Zombie threads

[EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans]

HQ, I know you said the zombie warning put newbies off.

But if you could do the zombie warning, then it shouldn't be that hard to do a brief pleasant suggestion about starting a fresh thread?

Don't you think newbies are going to be even more put off by a stream of annoyed MNers asking why that idiot resurrected the zombie?

There must be some way to convey the message about how MN etiquette without being scary.

Is avoiding resurrecting zombies mentioned in talk guidelines? Do people get sent a link to those (and other FAQs) when they first register?

I don't understand why they do it though. Often the person who revives a zombie, answers the OP as if it's a current thread, yet they would've had to search for it to find it, so I don't get why they wouldn't notice it's several years old.

There do seem to have been a higher than normal number of threads resurrected recently......

Have to agree with ^ - some sort of warning would be good

I don't get why they wouldn't notice it's several years old.

The date is quite small on the app, must be miniscule on mobile. And if you're focussed on the post it's easy not to notice it.

Maybe if the date could be displayed in a brighter colour of it was more than a year old (or whatever) it would be more obvious. That may or may not be technically feasible.

But how would the person who revived the thread about a cyclist closing her door have seen it to bump it given it is several years old?

If you search for something on google and a mumsnet thread pops up, you might click on it there and not notice how old it is.

But I have to agree with PPs, there must be a way to sort this out. I've gone on to other forums where it says 'this thread is now closed for posting' because it's old, and have managed to not run away and hide from that website. I'm sure newbies here will understand threads being closed after a certain period of time.

Or even just something written at the top of a zombie thread to say it's old. Like on the General Health board, it has a warning above the thread title explaining that MNers aren't necessarily medically qualified. Can't something be written in the same area so you see it before reading all the posts. It's so annoying going to comment on something you've read right through, to then realise it's a zombie when you see the warning that's hardly ever there in the comment box.

Well most of the zombie resurrectionists are messers aren't they? Just doing it for shits and giggles and not actually looking for advice.

Most Zombie threads are reanimated by trolls or spammers. PLEASE do something about it, there has been an epidemic this week.

Lots of OPs from years ago getting their arse handed to them for the second time in a decade because nobody bothers to RTFT.

Agree Sparkling the beginning of the week was ridiculous. Some really nasty threads reanimated for whatever reason. Most likely to goad. I just don't understand the mentality, why not post normally and interact in a non-confrontational way.

I've noticed a few zombie threads being resurrected by the same poster, who I think is new.

Perhaps a helpful email from MNHQ about thread searching and how to use active convos might be in order?

It's always the really long threads that get bumped too. You never get a thread with about 5 replies bumped after 6 years. Weird.

Ive been going on about this for ages on Site Stuff. Ive even given specific exanpkes of why its such a bad thing. Unfortunately it has fallen on stoney ground.

We can ask as much as we like but if HQ don't want to budge, it will never get resolved. The reasons given are flimsey, i dont understand how a "new poster" will be offended or put off. What are they, special little snowflakes or summut? And the timewasters are the culprits anyway we all know that....

examples

And another one. Marvellous

It's old threads, found via google, that bring new posters to the site so I can understand MNHQ's stance on this tbh.

However, it is annoying to plough through a long (yes! why is it always the loooonnnnnngggg threads?!) thread, about to give your best post ever, full of heartfelt advice and spilling your personal beans and being the wittiest you've ever been.........only to find out your pearls of wisdom on the subject of a non sleeping baby are wasted, as the child is now doing GCSEs. So I think the solution might be an option to highlight (red?) the date of posts once they are over a certain age.

Or have gifs of actual zombies stumbling across the screen, groaning for flesh.

Is it that difficult to have a message on the screen where you register explaining how MN works? Spell out that here is is not considered good etiquette to

• use a name already in use but put numbers after it
• invent your own shorthand (getting a bit fed up with reading lb or es rather than DS)
• reanimate Zombie threads

and that it is positively encouraged that posters start their own new shiny thread, just so long as it isn't about P&C parking

... and another one today, from 2007. Why?

Please MNHQ do something about this!

Are they being posted on other sites? If love to know who is playing silly buggers on MN.

There has been a spate of reanimating old threads for the lolz.

The only way around this would be to close inactive threads for posting. It's easy enough to provide a link if someone genuinely needs to pick up where it left off.

This is really fucking me off now. Sometimes I only notice when I see an "old" username - it's so fucking irritating!

The zombie resurrectionist from this am has given some convoluted explanation.

I don't understand why threads over a certain age or that have been inactive for a certain amount of time with no new posts (say six months/a year) can't be automatically locked to new comments.

It is unlikely that people are going to arrive at those posts without searching for them and it would save all the zombie threads from being resurrected by people who "didn't notice".

It doesn't have to be a negative thing, just a practical one. A final post in a thread that has been inactive for a while that says something along the lines of "This thread has been locked to new comments due to inactivity. If you wish to continue the discussion, feel free to start a new thread" is surely better for users than zombie posts being repeatedly resurrected and then new users getting jumped on for resurrecting a decade old thread?

I've run forums before where old threads got deleted if they weren't posted in for over a year, unless they were moved to a specific archive sub-forum which was done by request only. That meant the admins weren't paying for server space being taken up by inane threads that nobody would miss after a year.

I have a thread that's gone zombie a couple of times. I run a professional dog walking business and from time to time I get asked by private message for advice about how to start up. Rather than write the whole thing out again I link to the thread. I do add stuff occasionally too. I'd be livid if I couldn't update when laws change or new information about common problems comes up.

I do think the entirety of AIBU should go after 90 days like Chat. If it's a real hoot it can always be moved to Classics.

Alpaca that could easily be solved by allowing the OP to resurrect a zombie thread.