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thread resurrecting

V

vniow

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jul 18, 2002
10,266
1
I accidentally my whole location.
Is it just me or are we seeing a fair amount of thread resurrections as of late? Like here, here, and here.
The dates vary, one is from a few months ago, one from a year ago and the other from three years ago. And its not just newbies either, sometimes its regular posters who do it.
I can understand bringing back something like the hobbies thread rather than creating a new one but the other two didn't seem to have a point.

Anyone else annoyed by this and is there some unofficial policy for dealing with this sort of thing or something?

-Ani
 
I found this thread resurrection equally baffling -- only (!) two years had passed, but it was the user's lone post. Like some sort of bizarre, slow-burn spamming.

I do find it annoying when the poster's purpose seems to be to instigate an argument that time or conversation has settled.

Maybe we're suffering from the success of MRoogle? ;)
 
I've noticed it too and find it strange and a little annoying. Unless there's something directly related to it, or some kind of update to the topic it seems like a big waste of time.
 
There are two types of people:

The first will yell at anyone who posts a thread that has already been posted before.

The second will complain about threads coming back to life.

You can't please everyone.

...And for the record, neither irritates me, so I guess there are at least 3 types of people in this world. :)
 
EricNau said:
There are two types of people:

The first will yell at anyone who posts a thread that has already been posted before.

The second will complain about threads coming back to life.

You can't please everyone.

...And for the record, neither irritates me, so I guess there are at least 3 types of people in this world. :)
Click to expand...


SOO TRUE!!
The first group annoys me the most but I see their point, the second group seems a bit unsatisfiable (true mac fans) and the 3rd (me) well, who cares.
 
Back when I lurked prior to ever joining MR... the FAQ read that it was better to resurrect an existing thread than to create tons of new ones. :shrug: I wonder where things stand now.
 
devilot said:
Back when I lurked prior to ever joining MR... the FAQ read that it was better to resurrect an existing thread than to create tons of new ones. :shrug: I wonder where things stand now.
Click to expand...

I don't mind resurrection if there's a point to it. But when something like the "Failed a drug test...." pops back up with out any real reason it just makes me wonder as to the intentions.
 
EricNau said:
The first will yell at anyone who posts a thread that has already been posted before.

The second will complain about threads coming back to life.
Click to expand...

What if you're both the first and the second type?

Repeatative threads are annoying because its the same information that was asked and answered before so rather than post a new thread, why not just do a search for the same problem and chances are you'll find it? Its not that difficult to use. And as for resurrections, they're often pointless. The original thread died for a reason and unless there's new information that's relevant to it, it just gets people confused because its past events.

For a longish-term poster (joined in '02) it constantly gets annoying when I'm seeing threads from one, two, three or more years old being brought back with some sort of irrelevant crap post when the original situation was already dealth with. Like I said before, I don't have a problem when its relevant to bring back an older thread rather than create a new one but many of these I've seen have no point whatsoever.
Its also funny when someone responds to a post that's three years old and expects some sort of response back form them, even though they're long gone from the boards.

Just annoying is all.
 
vniow said:
What if you're both the first and the second type?

Repeatative threads are annoying
Just annoying is all.
Click to expand...


Um, yeah, how about 'which mbp should I buy' or 'buy or wait'? I see the point but I can see in 6 months this same thread popping up, just out of spite.
 

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Thread resurrections don't usually bother me, unless it's some member trying to get a 'tar by going to every poll we've ever had and adding their wanted opinion on the end. Look on the bright-side, at least these people are using the search feature. :)

On the other hand, I've been seeing more and more people resurrecting troubleshooting threads. This is fine if they outline what they've already tried but it can be annoying if they merely post "I've got the same problem". It's not a huge problem, it'd just be quicker if they quickly said what they'd already tried. To be honest, the same thing happen, even if the thread isn't being resurrected and now I just feel like I'm babbling so I'll shut up now. Bye. :)
 
Yeah I'm seeing a lot of year old threads coming back with replies like "That is teh suxx0rs!"

Okay, maybe it's not a lot, and maybe they're not all using leetspeak, but I've noticed them. It annoys me too. I don't mind resurrecting threads that serve a purpose but a simple "Me too!" isn't worth it.
 
I noticed that too. Wondering when someone was going to say something. Thought it was just me. I mean, it's good when someone resurrects a thread maybe a few days after it's died because they have something to add or if they still have a question about it or something. But yeah, I noticed a couple popping up when go to User CP that really shouldn't have been brought back. Weird to read what I wrote years ago, but neat to see if I still feel the same way.

It's more of a :confused: or a :rolleyes: than a :mad: though. ;) :p :D
 
EricNau said:
There are two types of people:

The first will yell at anyone who posts a thread that has already been posted before.

The second will complain about threads coming back to life.

You can't please everyone.

...And for the record, neither irritates me, so I guess there are at least 3 types of people in this world. :)
Click to expand...

Good point! :)
 
EricNau said:
...And for the record, neither irritates me, so I guess there are at least 3 types of people in this world. :)
Click to expand...

Really?

It doesn't irritate you that a user would make one post on the boards (and a decidedly political post), reopening a conversation that a year and a half had settled?

I understand our community is diverse -- in its people and in its posting rates. But to me, that type of posting is spam by another name. And maybe worse, as people begin conversations with others who won't even know that the conversation has been reopened.

This is not to argue "threads should be locked after one year" or that "time should conclude political arguments." But it is to suggest that I for one am suspicious of the motivations behind such resurrections.
 
thedude110 said:
Really?

It doesn't irritate you that a user would make one post on the boards (and a decidedly political post), reopening a conversation that a year and a half had settled?

I understand our community is diverse -- in its people and in its posting rates. But to me, that type of posting is spam by another name. And maybe worse, as people begin conversations with others who won't even know that the conversation has been reopened.

This is not to argue "threads should be locked after one year" or that "time should conclude political arguments." But it is to suggest that I for one am suspicious of the motivations behind such resurrections.
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Of course, like anything, there are exceptions, but for the most part I just don't worry about things like that.

I would agree that resurrecting a 2 year old forum on the beginning of the Iraq War with a post saying "this war sux" isn't exactly a good thing, so that would be one of the exceptions that might bother me.

...As for creating a whole thread about it, I wouldn't (no offense vniow).
 
While some subjects (in Community) do pop up every year or so, it's not always a bad thing since there are always new people around - and someone will always post a link to the old one so that we can see who's still around.

The benefit of starting a new thread is that you don't then end up with people responding to the OP or to a post a little further down when that original problem has been answered or updated.

Perhaps starting a new thread and pointing out that you've tried the answers in x, y and z threads would be the easiest. I think all of us have read the first post and hit reply without getting to the end of page 2 before where the 'new' problem lies.
 
thedude110 said:
This is not to argue "threads should be locked after one year" or that "time should conclude political arguments." But it is to suggest that I for one am suspicious of the motivations behind such resurrections.
Click to expand...
I totally agree, but then we need someone to "collect" all the important info and transfer it to the Guides section of MR.
 
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