caffeineandbooks Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 I've been puzzled by the upsurge in zombie threads on the Gen Ed & K-8 discussion boards the past 6 months or so. The chat forum not so much - or is it just so busy that I don't see them? Almost all are first time posters, and all have less than 10 posts. Their English is usually poor. The threads are usually (but not always) off topic stuff - not about education or homeschooling. The comments/questions are often vague and don't advance the discussion - "I think this is a good idea" or "I have that problem too". Can someone explain to me what's going on? What do these people hope to gain? I don't see how they could be making money... or gaining information... or finding community... so what's the goal? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 It’s happening here in the Chat forum, too. 🙂 It is so annoying! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 1 hour ago, caffeineandbooks said: I've been puzzled by the upsurge in zombie threads on the Gen Ed & K-8 discussion boards the past 6 months or so. The chat forum not so much - or is it just so busy that I don't see them? Almost all are first time posters, and all have less than 10 posts. Their English is usually poor. The threads are usually (but not always) off topic stuff - not about education or homeschooling. The comments/questions are often vague and don't advance the discussion - "I think this is a good idea" or "I have that problem too". Can someone explain to me what's going on? What do these people hope to gain? I don't see how they could be making money... or gaining information... or finding community... so what's the goal? It’s weird. I wonder if WTM is just doing a really good job of staying up in the search rankings. There also seems to be positions out there where you get paid a certain amount for posting comments in a number of forums etc. you have to make a certain number of comments per hour and not all of them can be one or two word comments. I’ve seen these kind of jobs on up work. I assume the idea is to establish an online presence that someone then takes over and uses as a disinformation bot but there’s enough legitimate seeming comments to not get caught out easily. 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Google sends them here, I'd say. I've had the forum pop up near the top of my results more than once when I've searched for random, non-homeschooling topics. We're just awesome, that's all. p.s. Once in a while I'm pretty sure the posters are people in other countries practicing their English. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, MercyA said: I've had the forum pop up near the top of my results more than once when I've searched for random, non-homeschooling topics. I *think* that’s because Google knows you come here a lot. Their search results prioritize the sites they know you visit. ETA: It's one reason people get in news bubbles. Google knows you like to read the Acme news site and Joe's news site and maybe a few others, and all of them happen to be rather slanted in the same direction. So each time you search a topic or event those news sites get prioritized in your search. And thus the lazy searcher/reader fails to become aware of, let alone understand, any other side of the topic or event. Edited June 15, 2021 by Pawz4me 7 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraClark Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 I wonder if there's anything that can be done. Would it help to close comments after a year of no activity, do you think? The ones I'm seeing are topics 10+ years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eos Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 I saw that Rosie closed one quick recently, possibly because it dealt with pregnancy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartString Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 12 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said: It’s weird. I wonder if WTM is just doing a really good job of staying up in the search rankings. There also seems to be positions out there where you get paid a certain amount for posting comments in a number of forums etc. you have to make a certain number of comments per hour and not all of them can be one or two word comments. I’ve seen these kind of jobs on up work. I assume the idea is to establish an online presence that someone then takes over and uses as a disinformation bot but there’s enough legitimate seeming comments to not get caught out easily. Ding ding ding. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeineandbooks Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 10 hours ago, LauraClark said: Would it help to close comments after a year of no activity, do you think? The ones I'm seeing are topics 10+ years old. I don't know. I wouldn't want to lose the ability for people to come back and update over time - @lewelma's revived science fair thread that popped up earlier this year, for example. I just don't want the boards cluttered up with advice for helping someone's kid stop wetting the bed, when the OP's kid is now 20. And I really value this place, so I also don't want people to waste their time on dishonest posters, if @Ausmumof3 and others are right about the sources. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 12 hours ago, Harpymom said: I saw that Rosie closed one quick recently, possibly because it dealt with pregnancy? Nah. It was because she was online and saw it pop up. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraClark Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 3 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said: I don't know. I wouldn't want to lose the ability for people to come back and update over time - @lewelma's revived science fair thread that popped up earlier this year, for example. I just don't want the boards cluttered up with advice for helping someone's kid stop wetting the bed, when the OP's kid is now 20. And I really value this place, so I also don't want people to waste their time on dishonest posters, if @Ausmumof3 and others are right about the sources. Ah, good point-I knew there would be a reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 9 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said: I don't know. I wouldn't want to lose the ability for people to come back and update over time - @lewelma's revived science fair thread that popped up earlier this year, for example. I've got a few old threads that I resurrect every so often to keep them live. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeineandbooks Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 1 hour ago, lewelma said: I've got a few old threads that I resurrect every so often to keep them live. 🙂 Lewelma is the zombie!! 😆 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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