Why people revive old threads?

B

bchan77

Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
447
My question is not related to knives but rather is prompted by my observation that every now and then people bring up, and respond to old threads of years ago (sometimes even seven or eight years ago!). This is particularly frequently seen in this subforum. While I can understand people keep old threads alive if they cover topics of lasting interest I am not sure this also applies to threads asking advice before making a knife purchase. Surely the knife in question must have already been bought by now? :confused:
 
Some people can't or are too lazy to search. Others just like dredging the depths for controversial issues.
 
1. Search for topic, feel like you have something to say, don't notice date
2. Reply to current active thread, do not realize it is from 1. above
 
tomcrx said:
1. Search for topic, feel like you have something to say, don't notice date
2. Reply to current active thread, do not realize it is from 1. above
Click to expand...

Yea,I'm guilty of #1,awhile back.Didn't notice the date.It was about three yrs old.

I think it was Ren who pointed it out to me & said "You dug up a three year old thread"

:oI felt kinda stupid.Now I always check the dates.
 
Last edited:
Josh K said:
Some people can't or are too lazy to search.
Click to expand...

I don't think a faliure to search is the issue. infact, if they don't search, its fairly unlikely that most threads would get dug back up, as they would be way down the lists, and so take a lot of digging to find them.

my thinking is it's more down to someone comming accross a thread during a search, failing to check the dates, and then posting.
 
Possibly from a "Google" or some other search. I've googled a knife topic and gotten "BladeForums" threads in the results. Sometimes the thread is quite old and if you don't think to check the date, then you may create a zombie thread. :o
 
phaserrifle said:
I don't think a faliure to search is the issue. infact, if they don't search, its fairly unlikely that most threads would get dug back up, as they would be way down the lists, and so take a lot of digging to find them.
Click to expand...
Well, yes and no.
Non-paying members can still search these forums via Google and other search engines. That method tends to yield results based on thread relevance and popularity rather than date posted. At that point, yea, it's probably either that they don't think to check the dates or can't think of a better way to segue into their questions/comments.
 
What's wrong with bringing an old thread back if there's good information? Why start a new thread for the same information when one already exists?

Now I agree that there are some silly old threads that get brought back up by someone asking a question to a member who hasn't been here in three years. But for the most part, I don't care.
 
Psychopomp said:
What's wrong with bringing an old thread back if there's good information? Why start a new thread for the same information when one already exists?
Click to expand...

That’s not really a bad point, there are tons of threads that say pretty much the same thing. If you don’t believe me do a search for Case True sharp and you’ll get dozens of threads with the same information, many with the same title.

Now what should I do if I have an additional question related to these topics? I could start a new thread and likely get the same information that is in all of these (clone?) threads or I could revive an older thread.

If comes down to a lesser of two evils. Zombies vs. Clones.
 
Thread Necromancy.

But seriously this topic only comes up in VERY VERY large forums, and it is usually brought up by the folks that have been around long enough to remember doing something to death, only to resume it and do it again. It is part of being the largest KNIFE FORUM on the internet, I have seen this happen only on two ocassions. At least the other forum had the excuse that the Search function was available for all, so thread Necromancing was against the rules, and usually resulted in a locked thread.

Have a little compasion with the new guys, and don't take your long standing participation on a large forum for granted would be my advice. Not all of us can search for stuff that exsists, maybe you could just link the old thread with the proverbial deadhorse in it, that way when the poster wants to still talk about it again, you can tell him then what a tool he is. :)

my $0.02

Edit: the original post, popular threads live on. Though after about the first year they are generally Iconic threads only and don't serve a purpose anymore.
 
Last edited:
ron_m80 said:
But seriously this topic only comes up in VERY VERY large forums, and (...)
Click to expand...
Actually, just last night two of my gaming buddies were getting into it when one of them posted on a year-old thread. That particular forum has all of 11 active members. :p
Granted, the post in question was a sticky... and it was all in jest... but yea, it's certainly more of an issue with larger forums.

It's a catch 22, really.
If you rez a thread -- you get ragged on.
If you post a new thread which has been done before -- you get ragged on.
Maybe not the latter on a forum this large, though...
 
Psychopomp said:
What's wrong with bringing an old thread back if there's good information? Why start a new thread for the same information when one already exists?

Now I agree that there are some silly old threads that get brought back up by someone asking a question to a member who hasn't been here in three years. But for the most part, I don't care.
Click to expand...

i concur...so someone brings it back up; it's like continuning the info on the subject/topic...if it's done it goes back down...and so on and so forth...
 
Would you rather us search for related topics to our interest, or just start entirely new redundant ones to take up server space?
 
I really don't mind if an ancient thread is brought up if some quality new information is added to it. The annoying thing is when a thread is bumped and the only thing added is a "I agree" or "Lmao" type new post:(.
 
Fascion said:
Actually, just last night two of my gaming buddies were getting into it when one of them posted on a year-old thread. That particular forum has all of 11 active members. :p
Granted, the post in question was a sticky... and it was all in jest... but yea, it's certainly more of an issue with larger forums.

It's a catch 22, really.
If you rez a thread -- you get ragged on.
If you post a new thread which has been done before -- you get ragged on.
Maybe not the latter on a forum this large, though...
Click to expand...

I agree with the catch 22 theory. The worst offenders are some of the Jeep forums. Holy crap. you get ripped on for starting a new thread (even if you DID search!), but then they (some, not all) end up answering your questions anyway. My theory is, you don't have to read the threads if you don't like the topic. Let a newly informed noobie answer it instead.
 
Fascion said:
Actually, just last night two of my gaming buddies were getting into it when one of them posted on a year-old thread. That particular forum has all of 11 active members. :p
Click to expand...


Someone always ALWAYS wants to be an exception. I swear, sometimes!!!!:)
 
Psychopomp said:
What's wrong with bringing an old thread back if there's good information? Why start a new thread for the same information when one already exists?
Click to expand...

An excellent point, and one I agree with. I think it's better for information on a topic to be consolidated in a single thread. Although most people are too lazy to read all the way through very long threads. Especially when the thread gets hijacked/ sniped multiple times.

I enjoy ragging on people for dragging up old threads, but I don't disagree with the practice in theory. Everybody likes a solid excuse to rag on newbs.
 
It's really a catch-22 I think.

If they post in an old thread people complain about that telling them to start a new thread.

If they start a new thread people will tell them to use the search function.
 
If you find an old thread that relates to something you currently have a question about, but the old thread doesn't answer your specific question (or you want clarification on something), you might as well revive the old thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top