Fine distinctions in time stamps

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Ray and I simul-posted!

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Not that related, but I would like to see a setting where if a reply was older than X days ago, the reply background color is different or there is a calendar icon or something that appears around the timestamp field. This way people know that they are replying to old content. It would help in those times someone replied to an old zombie thread, and others then see a thread they never saw before and start interacting.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19210750
Not that related, but I would like to see a setting where if a reply was older than X days ago, the reply background color is different or there is a calendar icon or something that appears around the timestamp field. This way people know that they are replying to old content.

Related: Get people to reply to old content instead of starting a thread whose topic already has a thread in the same forum. This would reduce duplicate posts, as when someone puts an image in both of the two threads for B&W images, as happens on most days. Are there really members who check just one of those threads?

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OhLook wrote in post #19210838
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Related: Get people to reply to old content instead of starting a thread whose topic already has a thread in the same forum.
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I especially like it when people reply to very old threads and "revive" them. . I think it'd be great if all of the threads were replied to from time to time, and that no threads were allowed to go dormant for long periods of time.

I spent a ton of time digging thru the archives of old threads here on the forum. . Many times I want to reply, but I seldom do, because I have very thin skin and am very afraid of anyone criticizing me for bringing a "dead" thread back up to the top of the list again. . Or, worse yet, some people respond to me as if I didn't realize it was an old thread, and it frustrates me beyond my limits to have anyone underestimate my sense of awareness. . I am acutely aware of the timetable of the threads and posts that I respond to.

Before I reply to any old thread, I not only note the date of the OP, but also the date of the most recent post, and then I will research the person who started the thread to see the last time they were active on the forum, as well as the last time they made a post. . Then I do the same research on the person who made the most recent post.


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #19210861
I think it'd be great if all of the threads were replied to from time to time, and that no threads were allowed to go dormant for long periods of time.

I think some threads are genuinely obsolete and may as well be left to decompose on the forest floor and return to nature. Prime examples are threads started by a person who asked for help with a one-time problem, got an answer, and is long gone.

Case in point.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=924313

Having the visual indicator doesn't prevent anything, it just lets you know that perhaps the thread is a zombie thread, and you can decide to carry on the conversation or not.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19210984
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Case in point:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=924313

Having the visual indicator doesn't prevent anything, it just lets you know that perhaps the thread is a zombie thread, and you can decide to carry on the conversation or not.
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I think I am an exception, as I really enjoyed reading that entire thread just now. . If Wilt had not inadvertently revived it, I probably never would have found it and gotten to read it all.


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Again, having the visual indicator doesn't prevent you from reading archives of threads or stop others from resurrecting it.

It is very easy to get to old threads with search words you are interested in, all the way back to the early 2000s.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19210996
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Again, having the visual indicator doesn't prevent you from reading archives of threads or stop others from resurrecting it.

It is very easy to get to old threads with search words you are interested in, all the way back to the early 2000s.
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I totally agree. . . BUT ....

If there was such an indicator, then perhaps Wilt would not have revived that thread. . And then I would not have gotten to read it.

Sure, I can take the initiative to find threads like that on my own, and I very often do. . But that particular thread I never would have found, because I do not look for threads on that topic.

Sometimes I like to inadvertently have old things brought to my attention that I would never take any interest in otherwise. . I'm just afraid that the kind of indicator you mention may keep a few threads from being revived that would otherwise get revived by mistake ..... and I love those mistakes and benefit from them.

The only way some of these very old threads get revived is by people doing it by mistake, not realizing they are so old, and I absolutely love that this happens. . Please don't take that away from me!


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Wilt didn't revive that thread. A spammer did, and then Wilt replied to a ten year issue needlessly.

I am just asking for an age indicator nothing more, just like the 30 per so other settings we have available to customize our experience in AMASS.


There are much more interesting things to read about than that thread. like how to set up a collar strategy to protect stock wins, or how to construct an origami giraffe or why this covid vaccine is giving me so much grief.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19210996
It is very easy to get to old threads with search words you are interested in, all the way back to the early 2000s.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19211001
I totally agree. BUT . . . The only way some of these very old threads get revived is by people doing it by mistake, not realizing they are so old, and I absolutely love that this happens. . Please don't take that away from me!

There's another way. This won't clutter the New Posts pages or forum pages and waste the time of people who don't share your pursuit of prehistory. It also frees you from the randomness of waiting for someone's failure to notice dates. On any forum page, select the number just before "Next" in the list on the right, near the top. For the Lounge forum, that's 683. On page 683, you get–

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OhLook wrote in post #19211037
There's another way. This won't clutter the New Posts pages or forum pages and waste the time of people who don't share your pursuit of prehistory. It also frees you from the randomness of waiting for someone's failure to notice dates. On any forum page, select the number just before "Next" in the list on the right, near the top. For the Lounge forum, that's 683. On page 683, you get–

Hosted photo: posted by OhLook in
./showthread.php?p=192​11037&i=i63308777
forum: Forum Talk

Then you can start at the bottom with the very earliest thread at the Lounge and proceed upward. After that, the joy of page 682 awaits!

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OhLook, I do that all the time.

I mean, I literally spend at least a couple hours every week doing exactly what you suggest above. . I have done this for many many years. . That is why I so frequently "LIKE" posts from many years ago, back from the pre-AMASS days, before we even had the "LIKE" button here on the forum.

I am surprised that you appear to think that I didn't already know all about that way of finding old threads.

But it is extra extra special when someone else revives a very old thread.


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Regardless of how this might affect one's ability to enjoy old threads that others revived (vs just looking through old threads as time allows without reviving any of them), it is just a simple option or feature that doesn't prevent ANYTHING from happening that happens today.

Either a calendar icon or a colored background, or maybe some other visual cue...

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Tom Reichner wrote in post #19211056
OhLook, I do that all the time. . . .

I am surprised that you appear to think that I didn't already know all about that way of finding old threads.

But it is extra extra special when someone else revives a very old thread.

It did seem that you wait for someone else to revive an old thread. The reason was statements like this:

Because thread revivals don't strike me as special, let alone extra extra special, I didn't suppose that they struck you that way.