Zombie posts

[Stottie Girl]

As a newbie I've noticed that site traffic is quite slow. There are quite a lot of posts that have really interesting topics but haven't had any postings for quite a while. I know some boards do not like people resurecting seemingly dead posts (zombie posting) ie posts that haven't had comments for up to say 6 months. What's the official stance on this?

Am I ok to post on golden oldie posts?

[Tig58072]

We had an outage at one point and lost a lot of posts. We lost a lot of stuff in that.

[Anne_lifetrip]

Hello @Stottie Girl, I have faced the same situation, but replied to some very interesting posts that were not active, but as I was interested, I did reply and they come back to life.
I have not been here that much myself, but I believe that after a while, you might have gone through all the posts that interested you depending on the moment you are and they remain...silent, until someone gets there and gets it back living again.
When I have restarted a post, with my doubts, of course, the answer was great, so my newbie advice would be to start all the posts you consider interesting.
Maybe I am wrong, but when I am in a bit of a hurry, but want to check the forum, I just look at the bottom of the home page, where the recent posts are...and of course, I lose a lot of information. When I have time, I look around. So, once you restart, it will apear in the recent activity and maybe will get more attention...just a guess.

Answering your question.

Am I ok to post on golden oldie posts?

I can not think of a reason why not...please do.

Good to read you around.
Anne 😍

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Responding to an old topic is fine. While the original member who posted may no longer be active, sometimes it reignites interest in the topic.

We had a serious 'blip' about two years ago, and we lost about four years of data. That hurt. It required a lot of work to rebuild, and that effort continues.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Lori Dee ✅]

What's the official stance on this?

Am I ok to post on golden oldie posts?

Where other forums discourage "necromancy", we encourage it!

As others have stated, many old posts are still interesting and relevant today. We enjoy having the old posts revived. It is better to have the same question answered in one place, where it is easier to find than multiple discussions scattered all over.

Post away!

[Stottie Girl]

Hello @Stottie Girl, I have faced the same situation, but replied to some very interesting posts that were not active, but as I was interested, I did reply and they come back to life.
I have not been here that much myself, but I believe that after a while, you might have gone through all the posts that interested you depending on the moment you are and they remain...silent, until someone gets there and gets it back living again.
When I have restarted a post, with my doubts, of course, the answer was great, so my newbie advice would be to start all the posts you consider interesting.
Maybe I am wrong, but when I am in a bit of a hurry, but want to check the forum, I just look at the bottom of the home page, where the recent posts are...and of course, I lose a lot of information. When I have time, I look around. So, once you restart, it will apear in the recent activity and maybe will get more attention...just a guess.

Answering your question.I can not think of a reason why not...please do.

Good to read you around.
Anne 😍

Thanks for that Anne, nice to know I wasn't alone. And nice to meet a fellow newbie!

[Stottie Girl]

Where other forums discourage "necromancy", we encourage it!

As others have stated, many old posts are still interesting and relevant today. We enjoy having the old posts revived. It is better to have the same question answered in one place, where it is easier to find than multiple discussions scattered all over.

Post away!

LOL Cheers Lori! Nice to know I won't be annoying the hell out of everyone!

[Stottie Girl]

Responding to an old topic is fine. While the original member who posted may no longer be active, sometimes it reignites interest in the topic.

We had a serious 'blip' about two years ago, and we lost about four years of data. That hurt. It required a lot of work to rebuild, and that effort continues.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Well there's still a wealth of data to be had on here now. To be honest, I have been a bit of a lurker around the Susans site for many years off and on so, whilst not being a poster, I did see the site back in it's infancy (I'm talking like 10 years ago or so maybe?) and I'm not really noticing that the site has lost any of the great advice and information that drew me to it all those years ago.I still think the site is an incredible resource.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Well there's still a wealth of data to be had on here now. To be honest, I have been a bit of a lurker around the Susans site for many years off and on so, whilst not being a poster, I did see the site back in it's infancy (I'm talking like 10 years ago or so maybe?) and I'm not really noticing that the site has lost any of the great advice and information that drew me to it all those years ago.I still think the site is an incredible resource.

The Forum Staff (before my time) worked very hard to restore the site after the crash. First, it had to be made functional, then restore what information survived. We lost many accounts that just vanished (mine included). In case you hadn't read about the crash, that story is here:
https://www.susans.org/index.php?topic=246809.0

Susan's policy on reviving old posts is here:
https://www.susans.org/index.php?topic=252111.msg2315669#msg2315669

This is in case others are asking the same questions.

Cheers!

[MaryT]

...
Susan's policy on reviving old posts is here:
https://www.susans.org/index.php?topic=252111.msg2315669#msg2315669

This is in case others are asking the same questions.

Cheers!

Ironically, that topic, at the "Quick Reply" function, has the message
"Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 30 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic."

I think that that is what might deter some new members from replying to dormant topics but I have always ignored the warning message myself.  As everyone seems to agree, if we have something to say on a topic, it is a good thing if other people's previous observations get a re-airing.

[Stottie Girl]

Well I didn't see the warning actually but I take your point, it could put others off. It was more a general thing I've noticed on other boards.

No dramas, I am clear to practice the dark arts of necromancy on here, Lori gave express permission.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Ironically, that topic, at the "Quick Reply" function, has the message
"Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 30 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic."

I think that that is what might deter some new members from replying to dormant topics but I have always ignored the warning message myself.  As everyone seems to agree, if we have something to say on a topic, it is a good thing if other people's previous observations get a re-airing.

Thanks, Mary. That is a good point.

That message comes from the site's software, so I'm not sure whether it can be removed or suppressed. I will bring it to Susan's attention to see if we can suppress that message. Other warning messages are important, so we won't want to suppress all of them.

@Susan

[Northern Star Girl ✅]

Regarding "Zombie" postings: 
While we never wish to delete older postings and topics that many times
have very useful, interesting and informative topics....

....I can't tell you how many times that I have seen a new posting reply on a very
old inactive thread asking long gone members questions about outdated and dead links
that they had posted.
 
That warning does serve a good purpose informing unaware members that it is an old
and dormant Posting/Thread/Topic that they are replying to, but as  @Lori Dee
correctly mentioned:
        "...many old posts are still interesting and relevant today.
        We enjoy having the old posts revived."
        Susan's policy on reviving old posts is here:
        https://www.susans.org/index.php?topic=252111.msg2315669#msg2315669

HUGS, Danielle [Northern Star Girl]
  The Forum Administrator