Could Dormant and "Old" threads be marked in some way?

[ragged]

I think many of us are tired of fairly old or dormant threads being bumped up (like a query someone posted 1-4 yrs ago). Could "old" OPs, those at least 6 months old, be shaded in a different colour to give us an obvious visual clue? Maybe pale yellow?

good idea.

C C? YooHoo, MNHQ. I know you were busy yesterday but hopefully that's resolved now, anybody else like my idea?

Great idea. I hate zombie thread and they're often bumped by people trying to advertise something.

Ahem threadS of course.

Hello. Thanks for the suggestion.

We'll certainly have a think.

There are some threads - in pregnancy, for example - that do seem to run for a bit, then stop for a bit, then get revived and run a bit more. Thinking the "best bits of pregnancy" ones or "worst bit of childbirth" ones or whatever.

Would you want those ones marked too?

I see no harm in marking all old threads.
Wouldn't mean we wouldn't post on them, just help us to notice that things will have moved on since the OP.

I'm thinking the same as SarkyS; just so that we all get reminded to pay attention to whether it might be a zombie. Sometimes it's appropriate to revive old threads, can even be useful.

I started an 'empty nest' thread in 2006 when DS went to university, which has been posted on every year since - I wouldn't like it to be ignored because it was a different colour!

Perhaps the colour could change after the last post was a certain age?

Can't you lock them? after a certain amount of time? Or just delete after however long?

sorry for abundance of ?s

But if you delete them, then people will have to stop moaning and telling new posters to search the archives when they start the 7,805,344th thread asking when to wean.

There's a lot of information in there - I often find a quick search will find my answer without me having to start a new thread.

This is MN, people will never stop moaning

True!

There was a teething thread from 2004 the other day.

I think they should be locked.

Any news on whether this can be done?

Hi HarrietJones

Sorry it has taken a while to get back to you. We will pop this on the list of things to discuss in the office.

Please bear with us. As you can imagine various MNHQers are on annual leave and when they get back we I get to go but rest assured it is on our radar and we will have a look into it as soon as possible.

That's ok, just wondered if it had made it to discussion yet :)

It's a bit of a thorny one, HarrietJones, tbh

While we see your argument, quite often the only reason for the bumping of an old thread is that someone is up to no good (spamming or trolling). Not sure shading would stop them (unfortunately).

And then, as we posted earlier on this thread, there are some threads - in pregnancy, for example - that do seem to run for a bit, then stop for a bit, then get revived and run a bit more. Thinking the "best bits of pregnancy" ones or "worst bit of childbirth" ones or whatever.

I would make other people think before posting though