...to wonder how Zombie threads get started up again

[purplecoathanger]

How and why do old threads suddenly appear on here? I'm annoyed with myself for posting on one.

Sorry if this is a TAAT but I'm seriously pissed off, as it's not the first time I've been had.

It doesn't help that the zombie warning seems to have disappeared...

Apparently on other sites it is the done thing to bump a thread rather than start a new one. That's really weird though.

I think people Google and then don't realise it's an old thread, but saying that it's usually male pervs or spammers that do the bumping on MN.

Maybe people search for a topic then comment on it without thinking?

I saw it pop up in AIBU and didn't check the date before I replied

I've occasionally done a search for subjects on here, and on my laptop the results don't come out with the most current thread at the top of the list, they seem to be a bit random and not in any particular date order. Much the same happens if you Google something - it throws up all sorts of threads, from years ago sometimes. Perhaps people just post on them without checking the date at the top first?

I googled something this evening and a mumsnet thread was one of the top results. When I looked it was a thread from 2005, I could have easily have posted without realising the initial date.

I always think they're reanimated by people who aren't very computer/forum literate, who just search a keyword and find a thread and start babbling on. A lot of time they seem to be oblivious that they've blundered into the past.

Really? You actually wonder how? What bubble do you live in?

A lot of it is because Advanced Search results come back in alphabetical order of topics. So the results at the top of the list could be years old, and people click on them without noticing the date.
If the results were returned in date order, latest first, I think it'd go a long way to reducing Zombie threads.

Some forums have threads running into hundreds of pages, they just get bumped up.
Zombie threads here are usually someone either having a google and deciding to join in the fun, or someone trying to sell something.

There's a zombie troll chuntering around every few weeks.

God knows what they get out of it.

Then again there are some people who like being pissed on, takes all sorts I suppose.

Bumping a thread because you want to ask the same question is one thing, but giving a pointless answer to the OP on a thread from seven years ago is ridiculous.

I think and I'm purely speaking from experience reanimating the thread may have been an accident?

I had one pop up at the top of the active list a few weeks back after I logged in with a new device.

It put a 'local mumsnet post' at the top of the active threads and I clicked on it and replied not checking the date. It was about 7 years out of date and clearly shouldn't have been there. I cant believe no-one locally to me posts on here.
I've also searched for a post via a search engine that I thought I had posted on. I got the title of the thread wrong and the search result was 4 or 5 years old. I noticed that one was too old and didn't post on it but its really easy to pick them up without too much trouble.

I started reading a very pleasant 'whats out in your garden' type thread which came up in Active Convos this morning.... was starting to get very at what other people (I assumed further south) had blooming already ... took quite a while before I clocked the date, someone had deliberately bumped a nearly two year old thread instead of starting a new one. Not sure why, obviously entirely well-intentioned.

Come to think, when I first joined many years ago, looking for specific parenting info, I assumed the correct thing to do would be to find a thread on the same issue and post on that. And there are times when I see the umpteenth thread on the same old things it crosses my mind it wouldn't always be a bad thing.

years ago i started a thread on netmums when my child was diagnosed with a rare disorder about a yr later it was bumped up by somone whose child was also diagnosed with the same condition she must have googled it and my thread came up bizarrely we dont live far from each other and are now friends on facebook but i have seen threads bumped up that are about somethinf dull thats somones bumped up and i do think hmm.

Some forums prefer a subject to remain on one thread rather than someone create a new one, to reduce bandwidth usage. If someone is used to such a system I can understand why they would use this forum in the same way.

, to reduce bandwidth usage.

I'd have thought keeping on one ever-growing thread rather than having more, but shorter, threads would increase bandwidth usage, unless I'm missing what you mean.