Zombie threads

[Terabith]

How are so many people resurrecting them?  I mean, these are threads from many, many board changes ago, some of them.  How do they FIND the threads to resurrect?  How do they pick them?  Are they people who are genuinely interested in toenail fungus or teaching children to wipe their own butts and find them through google?  Do they just casually browse through ten years worth of archives?  What is the motivation?  Heck, I can only find my own posts going back like three months!  I'm baffled by this!

 

[Corraleno]

You'd be surprised how often WTM threads come up on google searches for random topics. I've had that happen many times, when I was searching for info on something totally unrelated to homeschooling, and WTM threads showed up in the results. I think sometimes people just click on a link and don't pay attention to what kind of site or forum it takes them to.  

[Katy]

While I didn't post (I don't think) I found this forum through random google searches many times for YEARS before I knew about classical homeschooling.  If you're searching for something quite specific but have vague knowledge about the topic and someone asks a vague question it can be quite tempting to comment.  Maybe posts more than 2 years old should all be archived?

[MercyA]

I've had the same experience as Corraleno, many times. I've searched for something random, a book or health topic or whatever, and up popped the WTM forum as the first result. Always a nice surprise to see my peeps. 🙂 

Maybe it's because we ask each other so many questions? We're practically Quora or Reddit. Only way better. 😉 

Edited January 22, 2021 by MercyA

[Terabith]

8 minutes ago, Katy said:

While I didn't post (I don't think) I found this forum through random google searches many times for YEARS before I knew about classical homeschooling.  If you're searching for something quite specific but have vague knowledge about the topic and someone asks a vague question it can be quite tempting to comment.  Maybe posts more than 2 years old should all be archived?

So, do people create usernames in order to comment on zombie threads?  

[PeterPan]

One, spammers.

Two, I was really hoping for actual zombies in this thread. You're letting me down. 

[MercyA]

27 minutes ago, Terabith said:

So, do people create usernames in order to comment on zombie threads?  

They sure seem to do so. How often have we seen someone's first post on a zombie thread? Like, all the time. And then usually we never see those people again. 

ETA: Definitely some are spammers. Those become obvious very quickly. But I think we also see a fair amount of new posters on zombie threads who are just curious, or trying to be helpful. Sometimes we get people practicing their English.

Edited January 22, 2021 by MercyA

[PeterPan]

1 minute ago, Seasider too said:

The toe fungus thread doesn’t qualify?

I didn't read it yet. I made BROWNIES WITH WALNUTS and was sort of on a brownie high. Now I'm on a shall we exercise or go to bed low. Haven't decided. And ds was so lit up with brownie power that he's still up too. 

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cocoa-brownies-with-browned-butter-and-walnuts-363755  

The batter tasted betterthan the product straight out of the pan. I made a double batch. I think half the pan may have survived, so we'll see how the batch is tomorrow when they've cooled and firmed and matured. One of the reviews said they make you geniuses. Of course he also said you might eat the whole pan and not regret it. So there you go. 

[Tanaqui]

53 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

One, spammers.

Two, I was really hoping for actual zombies in this thread. You're letting me down. 

Here, have a zombie video. (Be sure to turn the captioning ON.)

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

You'd be surprised how often WTM threads come up on google searches for random topics. I've had that happen many times, when I was searching for info on something totally unrelated to homeschooling, and WTM threads showed up in the results. I think sometimes people just click on a link and don't pay attention to what kind of site or forum it takes them to.  

I have had this happen but I assumed there was some kind of algorithm with the search engine that knew this was a site I visited frequently so it was throwing up these results higher in the rankings.  I wonder if my dh has ever searched anything and had WTM forums come up!

[*****]

Idk, but lately even when I try to find a recent topic/thread (I google wtm and the topic), I recently don't get anything newer than 2019.  Yesterday, I was trying to find the thread on 'wearing progressives' that was posted in the last month or so, and google didn't bring that one up.  I did eventually find it, but it takes so long, sigh... And thanks for the heads-up, I didn't realize those were zombie threads, the tush wiping one...I will remember to read dates from now on!  

[kristin0713]

I do find it quite bizarre that these posters are creating an account just to post in one random old thread. But, it’s still a pandemic and people are bored  🤷‍♀️ 

I don’t understand how it could be spam or what the point of that kind of spam would be. The one-time posters on the zombie threads don’t seem to come back. 

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, kristin0713 said:

I don’t understand how it could be spam or what the point of that kind of spam would be. 

The spammers include links to other sites or recommendations for products.

[Porridge]

I think people who stumble on the forum from a Google search may not realize how old a thread really is.

[Familia]

I have been so close to being a zombie thread promoter oh, so many times!  Fortunately, I realize before I craft a comment.

Finding old content is what I do - reading old threads is entertaining, sure, but mostly helpful.  I read old threads almost as often as I do new ones.  They are so much less stressful than current events.  Old current events lack immediacy LOL

WTM was how I raised and educated our children from the beginning & off into college and beyond.  Now, it is my escape reading during lunch ad breaks - my magazine, so to speak.

Often, I go to either the chat board or general education board main page and sort by ‘most replies’ or ‘most read’ and scroll through the pages until something strikes my fancy or needs.  True fun, IMO!

Secondly, I very often google my needed term this way, “cupcakes site:forums.welltrainedmind.com”, or “dog food site:forums.welltrainedmind.com” and read amongst those.

Just to tell you how I find old threads @Terabith and why.  I admit that I am probably an odd-duck.  Not necessarily indicative of how zombie threads begin!  

[kristin0713]

1 hour ago, MercyA said:

The spammers include links to other sites or recommendations for products.

The recent ones don’t have links or anything, though. It’s so random. 

[Dmmetler]

I admit that I have been known to post something on a zombie thread without realizing it-often something almost identical to a response I made a couple of years before!

 

[Terabith]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:55 AM, Familia said:

I have been so close to being a zombie thread promoter oh, so many times!  Fortunately, I realize before I craft a comment.

Finding old content is what I do - reading old threads is entertaining, sure, but mostly helpful.  I read old threads almost as often as I do new ones.  They are so much less stressful than current events.  Old current events lack immediacy LOL

WTM was how I raised and educated our children from the beginning & off into college and beyond.  Now, it is my escape reading during lunch ad breaks - my magazine, so to speak.

Often, I go to either the chat board or general education board main page and sort by ‘most replies’ or ‘most read’ and scroll through the pages until something strikes my fancy or needs.  True fun, IMO!

Secondly, I very often google my needed term this way, “cupcakes site:forums.welltrainedmind.com”, or “dog food site:forums.welltrainedmind.com” and read amongst those.

Just to tell you how I find old threads @Terabith and why.  I admit that I am probably an odd-duck.  Not necessarily indicative of how zombie threads begin!  

Honestly, I don't really object to zombie threads being resurrected.  It's kind of fun to reread stuff from years ago.  But it is very funny.  

[KathyBC]

@lmrich How did the armoire thread come up for you?

[lmrich]

13 minutes ago, KathyBC said:

@lmrich How did the armoire thread come up for you?

It just appeared in my unread threads... did not think to look at the dates