Resurrecting old and inactive posts?

[GordonMurphella]

Lately I've noticed a lot of really old posts being answered, many of the OPs or folks answering prior to recently haven't been seen in forever which imho makes them semi-useless. Is there a simple way to maybe deactivate them so they're still around to read but not answer?

Maybe I'm being obnoxious, but it's one of those things. And I am obnoxious, I admit it, but it's also ... one of those things. Of course if I'm the only loony annoyed by this, feel free to ignore. Most people do.

Thanks. And while I apparently keep getting in trouble for my cranky old mouth, I do love this place and have learned a bunch, so don't set me on fire unless you give me a cookie first.

[neko_kawaii]

Sometimes what happened is a spammer managed to get past our filters, found a thread vaguely related to the snake oil they want to sell and posted there, it got spotted, reported, removed, and then the next person who comes along can’t see that removed post, and how many people look at the dates of the OP before posting? Hello long-running threads!

And don’t ask us to leave some sort of trace of the spam post, the spam ban hammer is a sweet one shot tool that without would make the task take a significant amount of time.

Then, you have the poor newbies who start threads only to be told they should have found an old thread and posted there. There is simply no pleasing everyone.

A quick, “the OP may not be around anymore” is sufficient.

[lapushka]

I also get annoyed, sometimes, it sorta depends on the thread getting resurfaced. Sometimes the general message is a great one and the thread actually "deserves" to live on, because hello: useful knowledge and why bother making a new thread for it, right? But other times it is a very specific question, problem has long been resolved, or poster has long gone, and then my antennas go bonkers LOL But hey, you know like neko said, a quick, OP is long gone, or question has long been resolved, should do (and then you can internally fret ).

[GordonMurphella]

Thanks, both of you. I appreciate the sensible (and humorous!) solutions.