To think that not everybody on here would know that a thread topic has been "done to death"

[Arachnophobic]

Warning - thread about thread(s). If you don't like, don't feel obliged to read.

I am no Newbie but definitely a lurker.

The thread about alleged "bullying" (their word not mine) got me thinking, particularly when I lurked on another.

Someone on here has got a bashing tonight for raising a topic that has been, I quote, "done to death".

AIBU in thinking that a newbie should not be expected to trail thousands of threads to see if the topic has been covered already? And even if it has, so what?

I raise this because while I don't necessarily agree that there is bullying on here, I do think that newbies are more often than not made to feel unwelcome - in fact the only place they can go with safety is the "Buddy Bench".

Buddy bench? Where is that? I've been on here since 2007 and not come across it. Will search now!

The Buddy Bench - a very nice place to be.

Tea, cakes, and a warm welcome

But seriously why on earth do people use rain covers on prams when it's not raining??? To keep the air out?

To stop strangers touching their baby,undercoverPrincess!

Yeah OP I thought that about the jam or cream first thread yesterday, when we'd done it to death a couple of weeks ago. Although I feel very, very strongly about this subject, I did not jump in on the new thread either to state again immutable and absolute position or to say oh no not again (because it would be very unkind).

I just ignored 'jam or cream' it crops up regularly-and does it matter?!

@exoticfruits - of course, that and germs and.... air!!!

YANBU

Anyway, why would someone use the search function and sit there reading threads about a certain subject, that they feel are too old for them to contribute to?

If they post their opinion on them they get flamed for bumping a zombie thread and if they start a new one they get flamed for starting a thread that's been done to death.

Am absolutely astonished at the number of times Mn is willing to discuss the whole pubes/no pubes thing. Those threads seem to come up every other day.

YANBU, OP. I am another long time lurker (although occasionally I do go through flurries of posting), and I don't like people saying the "done to death" thing. I've searched for things before (so as not to upset anyone if it has been previously posted about!), and I don't always get the results I want- it's easier to just start a thread and hope noone sighs, martyr-like at my ignorance!

But by the same token, I never venture into any of the "group" threads- the Buddy Bench being one, as I feel that everyone on them knows each other, it's not like adding your opinion to a general thread. In fact I am secretly intimidated by all those types of threads, as I am a true Billy-no-mates here

YANBU - its very head girl like, mind you I don't care if posters post in the "wrong" section either I'm not a very good MNetter, I just have a mooch about and a bit of a chat.

I just talk bollocks, I find that helps

I go for much the same approach, Norfolk. Mainly I just meander around occasionally saying, quietly to myself "this will not go well". In between talking bollocks, that is.

Jooly I dipped into the Buddy Bench once and they were very welcoming.

Not cliquey at all.

Yes Worra you are so right!
If they post their opinion on them they get flamed for bumping a zombie thread and if they start a new one they get flamed for starting a thread that's been done to death

Both of these has happened to me.
There are things I want to ask about here, but I daren't, in case of the above happening.

Maybe I need to start a new thread...wil I get flamed? Let's see......

YANBU

I think people can't win either way. They start a thread that has been mentioned before (and tbh most topics have been mentioned in some form), and get grief because it has been done before.

Someone searches and bumps a thread that hasn't been posted on in years because they have something to add or problem that is similiar, and they get grief because they've bumped a zombie thread.

Has anyone got the pigmy and the frozen leg of lamb?

We need to initiate Jooly

I agree with you - you can't add to old threads either as you get lots of people commenting that you shouldn't post on these. Sometimes you can't win.

But WHY shouldn't you post on old threads?

Couldn't The Buddy Bench (which i have never sat on cos NOBODY will tell me where it is) be a topic in itself, in which anyone may post anything they like?

Or just be frank, and have a topic called: "Post what you like here"

You shouldn't post on old threads because the person who started it will have long ago forgotten it and probably not see it. I hate getting drawn into something and then see that I commented at the time. You can easily start a new one. This is the first time that I have heard criticism of 'done to death'-I would think that it is very difficult to do a topic that has never been touched on.

Matters to me exotic. I can only dream of such delicacies :(

on another forum that I use the mods would have a fit of the vapours if you posted a new thread without searching the archives.