Grains.
Gentlemen…BEHOLD! CORN!
This is pretty much the policy in Cafe Society forum, where the discussion about some work of art or entertainment can be carried on, even after a many month hiatus, with new people contributing.
On t’other hand, in forums like (say) MPSIMS or the Pit, most old threads really are dead – they’re about some event or whatever that happened, was discussed, and now is done and gone. Especially in the Pit, opening old wounds (which is usually the result, intended or not) serves no useful purpose. That’s why the policy, but we do consider each situation on its own merits.
On one hand, I don’t think threads ought to be locked only because they’re zombies. I occasionally find a zombie that I wish would be reopened for further discussion.
On the other hand, I think it would be an undue burden on the mods to have to carefully read every zombie thread to determine whether it’s still relevant and/or whether there are any cans o’worms lurking in it. Some of those threads are loooong.
I think a good compromise would be as follows:
Mods should continue to lock zombie threads as they find them.
If someone feels it should be reopened, they should contact a mod, as Lynn suggested. Hopefully, the mods and admins will be more willing to reopen old threads from here on out.
If a mod should happen to have time or inspiration to evaluate the zombie thread without being specifically asked and feels it could remain open, then the mod should leave it open. The mod should post saying that he or she has deliberately left it open so that people won’t continue to report the zombie thread.
Art, entertainment, or even toast. 
What’s the problem with starting a new thread, with a title along the lines of “Further thoughts about XXXX” and include a link to the original thread?
Heh. 
I got that from a barely remembered list of jokes about a million different things that rhymed with “brains”, as in “What do Vegetarian Zombies eat”, and What do Zombieyfied Rush Limbaugh say?"But seriously:
Nothing. However, I also don’t see what’s wrong with posting to a relativley recent non-political thread, such as this one. It wasn’t harming anyone, and it didn’t bother me one way or another that much to see it closed, but still, I don’t see how any benefit came from it’s being closed.
I don’t mind the locked threads so much as the “hidden” or “vanished” threads – usually they get flushed down the memory hole when the mods figure out the OP was a sock for a banned member. But locking the thread should be enough; it’s not fair the rest of us, who posted in all innocence, should suddenly have no access to our own posts even for reference purposes.
I disagree.
How is this a compromise? This is exactly how it works now, and my experience with the policy is that it works just fine.
I bumped the years-old Danica Patrick pit thread a couple days after IRL changed the rule to weigh the cars as raced. It was quickly locked as a zombie, then after making my case to the mod who locked it (SkipMagic, maybe?) it was opened back up.
Oh, ha ha! I get it.
(The only reason I get it is because I saw my contribution to this thread earlier and thought ‘wha…?’ 
)
Personally, I’d love to see some fun language when locking them. I propose: “Whacking this thread with a shovel until it drops, twitching…”
Susan
Dammit!
A zombie thread about Zombie threads. What’s the world coming to? Is this the Zombie Apocalypse?
You know, it may sound like “suck up to the mods,” but I don’t think th current practice needs revising so much as it does being overtly spelled out.
As I understand it, the resurrection in Fall 2008 of a thread that dropped off the first page in Spring 2003 or whatever, where half the contributors are no longer active, is locked without prejudice – meaning anyone is welcome to start a new thread on the subject and link to the past thread. (“See the previous discussion here, especially post #58, where Muffin provided a long and detailed analysis of the legal issues involved.”)
As Dex noted, perhaps-esoteric topical thread, e.g., in Cafe Society, may well be left open. And I’ve seen a number of thread resurrected from three to eighteen months after they “died” because someone had provided new and relevant information not available before. (E.g., the OP of a Pit thread about an insufferable neighbor, reporting that the case finally went to court, and here’s what happened.)
Also remember that quite often a zombie thread is the result of a newbie failing to realize that adding a comment to a moribund-if-not-mummified thread brings it back to the top of the forum menu.
As I understand it, locking zombie threads is not a rule per se, but merely a standard moderation policy, followed most of the time for good reason, and with exceptions some of the time when other, equally good reason arises.
My hunch is that if one purposefully resurrects a zombie thread for good reason, one ought to report a previous post in it explaining what you’ve done and why – and that if the mods. agree it’s a valid reason, as they usually will, they’ll leave it open.
At least that’s how I’ve seen it played out in practice, and how I feel about it. Mods? Is this close to board policy?
…or even a long time member who failed to notice that it was in fact a zombie thread. As in this case.
My point still stands.
Originally posted by DeForest Kelley, as Leonard McCoy
“It’s dead, Jim.” 
What is even funnier to me is that this thread was started by a zombie poster (in that I have been away for the past couple of years).
Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains indeed.
Puts a note in 2010 calendar to revisit this thread
This is a perfect example of why zombie threads should usually be locked.
I don’t know if there has been any official change in policy or anything, but it certainly seems that the mods are more willing to leave the zombies open than they used to be.
You were rebutting something I said based on the conditions that existed two and a half years ago. And the current conditions seem to be more like what I had suggested way back then. So no wonder it didn’t seem like much of a compromise!
I’m not trying to dick on you, Ellis. It just happened to be a good example.
BUT–it also demonstrates why zombies should have a notice in them to make it very clear that they are resurrected! This notice can be placed by a mod or a user–doesn’t matter–but it would certainly be helpful to everybody.