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Original poster

I know this has been done to death, but zombie threads….

34 replies

AlternativePerspective · 21/01/2022 06:23

I’m aware I’m probably banging my head against a brick wall here as this has been mentioned so many times and MN HQ seem unwilling to do anything about it, but can you please do something about zombie threads?

Yet again there is one running in active from 5 years ago, which is only 2 pages long so how the hell someone happened upon it is beyond me, but now people are replying as if it was posted yesterday.

If you don’t want to delete them, could you put some kind of code in which locks the thread to new comments after a period say 6 months? That way if the OP came back and wanted to update, she could post a new thread but still link the old one, and people could reply to her new thread without resurrecting the zombie one.

OP posts:
MichelleScarn · 21/01/2022 06:28

Absolutely agree! And it's so odd when it's a really niche thing and the zombie poster then must have searched for the thread! Especially when the new post is nothing to do with the op!!

LiterallyKnowsBest · 21/01/2022 06:36

I stumbled upon one yesterday from 2009! Lord knows how the guilty party managed to dig it up and pointlessly post on it. It didn’t seem unusual enough to be the first thing Google would offer up.

I reported it, but it’s still up and there doesn’t appear to be anything to stop people posting on it anew, though they’re not now.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 21/01/2022 06:51

Agree with OP.

sittingonacornflake · 21/01/2022 07:03

Can you link to threads from the app?

I started a thread that is now in classics about 3.5 years ago about starting out my journey as a lone parent and me and another poster still update each other on it. It would be such a shame if the 6 month rule meant you couldn't do things like that whilst using the app.

If you can link on the app ignore me Blush

PinkWaferBiscuit · 21/01/2022 07:13

Another adding their voice to say I agree but as you said unfortunately I think it's clear MNHQ have zero interest in making any changes so yes I think we're banging our collective heads against a wall.

It's nonsensical that they have not already implemented the very logical suggestions of locking a thread after a set amount of time or only allowing the OP to resurrect a zombie thread. I genuinely have yet to see a sensible reason why this should not happen.

ZenNudist · 21/01/2022 07:17

I assume people resurrect zombie threads to troll us and waste our time. I don't know why mumsnet don't lock inactive threads. It must be difficult or they would have done it by now.

TheChemicalMother · 21/01/2022 07:21

@ZenNudist

I assume people resurrect zombie threads to troll us and waste our time. I don't know why mumsnet don't lock inactive threads. It must be difficult or they would have done it by now.
They do.

So many Zombies are revived during the night by first time posters.

I am sure it is part of a game.

Posters who don’t RTFT don’t help, either.

SnowyPetals · 21/01/2022 07:26

I agree, it's such a waste of people's time. Someone revived one from over ten years ago about a boy and his hamster
The OP came back on to say "Thanks for the recent comments but the hamster died a decade ago and my son has left home!" 😂

MichelleScarn · 21/01/2022 07:52

And there was one about a poster saying they were anxious about visiting a hospital to take food in to their mum as she didn't like the hospital meals, cue all the typical 'you are evil/horrible/cruel/I'd LOVE to do this for her/OMG it's safe to visit hospital now' it was a zombie thread from the initial weeks of the pandemic when so many people were terrified and visitors were banned from wards! Grin

MagentaRocks · 21/01/2022 07:58

Nothing will change. I and others have suggested a traffic light system with threads. Green background if under 6 months old, Amber up to a year and then red background after. Seems a simple solution but there doesn't be any desire to do anything.

Russell19 · 21/01/2022 07:59

Zombie threads really don't bother me. What's the issue with them? Is it that the posters issue has probably been resolved now? I loved it when I read the t rex supermarket one again the other day and recent posters didn't get it, I was just laughing harder than the first time 🤣

LiterallyKnowsBest · 21/01/2022 08:05

What's the issue

The waste of time and emotional investment. It almost feels like a betrayal to get to the end and suddenly realise …

TragoCardboardCopper · 21/01/2022 08:05

@Russell19 I loved the t rex thread the first time, it got revived the other day and now the whole thread has been deleted for being a zombie Sad

PinkWaferBiscuit · 21/01/2022 08:09

Zombie threads really don't bother me. What's the issue with them?

There's lots of issues with zombie threads.

Firstly they are predominantly bumped by trolls looking to cause a nuisance.

Secondly many of them are sensitive topics, dragging them up again can cause upset to the OP, I've seen thread resurrected with very emotional topics such as miscarriage or affairs.

Thirdly if you want to start a discussion on a specific topic it's mych more sensible to start your own rather than bump an thread that's years old and where people will only reply to the initial post.

I'm sure there's lots more reasons. However as I've said I've never seen a good one for why a thread should be brought back from the dead.

toastofthetown · 21/01/2022 08:12

Yes I agree. Zombie thread either seem to be revived by spam posts or (and I see this a lot on Baby Names) people finding a post on Google and adding to the thread, despite the child in question being old enough to be a secondary school. It’s almost always annoying.

Locking old threads for new comments won’t stop people searching for or reading old threads. If someone wants to post an update after that time they can start a new thread with a link to the old. It would stop people just replying to the OP of a zombie thread as well. I can’t see a downside but every time it’s raised Mumsnet just shrug it off.

YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators · 21/01/2022 08:21

I don't mind them, it's obvious when you read the OP whether it is old or not, so this should prevent people from getting emotionally invested.
In the case of threads with general advice such as the 'Best way of removing skin tags?' / 'Which games for toddler birthday party?' or topics which are not time specific such as 'How did you know it was time to stop drinking?' it doesn't really matter if it is an old thread and someone adding their contribution after a long time of dormancy isn't causing any harm, just adding to a canon of helpful perspectives, possibly even improved by having a long-range sample.
I think the obsession with zombie threads is a tad pedantic in its insistence on efficiency.

RockingMyFiftiesNot · 21/01/2022 08:21

Not all zombie threads are bad though so I don't see why there should be a blanket deletion.
There was one Christmas related resurrected in December (I guess someone has done a search and found a relevant thread). There was an incredibly rude comment about why a zombie thread had been resurrected. But It was still relevant, and the new comments were useful. Definitely not trolling.
Where there was trolling or anything else you object to involved, why wouldn't you just report and get MNHQ to deal with it?

Russell19 · 21/01/2022 08:24

[quote TragoCardboardCopper]@Russell19 I loved the t rex thread the first time, it got revived the other day and now the whole thread has been deleted for being a zombie Sad[/quote]
No, it's back! They said they deleted it by accident. Its in classics.

owlsanctuarydate · 21/01/2022 08:27

I think they're fine to keep and to allow posting on, but there should be something v obvious to show that they're zombies. A different colour filter or something can't be that hard surely.

WTF475878237NC · 21/01/2022 08:47

Some zombie threads have the OP come back and join in after seeing them ressurected by others so it's not all bad and I wouldn't like them to automatically be closed.

LookItsMeAgain · 21/01/2022 08:54

I don't know why threads are not locked (thus prohibiting new posts being made to them) once they are 12 months old with no new posts within the past 3 months of that.
So a thread could start in January and the last post would be in August of that year and then by December, the thread is locked for additional posts.
If someone comes back to the thread they should copy & paste the link to the original thread in a new post (linking the discussion) but new comments happen in a new post.

Why oh why is that not possible???????

Even locking posts rather than deleting them would help massively.

Velvetorsilk · 21/01/2022 09:00

I’m with Russell. I honestly can’t understand why people get so angry and upset about it. I upped one yesterday and it was a complete accident. I was searching for something, came across a thread, started reading it and then got distracted by my children and when I came back to the thread I just forgot that it was an old one.

It isn’t worth this amount of angst surely!

Trolling is different but trolls are a bloody nuisance whatever.

SoupDragon · 21/01/2022 09:05

It isn’t worth this amount of angst surely!

Sometimes it can be. Especially if people start tagging the OP and it's a sensitive/emotional thread.

Velvetorsilk · 21/01/2022 09:08

Definitely but that’s not just a zombie thread issue, I wouldn’t say. Harmless threads that get upped by accident seem different to me.

When I was 39/40 weeks pregnant I did a Google search about going overdue and some MN threads came up. I nearly upped one from 2007. I think she’d have had the baby by now Grin

RockingMyFiftiesNot · 21/01/2022 09:21

@LookItsMeAgain

I don't know why threads are not locked (thus prohibiting new posts being made to them) once they are 12 months old with no new posts within the past 3 months of that. So a thread could start in January and the last post would be in August of that year and then by December, the thread is locked for additional posts. If someone comes back to the thread they should copy & paste the link to the original thread in a new post (linking the discussion) but new comments happen in a new post.

Why oh why is that not possible???????

Even locking posts rather than deleting them would help massively.

But what about old threads that are actually useful?