# Zombie threads how do I know
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 12, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137 "2017-07-12T23:39:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/21 "2017-07-13T17:12:44Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Why not, and I’ve suggested this in the past, delete the spam post and leave it open, I mean, the current policy is to leave old threads open, right? Not to lock them just because they’re old?
As has been pointed out, we generally do this but once the spam post that bumped them has been removed you don’t see such threads because they float down to the abyss from which they were raised.
I personally often lock such threads in GQ because the fact that they were raised by a spammer once (because they found it due to the subject matter) makes it likely that another spammer will raise it again. I started doing this after seeing a thread that had been bumped about a dozen times year after year.
My impression is that many more people are annoyed by leaving zombie threads open than by us closing them. At least, it seems to me that more people complain about this.
There are downsides to any inflexible policy, whether always closing old threads or always leaving them open. The policy used to be to almost always close old threads. Our current policy is more flexible. We consider this to be a reasonable compromise.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/22 "2017-07-13T17:20:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> No, what you mean is, the OP hasn’t logged in since then. You don’t know that he isn’t lurking. I lurk on a handful of boards that I don’t post to or don’t actively post to and therefore don’t see any reason to log in each time I visit.
>
> Seems to me the actual rule is: If you want to bump a thread that’s older than X years AND you have something valuable to add AND the original poster has last activity within Y months, then the thread won’t be locked.
> X, Y and ‘Valuable’ defined on a case by case basis, naturally.
>
> That, of course, is asking too much, to which I say, again, leave them all open, or lock them all. But this is how it is right now.
**TommyTutone** joined in 2000. Why would someone who had been here that long start lurking instead of signing in?
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/23 "2017-07-13T17:43:14Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> The date is right there in every post but many people miss it. For whatever reason, TPTB elected to use gray text on a gray background which certainly doesn’t help. It’s perfectly visible when you look for it but it definitely doesn’t jump out at you if you’re not thinking about it.
>
> Here’s a userscript that sets the date to black text instead of gray. That simple change causes the date to jump right out at you on every post. [SDMB Bold Dates for Greasemonkey](http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/139495)
>
> There are also userscripts around that will mark zombie threads specifically. This one just makes the date more visible.
>
> I’ve never understood most objections to so called zombie threads, or felt any sense of wasted time to have read one and replied to it without realizing its original date. Discussions can pick up 10 years later right where they left off. But I do like to have the timestamp of posts clearly visible in general.
Neat. I’m trying to collect all the scripts, even if I don’t use them all. I personally just use one by **Polonius** that attempts to detect an old thread on the thread list page, before you click on it. I’ve tweaked it over the years, and I find it sufficient.
And, yeah, it’s been years. Can you believe it?
(BTW, would you want to see a version I tweaked to run at document-start [before the page loads]?.)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/24 "2017-07-13T17:45:09Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> **TommyTutone** joined in 2000. Why would someone who had been here that long start lurking instead of signing in?
Don’t know. Could be lots of reason. Besides, it’s irrelevant since the rule seems to, at least in part, be based on an arbitrary time since the OP last logged in, not last read the board. For all you know, they subscribed to the thread, got a message that it was bumped and now can’t reply.
Like I said earlier, I lurk on a handful of boards that I don’t actively post to any more (GB being one of them). The last active date only means the last time you were signed in.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/25 "2017-07-13T17:55:41Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> At the top of the first post, under the Post Reply button, is the original post date. You can check there to see if a post is a zombie.
> .
I dont think that matters. What does matter is the LAST post date. if you are adding the first post in a year, rethink. Maybe if it is a good GQ answer, go ahead and post, otherwise maybe not.
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### Author:  [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/26 "2017-07-13T21:19:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> I dont think that matters. What d
>
> oes matter is the LAST post date. if you are adding the first post in a year, rethink. Maybe if it is a good GQ answer, go ahead and post, otherwise maybe not.
Ah, so it could work both ways depending how you look at it. 😊
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/27 "2017-07-13T21:28:12Z")
Another zombie tip-off that I’ve noticed in Tapatalk: on some really old threads, a little green box with the letters “OP” displays in place of the user names.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/28 "2017-07-13T23:45:23Z")
Did/does anybody else get Whitney Houston stuck in your ear when your read the thread title?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/29 "2017-07-13T23:54:06Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Pro tip: When reading a zombie thread you will generally notice a higher than usual number of BANNED posters responding.
That often does it for me.
Or: You read a post and think, “Hey that’s guy is fucking brilliant”, and then you look at the username and it’s you from 5 years ago. 😃
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/30 "2017-07-14T00:09:56Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> Did/does anybody else get Whitney Houston stuck in your ear when your read the thread title?
(_shyly raises hand_)
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/31 "2017-07-14T00:11:58Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> (_shyly raises hand_)
Immahafta drink a LOT of beer to drown her in the tub in my mind.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/32 "2017-07-14T00:25:40Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> Immahafta drink a LOT of beer to drown her in the tub in my mind.
Was that Glen Campbell?
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/33 "2017-07-14T00:31:02Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Was that Glen Campbell?
Ha! I was gonna make a zombie joke about him/whitney, but I just looked it up and HE’S STILL ALIVE!?!? Holy crap! I thought he died years ago.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/34 "2017-07-14T01:27:35Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Pro tip: When reading a zombie thread you will generally notice a higher than usual number of BANNED posters responding.
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> That often does it for me.
>
> Or: You read a post and think, “Hey that’s guy is fucking brilliant”, and then you look at the username and it’s you from 5 years ago. 😃
Yup. BANNED posters or, not brilliant but “hey, they’re posting what I was thinking of post- - - oh, that’s me”. At least it’s good to know that I’m consistent.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/35 "2017-07-14T17:53:38Z")
For me, it’s usually “That guy has a decent idea, but man he could’ve said it a whole lot better and not sounded like a twat.”
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/36 "2017-07-14T18:12:03Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Pro tip: When reading a zombie thread you will generally notice a higher than usual number of BANNED posters responding.
It’s also always surprising to me to see how many Banned posters were prolific contributors.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/37 "2017-07-14T18:33:28Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> Ha! I was gonna make a zombie joke about him/whitney, but I just looked it up and HE’S STILL ALIVE!?!? Holy crap! I thought he died years ago.
He’s only with us physically. He’s in the large stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Interestingly, his final album was just released last month. It was recorded in 2012, just after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/38 "2017-07-14T18:35:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Don’t know. Could be lots of reason. Besides, it’s irrelevant since the rule seems to, at least in part, be based on an arbitrary time since the OP last logged in, not last read the board. For all you know, they subscribed to the thread, got a message that it was bumped and now can’t reply.
>
> Like I said earlier, I lurk on a handful of boards that I don’t actively post to any more (GB being one of them). The last active date only means the last time you were signed in.
That doesn’t mean everybody else does. Boards like this one, and GB, will automatically log you in if you checked the “Remember Me” box.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/39 "2017-07-14T19:43:26Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> That doesn’t mean everybody else does. Boards like this one, and GB, will automatically log you in if you checked the “Remember Me” box.
And what if you didn’t check that box?
What if you got a new computer?
What if you reset your cache?
What if the board software logged you out?
What if, for your own personal reasons, you still wanted to read the boards, but didn’t want to be logged in so you purposely logged out and didn’t log back in?
Are you honestly trying to argue that a member of a board can’t read it without signing in?
There’s hundreds of millions of people on the internet, suggesting that none of them could continue to lurk on a board that they used to post to on a regular basis without signing in because of the “remember me” box, despite so many other possibilities, is Mythbusters logic.
As for why, it doesn’t matter why, the fact is that they can. I felt I gave perfectly good reasons why it may happen by accident and on purpose, even good reasons why I’ve done it myself (board software logged me out, never cared to log back in or post, but still read there).
Of all the things I’ve banged my head against a wall about when it comes to zombie threads, I never thought I’d have to explain to anyone that you can actually read these message boards without being logged in.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-threads-how-do-i-know/791137/40 "2017-07-14T20:41:02Z")
I know you can. And I’m not really trying to be obtuse. But if you’re a regular long-time member, _why_? Why lurk all of a sudden, after years of membership? Your experiences really don’t apply to everyone else as a whole.
In other words, why decide to log out all of a sudden, and not log back in? And yes, I do realize that there are people who prefer not to have a message board store their cookies and would rather log in each time. I’m not one of those people.
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