Zombie threads: an idea

About This Message Board
1

Ever notice how the person who bumps an ancient thread is nearly always newly registered? They obviously don’t know any better.

Since board policy (in practice anyway) is generally opposed to bumping old threads, why not advise new registrants of this in some front-and-center way, when they sign up? Would that be worth doing? I know I find it a little annoying to get a distance into a thread before noticing it’s years old, and at that point it’s 99% certain the person who bumped it will be someone who registered this month, posting in a tone indicating they have no idea it’s not quite best practice around here. We could warn them in advance. (Or do we already?)

Respectfully submitted,
masonite

2

I would like some visual notification of such a thread. I usually get my way - eventually. YMMV

3

Most people don’t read through the Registration Agreement anyway. And telling them not bump zombie threads is frankly not one of the highest priority things we want to inform them of.

4

Under most circumstances zombies are harmless. In general we don’t want to do anything to discourage new posters. What do you suggest specifically?

5

They’re harmless, but they’re often closed by moderators, so I thought they were considered undesirable.

I would suggest a separate email automatically sent upon registration. That email could also highlight other board etiquette tips.

But I’m aware, as Colibri notes, it’s not a high priority and might possibly distract from more important issues.

6

It’s too bad that the vast, vast majority of such people post once, and slink back to the oblivion from whence they came, ne’er to return.

7

We could require new posters to deposit $100, refundable in six months minus $10 for each zombie thread bumped.

8

I don’t see any need to forbid people from posting in zombie threads. But how about a pop-up box that lets them know they’re doing it?

As a general idea, any time somebody attempted to post in a thread where the last thread was over a year ago, they’d get this pop-up:

9

What’s this refundable shit? That’s pizza and beer money man.

10

I notice a couple of mods have already weighed in, but in general, bumping a thread isn’t against board policy if the new post adds something relevant to the thread. Thread bumps are usually frowned on when they’re spam or someone bumps them to post a stupid joke.

Wouldn’t that require a modification to the forum software? You know TPTB’s stance on mods: “Don’t break it any more than it’s already broke.”

11

Shhh, I am a terrible person for having pointed this out several times, so obviously you must also be. Thread bumped, and it hasn’t been posted in in over a year, odds are like 98% or better the person just registered this week.

But I am bad for noticing a pattern. Bad pizza.

12

Or conversely , the people who were so bothered by these threads could just learn to read the date. It’s not that hard. It’s in the upper left-hand corner of every post.

Why many people on this board are so obsessed with and terrified of responding to an older post is something that has never been satisfactorily explained.

13

That is not true. Most of the time they are not closed. Maybe in the past that was true but not any more. In general they are only closed when the bump is an attempt to engage long gone or sometimes deceased posters or some other mitigating circumstances.

14

I’ve become pretty good st spotting zombies. Chances are, if it wasn’t here when I was on the boards last, and it has two pages already, it’s a zombie. Since I check the boards around the same time every day, It seems to work.

15

I think we just have to hope that these newbies will use their…
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COMMON SENSE!!!

What did you think I was going to say???

16

Credit card?

17

Maybe at the same time we can explain why people make ridiculous characterizations of people they disagree with.

18

I’ve recently learned to notice something on the forum listing page. On that page there’s a column for post count and a column for view count.

10 posts and 30 views? New thread. 20 posts and 300 views? Zombie. 100 posts and 7,000 views? Multiply-revived zombie on Google-worthy topic.

19

I dont see what the big deal is about Zombie threads. Unless it’s some debate and they are posting a reply to a long gone or banned Poster, it’s no biggie. Sometimes the newb adds new thoughts and inspires interesting discussion.

The annoying thing is the poster who feels a need to waste Hampster energy on posting nothing but a note that they found a Zombie. Who gives a rats ass? Nothing at all is added by such a post.

20

Easiest solution: on the standard “list of threads” screen add the (existing) column for thread started date. (won’t stop zombies so much as will notify the cogniscenti that a given thread dates back to way-back-when)

Ideal solution: write and implement code that makes a warning appear at the top of any thread, when opened, if thread was started < x months ago, “WARNING: This thread was started in Xxx of XXXX; you may want to consider whether you want to post to such an old thread”.