Zombie posts

They're back from the dead

[gethan]

I've notice a couple of times that a topic from a year or so back is resurrected by a new post. Is this desirable/intentional?

In a couple of cases the information has been no longer relevant... and confuses newbies. In others it's great to see the followup a year on.

I'm wondering whether posts should be frozen after 3 months or so? Any requests to post could create a new post with a link at the top that says - "in reference to _post_123_".

No criticism intended - this is the best forum in terms of content, cliental and usability I've had the pleasure of using :)

[Marcia]

Yes, I did also happen to notice one the other day that no longer had relevance. Some do, and remain valuable even to pulling them up again. But a new one with reference could probably work. It might be a matter of manually going through and weeding some out over time.

Thanks for pointing it out, gethan. It's taken with appreciation for your good intentions and commitment and it's a very valid point. That's what this forum is for, for the benefit of the members; member input is invaluable, and always welcomed and encouraged.

[Brett_Tabke]

>Is this desirable/intentional?

As Marcia mentioned, we agree completely with your sentiments. Dusty old posts need to remain buried. Often, I'll split off the new discussion and lock the old one with a pointer to the new one.

On the other hand, there is the occasional quality post that deserves to be resurected. For example, some of master Rencke's euro se posts are still as valid today as a year ago.

That's the current state of affairs. There is a new system on the drawing board that will address both concerns of old post resurection, and retaining quality content at the same time.

auto locking:

I will be putting in a filter that auto locks posts after six months down the road. Should a good thread need resurection, I'm sure I will find myself up against a wall, staring back and an angry mob of moderators.

Moderator Flags

I will also be adding a system that will allow moderators to 'flag' quality posts in their forum. Members will be able to click a special link on that forums index page (list of threads), and see a list of that forums "flaged" posts. That should keep us from dredging up moldy posts, and allow the quality content to remain.

>No criticism intended

None ever taken here. Feedback isn't right or wrong - it just is.

[Marcia]

One just surfaced again. Boy, things change so quickly. What was relevant for Hotbot a month ago is no longer true.

Members can help with this. If ever anyone sees an old thread that's out of date, just send a stickymail with the URL to the forum moderator, and/or any of the admins and we'll take care of seeing it doesn't pop up again. Or just post the URL right here, that way it's 100% sure to get attention right away and lets others know, too.

Thanks for helping if you can, it's always appreciated.

[Michael Weir]

I think newbies do a site search for something they have a question about, then find a topic that, unbeknownst to them, is ancient. I did it myself a few weeks ago - did a search, read the content, then replied. After reviewing the topic and my post once again, I realized that it was over a year old and I felt foolish. :)

[paynt]

I like to revisit old discussions sometimes, just to update the information or to question if there have been changes. In those situations I think it's acceptable. Plus, with older discussions showing up in the SERP's I believe it's good to either update the information or point to a more current discussion.

Sometimes I look through old discussions as a reference point to jumpstart a new discussion. There is a wealth of information backlogged here. It sometimes becomes a question of what might be interesting and/or relevant.

As a reminder though, for those interested that may not know about the feature, there is a library link listed at the top of the screen with some very classic threads, well worth rereading. Another great discussion I’d like to see more participation in is Post Hall of Fame - And the nominees are? [webmasterworld.com].

[littleman]

In some cases bringing up old threads is relevant, especially for technical questions such as server problems, scripting, HTML etc. There needs to be a different logic applied to those posts than SEO posts which are often out of date in two months.