Highlighting Zombie threads

It's simple.

1. Give it an active check box to tick before you can post. "This thread has not been posted on for a year. Are you absolutely sure you want to post? You could start a new thread over here."
2. only let people with a 6 month posting record reopen zombie threads - it's mostly spammers anyway

I agree. The issues for me are:

1. The zombie warning disappears after a couple of people have posted on the zombie thread; and
2. The warning appears next to the box for your message, i.e. at the bottom of the thread. So you find it after you've rtft assuming no-one's posted already, in which case it's disappeared...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1687721-To-think-its-awful-the-way-some-people-try-to-justify-their-children-being-overweight?pg=6

Here's another. So tedious.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/566378-in-feeling-annoyed-at-parents-of-overweight-kids?pg=2

Another example of a zombie thread resurrected I think by someone spamming. I wasted time reading it. If the background was highlighted as I suggested people wouldn't waste their time on it.

Im curious about that as well

I wonder how the newbies gave their feedback about it being offputting?

But you don't go to the message box until you've read the thread - it's only then that you have wasted x minutes of your life because reading recent threads for hours on end obviously isn't

Completely pointless.

And I feel a bit put out that some newbies found the old message a bit off putting, so MN immediately got rid off it, when loads of us who have been around for years have been repeatedly asking for a more clear and longer lasting message for ages, and have been consistently --fobbed off- ignored.

Billy this is the message that appears underneath the box that someone would type an update to that "Andy CBeebies" thread:-

FYI: this thread hasn't been posted on for over a year.

In plain text, not bolded or underlined or anything.

I would echo that threads over 4 years old should be locked and if someone thinks they have something new to add to the conversation, they should open a new thread and link to the old one in their opening post.

If the old zombie alert upset new posters, couldn't MNHQ replace it with something friendlier, such as 'This thread is more than a year old - why not start a new thread instead?' and 'new thread' could be linked to the instructions.

I agree with Lemony. We seem to regularly have a spate of spammers who go round the boards reopening every thread they can find on one subject.

Feedback MMHQ: just lock the thread???

Or brig back the zombie image. A lot easier to see over the "little warning in the little box"

And keep it up for more than one or two posts !!!

I like the idea of changing username band colours and only the Op resurrecting a very old thread.

It upset the new users? Most of the zombie thread bumpers are goady and offer nothing constructive to the thread they've resurrected. Why can't you lock threads after a year and only the Op can restart it if they have an update.

Ridiculous.

Why not change the background on older threads? Like he Mumsnet admin Ines are blue. You could have green if more than 3 months old, amber more than 6 months old and red if more than a year old. It will be really obvious then. The current zombie warning only lasts for a few posts so it disappears quickly.

I dont see any reason to allow posting on a zombie thread at all actually.
On the vanishingly rare occasions someone comes back to update after a number of months, they can start a new thread.

we actually changed our zombie alert a while back as it was quite off-putting for new users! ... Does anyone else matter?

At this time, we don't have any plans to change this feature but are always more than happy to get feedback.

Well if you're happy to get feedback mine is that the lack of Zombie warnings on old threads after a couple of posts is more than just annoying, it can actually be upsetting to hear someone's issue such a pregnancy concern from 10 years discussed when the child may be at High school or may not even have survived but people are posting, sometimes in good faith without realising that their intervention could be upsetting.

Love it that Andy cbeebies is your test search.

Musn't upset the newbies.

There's definitely no zombie notification/symbol on the app.
If you search Andy CBeebies for example, a thread from 2010 comes up. It's not been active for over 7 years but no marker?

Why can't old threads be locked?

New users found it off putting?!!

Us oldies and regulars have been asking for years to make zombie threads more obvious.

It is so annoying when you spend ages reading through a thread that really isn't relevant 10 years down the line.

Colour code them or something. Listen to your loyal members too please.

I've no idea why the zombie thread warning goes away after a thread has been resurrected- it's really annoying

If the zombie message disapears on the resurrection of the thread, perhaps that message could remain, instead of disapearing, so that it doesn't give the impression of being a new thread iuswim LornaMumsnet?