Zombie threads

[RandomLondoner]

Having just commented inappropriately on a thread that turned out to be a year old, I'd like to ask for more warning of when a thread is old. Maybe have a light-grey (instead of white) background for threads more than 30 days old?

Or put the dates in red bold font.

Third idea, maybe offer the ability to highlight old posts in a different colour, in addition to highlighting own and OP posts. (The latter two colours would take precedence where both criteria applied.)

To be honest though, this is easy for us as users to take a bit of responsibility for. The thread you commented on was about 25 pages long by the time you commented. That's your first, very obvious, clue that things may have changed significantly since the thread started. Whether it's an old thread or one started yesterday that would still be the case. Just use 'see all' and look at the last post by the OP before posting on a thread that long where you don't want to take the time to read it all before posting.

@RandomLondoner

Or put the dates in red bold font.

But this wouldn't have helped as the thread you posted on had been recently updated (I looked to see why it had reappeared)

TBH, reading the thread and the dates is the only really solution. I've been guilty of not doing this many times though.

I don't think people should post having just read the OP. Especially on long threads like yellow says. Don't just blunder in and say the same things everyone else has said pages and pages ago.

It doesn't matter how old a thread is, an hour old or a year old, if the issues at hand have moved on your response needs to tie in to what's happening now.

The font used for the date could be larger, instead of half the size of the font used for the username.

Maybe MN could consider tweaking things so that you have to jump to the end of the thread before you get the option to post a reply - that way it would be easier to spot the more recent posts instead of being able to post a reply when you have only read the OP.