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See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

What has happened to the zombie thread warning ?

48 replies

AnyFucker · 30/08/2017 00:02

A few threads I have clicked on today have been several years old.

The warning has gone ! Please bring it back.

OP posts:
HerRoyalFattyness · 30/08/2017 00:05

I think it disappears after a few people have posted as its technically active again then, and no longer a zombie.

nancy75 · 30/08/2017 00:06

Was it the one about the overdue baby from 2007? I hope the poor woman has had the baby by now

Original poster
AnyFucker · 30/08/2017 00:06

Do we have an influx of stupid people bumping them all then ? I have seen a 10yo and an 11yo one bumped today.

OP posts:
GirlDownUnder · 30/08/2017 00:09

There was a spammer who basically just hit loads of threads, so page 1 of relationships for eg was all from 10+ years ago...

Very tedious.

HerRoyalFattyness · 30/08/2017 00:11

Do we have an influx of stupid people

Yep. I think we do.
They should hopefully disappear again soon.

SnickersWasAHorse · 30/08/2017 00:12

And despite people asking since forever there is no Zombie warning in the op and any zombie warning that is there vanishes after a couple of posters.

Original poster
AnyFucker · 30/08/2017 00:16

I wonder if the thread bumpers are the same ones starting all the transparently made up ones. It's like A B C 1 2 3 FAKE THREAD BINGO round here recently.

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 30/08/2017 05:23

AF I've got an aversion to Zombie threads in the way Maryz has to Christmas, but some people just don't get it.

I find them intensely irritating, probably my fault for not reading the date of each OP before reading several pages into the thread, only to realise someone's little pfb is now in secondary school sitting their A Levels!

I'm all for bringing back that ugly critter with dripping fangs, myself, but apparently it puts off new MNers.

Original poster
AnyFucker · 30/08/2017 06:25

Oh christ, mustn't upset the newbies Shock

OP posts:
silkybear · 30/08/2017 06:29

Someone came up with a really good idea a few months ago that all zombie threads be marked with a coloured background so even if revived they would be obviously zombies. Seemed a good solution so not sure why it wasn't taken up.

PositiveAttitude · 30/08/2017 07:51

The 10 year old one that I clicked on yesterday just had 1 new post, so the Zombie warning had certainly not been removed because it had been resurrected.

It's really annoying and a waste of time to read half a thread before you realise that it is so old, not sure why the warnings have disappeared.

MNHQ - please sort this!

SnickersWasAHorse · 30/08/2017 08:05

Silky. I've been saying that should be an option for years. Surely it shouldn't be too hard to make the op's post bright read and with a banner at the top saying 'approach with caution, Zombie thread'.
I think there might be a problem with the way that changing the ops and the own posts colours are individual choice.

TrojanWhore · 30/08/2017 08:20

I can vaguely remember MNHQ talking about zombie threads recently, and they didn't want to make them more obvious as it wouid be unwelcoming to newcomers.

Remember which audience MN values.

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans · 30/08/2017 08:24

There have been plenty of suggestions in the past for a short polite message. Or locking threads after a certain amount of time.

But apparently it's not a priority. And so idiots will continue to reanimate zombie threads & other idiots will continue to just respond to the opening post. Hah.

EddChinasVagina · 30/08/2017 08:27

Why don't they just lock them for new replies after a certain amount of time has elapsed after the new one? Then no one can revive a really old thread. Seems a really simple solution to me...

EddChinasVagina · 30/08/2017 08:27

Sorry that should read "after the last one"

Smeaton · 30/08/2017 08:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SnickersWasAHorse · 30/08/2017 10:44

The problem with that Smeaton is who is to say what it a useful thread?
Also, who is going to go through and decide which ones to bin and which to keep.

All threads should be locked 18months after the last post to everyone but the OP. That way if the OP wants to come back and update then they can but you won't get the repeated issue of them being spammed.

Smeaton · 30/08/2017 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BoreOfWhabylon · 30/08/2017 12:25

Hmmm. A poster recently was very upset that the threads she had made when her dc died were marked as 'zombie'.

I think they should be coloured differently and readily distinguishable, as others have suggested, rather than the dripping fangs etc.

BoreOfWhabylon · 30/08/2017 12:26

Or locked. Locked is good.

Original poster
AnyFucker · 30/08/2017 13:57

Perhaps a better name would be "inactive"

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 30/08/2017 13:59

Zombie warning ate itself I reckon. A lot of Mumsnetters apparently love a zombie thread and can't see the issue.

Probably these are the people that reply to OPs from 8 years ago with very serious advice without reading the 18 pages of previous replies...

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 30/08/2017 14:00

oh no, I don't think they should be purged but I definitely like the idea of giving them a coloured background, so that people don't post on them even when the Zombie warning has gone.

BoneyBackJefferson · 30/08/2017 14:11

I put the same thing up a few weeks ago, MNHQ replied that they were aware, looking in to it and would do something eventually.

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