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Netiquette Q: How Long Before its a "dead" discussion or "zombie" topic?


mathmarm
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IDK, but I think the content matters a bit. For example, sometimes a person posts about a particular situation--asking about curriculum for that year, or a family situation, etc. Coming into the convo long after it's been resolved would be a no-no.

 

I say start your own thread if it's been more than a couple of weeks that someone has replied--but true zombie threads--probably 3 months or more.

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VERY difficult to tell...  sometimes, when people have asked about something, they have been told to search the archives for answers or given a link to old threads- so it would make sense that a person would feel free to post on those threads since that's what they were instructed to read.

 

 

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Different communities have different norms. In some internet communities, if it's more than, like, a week old you're expected to start a new discussion. In others, you're expected to find out what's been said before and stick to that thread unless it's been nearly a decade! (I exaggerate, but not by much.)

 

There is no one, single rule that applies everywhere on the internet. Your best bet, if unsure of the local rule, is to preface a comment with a disclaimer like "I know this is an old thread, but...." or "I know this has been discussed before, but...." and hope for the best.

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Here on this forum?  If it has been months, start your own thread even if it is to say "Whatever happened to. . . .?"  If it has been a year or more, then definitely don't post on the thread!  Content does matter some - a thread about someone's life for example is more time sensitive than a thread about a certain type of scissors.  But I would figure that the factual threads can be read for content without necessarily resurrecting them unless you really feel like you must tell us about the really neat type of scissors you've found - though that might be worth a thread of it's own!  

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I'm going to dissent and say that for reasons of continuity, I often would rather have old threads appended than new ones created. I've seen threads about a particular curriculum bumped with a "Just wondering how this worked out for you," and then the response to that follows. So a subsequent reader also interested in that curriculum can read the information in its entirety, whereas if a separate thread had been created for the follow-up, a subsequent reader would only have the first part of the story, and no means of knowing that the follow-up exists. Really, the only thread-bumps that irritate me are the highly polarized political ones.

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