The SDMB has been around for a long time, and most conceivable topics have been discussed. As a participant in these message boards, would you rather see a brand new thread made for something that has been discussed before - maybe several times already - or would you prefer that a zombie thread be resurrected?
Would you rather someone post a new thread on a topic that's been done before, or resurrect a zombie
Resurrect. Too much repetition otherwise.
New thread. Otherwise you end up arguing with people who haven’t posted here since Hector was a pup.
Where is the third option - “it depends.”
Both ways are wrong. If you post a question that has been “done before” you get bitched at. Resurrect an old thread and you’re an idiot. We should all just call it a day and go home.
Honestly, I don’t see why people get all pissy about either. Who gives a shit? It’s a message board. We’re all just here wasting time. I sometimes find it fun to read the old zombies. If someone ends up arguing a position a now-absent poster has taken, others are free to take over the position, or whatever. It’s all good.
I prefer the zombie so we can see what points have been made before. On the other hand, I think most people just post a thread without checking if there’s been a previous one, and I think that’s very acceptable as well.
We do these opinion threads here pretty often and board consensus seems to be New Thread.
I happen to disagree. I’d prefer the existing threads continue and for the mods to merge new ones into established threads. This is typical on the hobby and specialty message boards I frequent. On, say, a food board, what’s the point of six different threads about the best local place for foie gras or best instant-read thermometer? Sure, posters come and go, restaurants come and go and products are discontinued but the discussion is in one place and the same old info doesn’t get repeated time and again.
Similarly, would dozens of new threads about the alternate ending to “Big” make anyone happy?
Speaking of continues, the term Zombie is prejudicial. Let’s call it Continuing Discussion. And let’s call New Thread something like Newbie Didn’t Search or Can’t Be Bothered to Look
It’s not like there’s any guarantee that anyone will ever return to reply to a post in any thread, even after just a short time and especially if the discussion gets edgy.
New thread.
And I’d also really like it if people would refrain from wasting our time with “This thread has been done before seven times, link, link, link.”
Yeah, we’ve talked about things before. And now, some of us want to talk about it again. If we can’t talk about old topics, you can shut the SDMB down completely, and make it nothing but an archive forum. Otherwise, hush, and let us waste our time the way we want.
Now, .99999… = 1, and here’s why…
^^ gets my vote.
Zombie. I got/get really annoyed for some reason when folks come back after an OP with a “we’ve already discussed this” list. Zombies can at least get put out of their misery when they deserve it.
It depends.
Sometimes, there’s an update to a news story from five years ago. To me, it makes a lot of sense to re-animate the old thread so everyone can see what was discussed about the incident at the time it happened (or the last time there was new information about it).
On the other hand, if it’s a thread about whether people think it’s OK to put ketchup on a hot dog, I’d rather not see a thread from 2003 revived, causing dozens of current users to castigate User2704 for saying he’d rather die than let a hot dog anywhere near ketchup, and being unaware that poor User2704 actually died in 2005 as a result of choking on a dry wiener.
Yeah, I said it.
Why would placing a big red xxxx in any thread that is over 2 weeks old without a post be so hard to be an automatic thing/hack for the program?
If a thread goes viral after getting the big red splotch, any mod could remove it and it only reactivates after another 2 week gap? ( gap can be fussed about ) Not the point of this post.
IMHO it depends upon the forum and the topic. The Cafe Society forum lends itself to resurrecting zombies. In other forums, resurrecting a zombie thread to post a relevant update is fine. Otherwise, it’s time to post in a new thread, preferably linking to the zombie thread.
Topics should, of course, be top-posted. With the most recent contributions at the top. Then, if you want to scroll down through the ancient (zombie?) postings, they are right there. If you don’t, you don’t have to go “last” to get to the current discussion.
Oh, and I don’t think 'zombie" is a useful contribution. If all you have to say is to tell us that the thread is an old thread, I wish the moderators would just delete you out.
Write your own thread! Cites can be listed with a link, but nobody likes a re-run.
Be creative, be artistic, Express Yourself!
If you don’t feel strongly enough to write a new thread, then what you have to say must not be all that meaningful to you.
That, and if you can’t become passionate enough to write about it, how will you ever be able to get anyone else interested in it?
Back in Seminary well an adjunct to it really, we were once told to write a sermon from the same verse. Perturbed, I asked “but won’t all our sermons be the same?” The minister who assigned it responded that “no, God would let us all read the verse differently and prepare different messages". Turns out, this was the worst possible answer to give someone who was already questioning god, but I digress. I think new thread definitely. Not everyone will be asking the exact same thing for the exact same reasons leading to differing answers and maybe new threads from that, as this one is.
You’d hate it if I wanted to talk about something and I could see ancient threads about it, because I’d post those links in the OP. I do post them in response to people’s fresh OPs when I think they may find the previous discussions useful (“my boyfriend is mean” isn’t a subject where previous discussions will be useful).
So, I should quit posting links to all the colonoscopy threads?
Resurrect. For the same reason that mods will occasionally merge two related threads into one: it keeps topics better organized and compartmentalized.
Generally, let’s continue the zombie. Of course there are exceptions, such as when it is highly controversial and you find yourself debating with someone who long longer posts, etc.
I also find the **“Hey this is a zombie thread you dumbass!” **posts to be annoying as fuck.