What's up with the heavy trolling lately on this board? (rated, dating)

[mayfair44]

Seems worse lately. I've noticed several recent "replies" to ANCIENT posts, some dating five years back, for no apparent reason. It's as if they've inadvertently replied to a fresh thread. Right. People that are on here often know what I'm saying. I just flipped back, and fyi, you gotta go over 300 pages to hit the 2007/2008 era! Maybe some are legit. I get why someone would search and resurrect a thread to reboot a topic that pertains to their interest or question. But to randomly "reply" to a thread that's 5 yrs old? Moderator cut: off topic bashing

[ScoPro]

I've noticed that too.

It appears the "bots" are flooding the Net.

[kbchitown]

Resurrecting an old thread is not necessarily "trolling".

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mayfair44

Seems worse lately. I've noticed several recent "replies" to ANCIENT posts, some dating five years back, for no apparent reason. It's as if they've inadvertently replied to a fresh thread. Right. People that are on here often know what I'm saying. I just flipped back, and fyi, you gotta go over 300 pages to hit the 2007/2008 era! Maybe some are legit. I get why someone would search and resurrect a thread to reboot a topic that pertains to their interest or question. But to randomly "reply" to a thread that's 5 yrs old? Ooh, the thrill of setting the hook! Get a life.

I don't agree that most of the old post revival has been trolling. I think a lot of it is actually inadvertent. New people search for topics of interest, and reply to old posts without noticing the date.

In addition, haven't you seen the C-D notice that has been running at the bottom of most pages recently which says:

"Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view."

That said, I have seen an increase in old posts being revived for the purpose of tying in an ad message, but it hasn't amounted to a majority of them. And trolling? Some, but not most. When you do see it, click on the triangle icon top right of screen to bring it to the moderators' attention.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by mayfair44

Seems worse lately. I've noticed several recent "replies" to ANCIENT posts, some dating five years back, for no apparent reason. It's as if they've inadvertently replied to a fresh thread. Right. People that are on here often know what I'm saying. I just flipped back, and fyi, you gotta go over 300 pages to hit the 2007/2008 era! Maybe some are legit. I get why someone would search and resurrect a thread to reboot a topic that pertains to their interest or question. But to randomly "reply" to a thread that's 5 yrs old? Ooh, the thrill of setting the hook! Get a life.

Check your definition of "trolling", that is not it.

City-Data encourages necro-posting, what you described. City-Data is set up to be searched by the web, by google, etc. So many people find old threads as a result of those searches and come here to respond to them. As OpenD pointed out, there is even a notice on those old resurrected threads, generated by City-Data, encouraging anyone who views that page to add an new post to it. City-Data probably gets advertising revenue as a result, so they encourage it.

[Ole Texan]

"Ooh, the thrill of setting the hook! Get a life."

Might this be an example of a troll, trolling what it considers to be a troll.

Seems that many old threads have ligit current interest. Being new to the site, I read many old threads to catch-up on past events. I have not seen much in the way of trolling.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

City-Data probably gets advertising revenue as a result, so they encourage it.

Indirectly, yes, I suppose, if it encourages additional page views, which I suppose it does.

All in all I find the advertising in C-D forums to be very low key and inoffensive, and I wish them every success with this strategy. After all, that's what allows for the enjoyment I get personally from reading and posting to these forums.

As I often say to newcomers, there is a wealth of data in the archives here, so use the Search functions for fast info. But some info gets out of date, and really needs to be refreshed periodically. This is a valid way to do it.

Trolling is something different... deliberately posting provocative statements for the sole purpose of stirring up reactions from others. If you see this, as I noted earlier, just notify a moderator.