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Original poster

Zombies...again.

106 replies

EwanWhosearmy · 11/01/2017 18:31

I know this has been asked many many times. PLEASE can zombies be locked, and only reanimated by the OP, once they are over 6 months or so since the last post?

I've read 3 long threads this week, only to realise that the OP was from 2011 or 2012. There seems to be a thing that new users immediately start searching for old threads to reanimate, and with the growth in the site it's becoming all too regular. I don't understand why they do it, but it's really annoying.

OP posts:
HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 18:34

I've been on sites where this is the right thing to do, so newbies aren't necessarily being a pain.

Moving existing zombie warning to the top would also work and keeping live for many more posts or indefinitely. Not sure about locking it.

TrustySnail · 11/01/2017 18:39

I don't understand why they do it

I think it's because they come up on Google searches. That's how I discovered this site - a zombie thread came up when I was searching for some random info. I didn't immediately join up to the site and start posting on it, but I can see how others might.

MNHQ
IonaMumsnet · 11/01/2017 19:40

Hi there EwanWhoseArmy. There have been a lot of these this week haven't there? It is most odd the way they seem to arrive in clutches.

As you say, this is something that comes up again and again, and we do understand that it's irritating.

However, when we've polled opinions and thought about it ourselves in the past, the conclusion has always been that, irritating though it is, the site as a whole and our users would lose more by not being able to post on old threads that they would gain. We've had some fabulous updates over the years - not just from OPs but invested others, and then there are lots of threads that are more 'advice-led' where it's actually quite interesting not just to have updates but to see how opinion has changed in a year or more.

The general feeling is that it would be a shame to not have the option. But what does everyone else think now though? We are always interested to hear opinions. Do you think the problem is that the people reanimating aren't spotting the zombies at the point of posting? Or just that they aren't bothered and post anyway, so it's more for people posting later in the thread that it's a problem?

We'd very much like to hear any bright ideas about another solution if anyone has any. We'll keep reading. Thanks for starting the thread.

Goingtobeawesome · 11/01/2017 19:42

Just get into the habit of looking at the date of the OP..

OvariesBeforeBrovaries · 11/01/2017 20:06

I think having the zombie warning at the top of the thread as well as the bottom might help?

BlueKarou · 11/01/2017 20:20

I'm sure the zombie warning used to be much bigger and much more obvious.

Maybe putting some sort of statement at the end of every thread just saying 'this thread was started on dd mmm yyyy' because that's the point where someone will be considering whether to post or not, not at the very top.

dibbley · 11/01/2017 20:23

A poster could start a new thread and link a locked zombie thread if there was an update.

QuimReaper · 11/01/2017 20:23

If it's a really long juicy thread I tend to All One Page it so I can skip to the OP's posts if I want to, meaning I don't see the Zombie warning until I get aaaaaall the way through it. Can we not have a banner at the top, or have the option to put the OP in a different colour or something?

HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 20:26

Blue

At the end doesn't stop you reading the thing, though!

Usually old user names tip me off. On occasion, an old one of my own!

Boogers · 11/01/2017 20:36

IonaMumsnet when did mumsnet conduct a poll? I must have missed it.

A zombie thread is irritating, especially when it's someone posting about a parking problem in 2008. I'd imagine said problem has been rectified by now. And people can gauge how opinion has changed over the years without resurrecting an 8-year-old post.

But hey, it's your site. Do whatever you want with it.

And there's the banhammer coming down on me.

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans · 11/01/2017 20:52

It is irritating. As Helen said, it's often old usernames that are the clue.

I don't know whether most re-animators think they're doing the right thing or are just confused, but I do think the problem is compounded by posters who
comment on the OP without reading the full thread - which is quite easy to do ATM.

What if the zombie warning was visible at the top and bottom of the thread, AND you had to actually go to the end of a thread in order to post on it? Then re-animators would be more likely to notice that something funny was going on and non-RTFTers would (hopefully) be more likely to notice if things appeared to have moved on since the OP.

Maybe having OP's posts in a different colour could also be standard instead of optional?

BlueKarou · 11/01/2017 20:55

Helen warning at top and bottom then. Sometimes I don't mind reading a long thread but I wouldn't want to post on it if I knew it was a zombie, other times I would give up early on.

I also want to know it's a zombie even if seven people have posted on it recently.

SauvignonBlanche · 11/01/2017 21:02

I was only tipped off about a Zombie thread yesterday by an old user name that I hadn't seen for ages.

It was about a miscarriage from 5 years ago and people were starting asking for updates. I reported it to MNHQ as I though it could upset the OP but it was left to stand.

HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 21:03

Yy to top and bottom.

Gallavich · 11/01/2017 21:04

I don't know why the zombie warning disappears after 2 posts. Why can't old threads have a permanent warning on the posting box saying they are old threads? They could be ignored if the discussion is genuinely continuing but it would warn everyone who reads the op and the last few posts because that it how so many zombies stay active.

HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 21:04

"Maybe having OP's posts in a different colour could also be standard instead of optional?"

When I re-regged it did do the coloured posts as standard. Maybe not if the app is used to register?

HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 21:05

Yy gallavich

PurpleDaisies · 11/01/2017 21:05

I've never seen a poll. I'd definitely vote for locking threads after a certain amount of time. I can't understand why they get reanimated. It's virtually never the op updating.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 11/01/2017 21:07

I have been shouted at for pointing it out too

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 11/01/2017 21:08

Sauv I saw that too but people were still asking for updates

Flumplet · 11/01/2017 21:09

Does the zombie thread warning appear on the phone app? I don't recall ever seeing one. Not that it really bothers me seeing old threads being revived if.

HelenDenver · 11/01/2017 21:12

On the phone version of the site it now says "FYI this thread hasn't been posted on in over a year" under the posting box. No zombie cartoon.

PurpleDaisies · 11/01/2017 21:13

Just checked now and on the mobile site the little zombie pic has gone and all there is is a not very obvious sentence below the posting box saying the thread hasn't been posted in for over a year. I'm sure if used to be more prominent.

Zombies...again.
SittingDrinkingTea · 11/01/2017 21:15

I'd like threads locked too, but in lieu of that a big, clear bright red zombie warning at the top of the OP would help. I don't tend to look at dates and usually notice it's a zombie either by the number of deleted posts on it or the fact I don't recognise any of the user names.

Boogers · 11/01/2017 21:18

It's just clicked. There hasn't been a poll and nor will there be one.

MN makes money from advertising. Each click raises revenue. Each member raises revenue. Google searches will bring back relevant results. If those results bring back a thread, albeit a decade old, and it encourages someone to sign up, why would MNHQ discourage that?

Annoying though it is for 'regular' posters, we're hooked. We're not leaving. And we will not go to bed until we have proven someone wrong on the internet.

It's the newbies MN needs to keep flowing, and zombie threads on Google get that.