zombie threads?

Unless brought back to life by a fisherman in a canoe, why do people care?

I have not understood why this is a foul on forums, and generally the people crying foul seem to be the same ones encouraging people to use the search function.

So before you post should you or should you not find an older relevant thread to resurrect?

What am I missing here?

I don't get it, either. I see it on other forums, too. I'll preface my zombie resurrections with something along the lines of, "I searched, but didn't find what I was looking for. So, sorry for digging this up."

Could be a new guy surfing and finds himself 15 interesting pages back ....

In reply to 914Driver:

I don't think that's what ronholm is getting at.

I see it as a 'damned if you, damned if you don't' scenario. Guy searches, find an old thread, asks a question, then gets berated for digging up an old thread. Or, Guy doesn't search, starts a new thread, then gets berated for NOT searching.

Seems a lot of forums are picky about that. Given our volume of traffic and pretty random subject material, it seems natural to just continue the thread that applies, no matter how old.

Frankly, as poor as our search function is, we should applaud them for finding it.

I don't know if it's that as much as somebody bringing back a thread to make a completely useless comment about something that happened 4 years ago.

The zombies we do not like or try to warn about is where a spammer (canoe) brings up an old thread about a topic (like DVD's) just so they can push their DVD's and drop in a link.

The zombies we have no problem with is like where someone is researching something like radiators for a VW Sirocco and brings up an old thread where he may ask a question such as, "does anyone know if you can still get these from this retailer?" Or. maybe ask, "I see you bought one of these two years ago, did it last?"

In reply to Zomby Woof:

But why is that perceived as a greater offense than starting a totally new useless thread(such as this), or posting a useless comment in any other thread?

I don't know that it is.

Something this forum is bad for, is when a spammer brings back an old thread, then people start posting in it like it's current and relevant. It tells me (and I know this happens a lot here) that people often don't read the thread before posting.

ClemSparks wrote: Frankly, as poor as our search function is, we should applaud them for finding it.

Quoted for Truth. Actually finding what you're looking for on here (even using the Google method) is pretty rare compared to any other forum I've ever been on.

But I don't care about bumping old threads. I actually like reading old threads that I may have missed...

Google has worked for me 100% of the time, and usually within about ten seconds.

Zomby Woof wrote: I don't know that it is. Something this forum is bad for, is when a spammer brings back an old thread, then people start posting in it like it's current and relevant. It tells me (and I know this happens a lot here) that people often don't read the thread before posting.

I normally read the posts but never look at the dates.....

Someday, many years from now, this thread will be revived and we can all chuckle about it. In all seriousness though, I don't know of any problems with resurrecting old threads. When I delete a canoe I post in the thread so everyone will know why the thread was ressurected. Am I missing some shenanigans going on somewhere?

I don't see what the problem is with reviving an old thread..

Seriously, who cares.

It takes how many seconds to close it and look at something else??

It takes more time to post a comment bagging about a revived thread, than it does to simply close it..

If you truly hate it when people bump old threads and comment about your disgust... Guess what? You just bumped the thread!!! You are part of the problem that you hate so much!!

Often times, when a old thread is bumped, guess what happens... New, possibly more relevant information gets posted.. The only solution 4 years ago may now have 10 solutions.. How is pointing that out a bad thing???

Sometimes it brings up something you forgot about..

Seriously people, "I'M SAYING THIS WITH PEACE AND LOVE, PEACE AND LOVE". "Who cares if an old thread gets bumped"???

Zomby Woof wrote: Google has worked for me 100% of the time, and usually within about ten seconds.

This. Google site search works great for finding stuff at GRM.

Now, to the OP's question. I would, generally speaking, start a new thread, including links to the old threads that you searched up AND ALREADY READ, thus demonstrating that you've put a little effort into finding an answer already.

That's just how I operate, though.

As long as new posts have real content I seen no problem with the thread being old. Maybe they are not old, but classic.

It's usually only a problem for me if someone is trying to help someone solve a problem they solved three years ago and failed to realize it was already solved. And even then, it's not a very big annoyance.

Zomby Woof wrote: I don't know if it's that as much as somebody bringing back a thread to make a completely useless comment about something that happened 4 years ago.

+1 I have no problem with resurrecting a thread for a good/relevant reason.

JoeyM wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: Google has worked for me 100% of the time, and usually within about ten seconds.

This. Google site search works great for finding stuff at GRM. Now, to the OP's question. I would, generally speaking, start a new thread, including links to the old threads that you searched up AND ALREADY READ, thus demonstrating that you've put a little effort into finding an answer already. That's just how I operate, though.

there must be some magic formula for using google in the place of our search function .. on occasion I've managed to use google to find things on here … usually not

Zombie thread resurrected. Help uys out thread from way back

wbjones wrote: there must be some magic formula for using google in the place of our search function .. on occasion I've managed to use google to find things on here … usually not

site:grassrootsmotorsports.com search terms here

To me it depends. Sometimes the old thread content is so helpful in the context of what you are trying to learn that it is worth bumping, but it's hard to say if the OP or other contributors are going to reply and answer your questions if it it's 5 years old.

And you can also get replies from people that are simply reading the first topic and not bothering to read what else has been said. I had to laugh when I saw a thread the other day where someone was making a smart@$$ remark for the 5th time and the OP finally snapped back at them and said "Read the follow up posts @hole or don't bother commenting. I've already clarified this. Maybe if you weren't reading this on a smart phone and you actually paid attention you'd understand what I'm asking."

Most of the time I do look at dates and be aware of that so it doesn't bother me. The exception though is For Sale threads and I HATE when I get excited to see a part out thread and I request something only to realize that some idiot bumped a 2 or 3 year old thread and I didn't realize that until someone else pointed it out. Don't bump E36 M3 like that which will confuse everyone, PM the OP if it's an old for sale ad!

Darn, I though this was another ZAV thread.I'll just leave this here and be on my way.

I have been treated to finding old photobucket accts due to my zombie zambeer searches

GameboyRMH wrote:

wbjones wrote: there must be some magic formula for using google in the place of our search function .. on occasion I've managed to use google to find things on here … usually not

site:grassrootsmotorsports.com search terms here

Yup. Google site search. site:whatever-website-you-want-to-search.com search terms