Does anybody actually look at the dates of the threads they are replying to?
 

I see a lot of people here replying to threads that are 5, 6, even 9 years old or more and are actually expecting a reply from the OP. Check the original post dates, or even the date(s) of the last replies/posts.

I hear what you're saying and used to think the same thing. But what I have found is if the OP still has the same email address they will get a notification of the reply. I've seen an OP reply to threads that are 7 and 8 years old.

This truck model is fifteen years old, people search for help and there are only a few places that come up. So why not ask a question on a old thread? Someone might answer, even if the OP is gone.

If you read most of those necro-posts, they're the first post from a newbie who is completely oblivious to the age of the thread they're resurrecting (as well as being unable to formulate a reasonable facsimile of a problem report with details and intelligent questions).

I blame it on twitter...

I've been told a lot of them come from Google searches. I think that's how I found the site, looking for transmission info.

Guilty
 

I hate it when I reply to an old thread. It sneaks up on you when you are in a hurry . Plus many people want to ride on an old thread it gets very confusing .

Just the nature of forums... But for these ones on such an older model truck, sometimes any reply is helpful to a revived thread.

Especially when the topic is left unsolved, or the OP disappears off the face of the earth and never gives closure. :-hijacked

I've done it, always by accident when I didn't look at the date of the previous post. Some sites are really strict about this. It doesn't seem this way here. I can see where it might be useful, especially with posts that don't give any closure. I also see that most of the time the OP, and others from ancient times, never respond back to the modern post.

If you spend enough time on other forums you will find that when a person asks a commonly asked question (on that site) some imbecile will tell him to do a "search" before posting his questions. That is reason enough to "update" an old thread with a new reply.

Sometimes a person is told not to write answers to things he is wrong about.

If nobody ever asked questions or answered things incorrectly then there would be no need for any forums.

P.S. This site has a very bad "search" function.

Dennis

It seems that someone checks the dates or ages, because they catch me from time to time.

If they have something to add (like a solution), I think it’s good to reply no matter how old it is because it helps when others stumble across it. Better than having multiple threads on the same issue

I read one the other day where a guy responded after a eleven year old thread was bumped. responded pretty quick too.
:-wink

Yeah, sometimes I think they look at the recent (bumping) reply and nothing before that. Then they reply. Next guy sees two recent replies and replies to that, and so on. I try to look at the first post and/or the number of replies to see if I'm suspicious of how old a thread is, but that can be a lot of teduim for something we are doing voluntarily, so I understand the slip-ups.

Some of those old ones are worth leaving when they get bumped up. Others, where they ask the OP a question aren't. usually the OP had only a few posts and never came back and the guy who dug it up is new. Like stated above, Google brings them here.

So, let's cut some new guys some slack, rather than scare them off. And yeah, there's always that guy who responds to a new thread from a new guy with the "do a search comment".

If you find an old thread that has been brought back that has no value, just click on the report thread icon, then we can decide on whether to lock it or get rid of it.