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Why are dead Trains threads coming back to life

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Posted by BEAUSABRE on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 9:30 PM

It's a bit of a tautology, but if a thread has come back to life, it's not dead

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 2:32 PM

BEAUSABRE
It's a bit of a tautology, but if a thread has come back to life, it's not dead

The bigger question - Why do threads die?

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 3:05 PM

BaltACD

 

 
BEAUSABRE
It's a bit of a tautology, but if a thread has come back to life, it's not dead

 

The bigger question - Why do threads die?

 

To be fair, some threads start to smell bad, like they've died. Mischief

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Fr.Al on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 4:24 PM

I am one of the guilty ones, since I revived a thread about the Baldwin and Lima Center -Cab transfer units. It does seem like an interesting chapter in early diesel development.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 4:41 PM

BaltACD
The bigger question - Why do threads die?

Well, eventually they DO get to the point of "What more is there to be said?"

I think it is kind of fun when one comes zipping out of the past though, like the thread on the NYW&B, and finds a new life.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Thursday, May 5, 2022 4:42 PM

I have no problem with old threads coming back. It might be something interesting that I missed the first time around.

Still in training.


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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, May 5, 2022 8:22 PM

BaltACD
The bigger question - Why do threads die?

I'm with Flintlock - eventually there just isn't anything else to discuss on the topic.  

Once you get past the predecessor roads, what is there to discuss about the color of Conrail locos, f'rinstance?

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Posted by Fred M Cain on Friday, May 6, 2022 9:23 AM

I like to revive old threads for two reasons.

One is when I discover a thread of interest only way after the fact.  I might discover a thread that's ten year old on a subject that I find interesting and then ask if anyone has any new information on it.

 

The other reason I will revive an old thread is when *I* find some new information that I think someone else might or might not want to see.

Regards,

Fred M. Cain

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, May 6, 2022 9:47 AM

Fred M Cain
someone else might or might not want to see.

I suspect that is really the heart of many of the objections.  Certain someones believing they had the last word, and hoped their prior contribution was an epitaph....

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Posted by Euclid on Friday, May 6, 2022 9:58 AM

Convicted One

 

 
Fred M Cain
someone else might or might not want to see.

 

I suspect that is really the heart of many of the objections.  Certain someones believing they had the last word, and hoped their prior contribution was an epitaph....

 

I agree, objecting to people reviving old threads is in need of an explanation because nobody is required to read every thread that shows up.  So why should it be such a hot button?
 
When I joined in 2005, there seemed to be a lot more new thread generation than there is today.  I would estimate that there was 4-8 times more new threads per day back then than there are now. 
 
Back then, new threads would sometimes slide off of Page 1 in the first day because of the speed of new thread origination.  Maybe the reason why people are reviving old threads is to make up for the slowdown in new thread generation. 
 
I remember when I started subscribing to Trains, it seemed like a long wait for the next issue.  So I sometimes ordered 6-12 back issues to keep things moving. 
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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, May 6, 2022 11:32 AM

Ahhhh? So you're saying that back in the day, there was a "competition" of sorts, members wanting to keep "their" thread on the front page, and reviving old threads was crowding their pet threads out of the limelight? Yeah, I can see where that would be a possible hot spot.

I participate in a sports related forum where an opposite dynamic seems to rule the day.  There thay have this obsession with "master threads" where they want various topics concentrated.

 Such as one thread where all off season topics are supposed to go, one thread for all trades, one thread for all discussion about the sport concerning any team other than the home team...stuff like that. And one thread each day devoted that that particular game...a "game day" thread...

And let some poor new guy join and start a generic "good time" thread,   everyone jumps all over him for non-adherence.

 And I was really dumbfounded, asking "man, the discussion forum format is dying all over the internet, and yet you want to beat up this poor guy just for making a contribution?

And they did.   Seems that many of the "old guard" at that forum participate mostly with smart phones, and their emphasis is in minimizing "thumb scroll"... i guess that having to scroll past "unimportant" threads was too much work for some of them? 

Perhaps for certain individuals there is some vicarious thrill in forcing EVERYONE to use THEIR internet, THEIR way?  Black Eye

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Posted by Euclid on Friday, May 6, 2022 11:57 AM

Convicted One
Ahhhh? So you're saying that back in the day, there was a "competition" of sorts, members wanting to keep "their" thread on the front page, and reviving old threads was crowding their pet threads out of the limelight? Yeah, I can see where that would be a possible hot spot.

Well actually that was not my point, but it is valid.  My point was just to give an idea of how the constant surge of new posts was frantically driving everything forward.  And with that pace, there was less worry about keeping a thread on page one.  This was because people were used to the need to check the past 2-4 pages every day, so they did not miss something.  So people kept up with the pace and there was not the same sense of a thread going over the cliff.  There was no cliff.  
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Posted by MidlandMike on Friday, May 6, 2022 9:07 PM

Who says a thread is dead, unless the moderator locks it.  Otherwise it is in a state of suspended animation.

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, May 7, 2022 10:43 AM

In a perfect example, I just brought back a 15 year old thread that came up when I "Googled" my old CB radio call sign.  Who knew such a search would brng up a thread on the Trains forum?

A lot has changed in that world in 15 years, including the fact that I am now an amateur radio operator - something that was not a factor at the time.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 5:50 PM

They spontaneously come back to life sometimes because of lurkers....Whistling

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 6:51 PM

pennytrains
They spontaneously come back to life sometimes because of lurkers....

Well, there is an election coming up.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by nanaimo73 on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 6:56 PM

Some lurkers have

missed a lot over the last 10 years. sigh

Dale
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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 7:30 PM

Ya know, I just may go looking for a long dead thread to resurrect just for the sheer fun of it!  Smile, Wink & Grin

"Long Dead Thread."  Sounds like a good name for a rock band, don't ya think?

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 7:31 PM

nanaimo73
Some lurkers have missed a lot over the last 10 years. sigh

 

GOOD LORD!!  Welcome back!!! What have ya been up to, stranger? And I do mean STRANGEr

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 7:47 PM

Flintlock76

Ya know, I just may go looking for a long dead thread to resurrect just for the sheer fun of it!  Smile, Wink & Grin

"Long Dead Thread."  Sounds like a good name for a rock band, don't ya think?

 

I have struck!  Check "Steam and Preservation!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtFUWzpKQE

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