “Registered User” as his user title, whereas everyone else who is not a mod/admin has “[Charter] Member” or “Guest”. Any ideas why this is?
I’m gonna amend TubaDiva’s statement just slightly. It does vary by forum; we’re not as concerned about zombie threads in Cafe Society or Comments on Cecil’s Columns or Comments on Staff Reports, as they are in some other forums.
Some boards have a special forum for classic retired threads. Makes for easy reference and good reading from time to time.
Really? I thought it was more common that someone links to the old thread, which leads newcomers (and some not-so-newcomers) to read it and post their own contribution, not realizing how ancient the post they’re responding to is. Not trolling so much as carelessness.
Oh, that happens too, sometimes – I suspect the date on a thread is probably the last thing we all look at, just in general and we’ve all responded to something that was pulled from the depths of time here, no harm no foul – I’m talking about the plan of attack we see sometimes.
Geez, I even dislike talking about it, it’s like saying "Beetle . . " Aw, let’s just stop now.
TubaDiva
Hey I think we have another forumn possibility, classic threads that will never die. Perhaps 1 per forumn per year or something like that.
After all zombies can’t die.
Eh, I don’t like that. For the classic ones; I’d prefer someone just start a new thread with the same topic. That way all the newbie dopers get to throw their hat in, without it being burried four pages deep.
I do however like being able to read the old ones.
The goal is to get all the old stuff (like everything over six months or a year old) into a read only mode and off the current database – but the old stuff should be searchable as well. We’ll working on it.
TubaDiva
There’s currently a zombie thread in GQ about Archimedes and feminism that was bumped by the OP after about three years because he found a definitive answer to the question he initially asked. Is this acceptable? I ask because there was an inconclusive “ID this flag” thread that I started last year that I recently found the answer to, and have been wondering about how to announce my discovery.
GQ, being more about knowledge and less about opinion, may be a more special case and resurrection shouldn’t be a problem…
It’s not going to be a problem. Go ahead and do it. Say up front you asked and was told it would be okay by me.
TubaDiva
I will. Thanks!