Zombie threads - what’s the big deal?

[BakeOffRewatch]

Why do “zombie” threads get such a strong dramatic response here? If someone wants to post and finds it interesting then ok?

I can understand it on threads where the OP is seeking advice on something distressing, but anything else I don’t mind seeing a lighthearted thread resurrected.

Because people reply to the original post in earnest, and it has probably been long dealt with.
A waste of time on everyone’s parts really.

The problem is that once they have been bumped the zombie message disappears from the message box and unless you scrutinise the date of the OP it's not immediately obvious when a thread is old.

So posters might trawl through pages of posts about a toddler's fussy eating and post detailed advice before realising the thread is from 2010 and the toddler is now a teenager!

It's a Public Service Message

As Fruitcake said, some posters spend an inordinate amount of emotional energy giving teams of good advice. Finding out the issue is long over, the OP has probably name changed twice since posting and the interview was over, nosy applicant discarded, months ago, can be quite deflating

I find them annoying tbh 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yeah, but you are Ronnie Fucking Pickering 😁

Yeh i dont get why people are bothered.

Issues that resonate a year ago are still relevant, so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

@HoardingSamphireSaurus

Yeah, but you are Ronnie Fucking Pickering 😁

Quite. Every fucking thing annoys me actually.

🤣

If it's not an 'advice' thread and it's a general this was funny/WWYD/chit-chat thread it's even worse!

It's just all long gone.
It's yesterday's news.
OP buggered off years ago.
Joke's over.
Issue is cleared up.
Info. is out of date.
We've moved on.

The fact the zombie message disappears is criminal IMO.

It's like trying to dredging up some long dead convo. about something or someone everyone's forgotten about like my mother does.

I find them extremely irritating

I must be like your mum then @Laiste . I usually Google what I am looking for +mumsnet in the search terms and rarely start a thread (going on a thread starting spree at the moment). I have stopped restarting old threads, but ones about how to deal with baby’s sleep, “is this normal”, is this town nice to live in … I’d just rather tag on to an old thread.

I guess it’s only really annoying if it makes it to active or the mumsnet annual round up, which is why I think the interview thread was restarted. There should be age limit on what appears in active.

The ones I tend to restart are in telly addicts because I’m watching stuff years after it came out like Motherland and Ghosts

@BakeOffRewatch

The ones I tend to restart are in telly addicts because I’m watching stuff years after it came out like Motherland and Ghosts

To be fair I often read old zombie threads if I've watched an oldish series for the first time. I just don't add new messages to them 😂

What's really disconcerting is getting half way through a long thread not realising it's 6/7 years old, and finding yourself nodding along to yourself under an old name!

It's like bumping into yourself up an aisle in Tesco

I find it really annoying, especially as most old threads are revived by spammers.

All forums have their own conventions and rules, both written and unwritten. On MN it's something of an unwritten rule not to bump zombie threads, though you wouldn't realise this unless you've been on here for a while.

What's really disconcerting is getting half way through a long thread not realising it's 6/7 years old, and finding yourself nodding along to yourself under an old name!

I've done this! Thinking, "Wow, this woman talks a lot of sense..." and then, "Wait a minute..." 😆

I have stopped restarting old threads, but ones about how to deal with baby’s sleep, “is this normal”, is this town nice to live in … I’d just rather tag on to an old thread

But then all the people who can’t be arsed to RTFT will reply to the OP instead of you, and the OP’s baby might well have started school by that point.

Hello to all here in 2028

@AlternativeCarpark

Hello to all here in 2028

Oooh. 2028 posters - Coronavirus - what happens next, please?

I don't care either OP 🤷🏻‍♀️

I prefer zombie threads on the Telly Addicts board. I’d like each tv programme to have one thread rather than multiple threads all saying similar stuff. And it would mean that older, quality programmes like Gavin & Stacey or Line of Duty (for example) would have threads that go back 10 years and are occasionally resurrected by Mumsnetters finally getting round to viewing them….but that’s fine.

Maybe if some posters didn't keep eye rolling and saying 'FFS, not this again' just because someone dares to ask a question that's been asked before, then people wouldn't feel the need to dig up dead bodies and have conversations with them

I'm with you though, OP, I don't care that much about zombie threads being resurrected. Certainly not enough to shout in capital letters followed by a dozen or so exclamation marks.