Zombie threads - WHY do people start them up?!

[TeethDrama]

Recently there's been (it seems to me) a load of threads which are resurrected zombie threads.

How far back in the pages do you have to go to find a thread from 2009?

Even if one comes up via a search - why would you pick on up from (say) 2010 and post as if it is a current problem?

What kind of MNetter does this?!

If you are one of those MNetters who does this. Why?!

It's fine to shout Zombie when it's a spammer selling their diet product.

It's not when it's just some poor sod that has joined in a conversation that ended 3 years ago.

And I notice far more of the latter tbh. (usually followed by a thread like this one where that person gets roundly ridiculed for not knowing that on MN it's Not The Done Thing to bump old threads)

I've made a note in my diary to resurrect this thread in 2022.

But sometimes the poor sod that joined is trying desperately to help the long gone OP out by making a suggestion that is no longer relevant as the moment has passed IYKWIM.

It's a bit cringey-hence the useful warning. I have in the past suggested a newbie makes another thread as they will get answers directly to them and not people still trying to help the long gone OP out.

I won't be on here in 2022. The 'Like' button will have been introduced before then and I will be long gone.

It's not when it's just some poor sod that has joined in a conversation that ended 3 years ago

That is fair enough when the conversation is about the best make of kettle or what to feed a poorly kitten but not if it's about buying a certain house.

Here's one bumped this weekend from 2011. About nudity no less.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1137101-Nudity-and-Modesty

Sparkling that one annoyed me so much! He (I'm sure it was a he that resurrected it - sorry to be sexist) hadn't even read the fucking thread as he was accusing everyone of being prudes and patronisingly advising us to embrace nudity when in fact most pps were talking showing off about how they love to let it all hang out. That thread annoyed me in so many ways. ARGHH!

Strike out fail showing off

The wording of the person that bumped the thread was a little bit eww I have to say.

Threads about nakedness are always a bit bonkers though.

Yeah some threads definitely get bumped by weirdo pervs. In which case report ASAP so that MN can ban them. And try to forget the fact they are probably trawling regardless.

I did it once by mistake

I was reading old threads for hours and totally forgot that they were old threads and posted a reply. The roasting I got...deserved I guess, but fucking harsh none the less...

I started a similar thread which is still running here

I'm getting a bit fed up with the argument that other fora expect you to use old threads; mumsnet doesn't. Surely when you join a site you find out how people use it first, rather than blunder in throwing your weight about and complaining that you don't like the way it's set up. This site is different from a lot of others in the way it's laid out and in its functions. If you don't like it there are many others.

Someone suggested on the other thread that new users not be able to post for a set period after joining, to slow the spammers and to let new posters get an idea of how the site works.

I still think locking after 6 months from last use and only reanimated by OP is the way to go.

"I'm getting a bit fed up with the argument that other fora expect you to use old threads; mumsnet doesn't. Surely when you join a site you find out how people use it first, rather than blunder in throwing your weight about and complaining that you don't like the way it's set up. This site is different from a lot of others in the way it's laid out and in its functions. If you don't like it there are many others"

Fucking hell, how unforgiving are you? 😭

There has been a flurry of threads lately stating the poster is new and all the things that they don't like about MN, and how it needs to be improved. Usually by making it identical to other apparently far better sites that they frequent.

I've seen 5 zombie threads this evening alone. It's very annoying.

I am fond of some zombie threads, I admit. There is one that reappears regularly about carpet fitting - and the carpet fitter has stormed out. We will never know...

Having said that, maybe MN should delete threads after a certain length of time, I dunno.

I don't mind zombie threads being around, to be found in Search, very helpful usually.

What's annoying is when it's about a specific issue and it gets resurrected and carried on 9 years or whatever by a zombie thread-jolter and then you realise after posting careful advice that the OP's then 4yo will now be 13 and well past their toilet accident or whatever it was

Would be helpful if they were there but read-only, if a poster has something new to add on the topic then simply start a new thread?!

The problem is that when someone has resurrected an old thread and a few have posted on it afterwards, it'll come up in active conversations but if you click on the latest post(er's name) as I do, and not the title, it takes you straight to the last post which is a current one. So you join in the thread thinking it's current and then someone points out it's 6 yo or whatever. But it seemed so current! you think to yourself. Argh.

Always best to RTFT. If a ten page AIBU suddenly appears in 'Trending' that you have not seen before, it will be a Zombie.

I don't get the level of outrage that an old thread has been posted on. I can understand a certain annoyance if a thread's been resurrected already but then surely you're (general) guilty of also missing it? If that makes sense.

Again, understand someone posting "zombie" to save further posters. It's the extremely patronising "zombie thread FFS" that winds me up.

No need to be outraged or wound up. It's just MN.

Sparkling
Yes, I saw the irony in my post! Just don't get why people go to the effort of posting their annoyance when a brief eye roll would suffice.

I don't get why posters need to police the way the site is run.

It's the same with the outrage and complaining about the "username" usernames.

Unless you're someone who spends so much time on MN that you really do keep a spreadsheet of who everyone is, then, again, what does it matter what they are called?

I admit I'm guilty of not always RTFT. First page, last page, but I have neither time nor inclination to plough through the 15 in the middle unless it's a really juicy bunfight

I can see that trolly pervs would probably like to resurrect sex threads. I don't read those anyway. Can't be arsed having sex myself much, go figure if I can be arsed reading about someone else doing it

I think MN is slightly unusual in how angry people get when old threads are resurrected.

The hysterical cries of 'Zombie, zombie' as as if someone had just run into a crowded restaurant throwing around a bucketful of strychnine are tedious in the extreme.

If it is about a specific time-consuming limited problem - 'what should I eat for my tea tonight, dating from 2008' but if it is a general issue that is still pertinent, I don't see why it shouldn't continue to be debated on an existing thread.