There's already a thread on this but it's from tenyears ago.

Am I the only who finds it annoying when you post a new topic and someone says that topic has already been created but it's been dead for eight months to several years? I understand that we don't want the same topic post over and over again but is a topic from five years ago that's been bumped going to get as many views/post/attention as one that was created four hours ago? No so it's kind of silly that a topic that's important can only have one thread about it without getting a "There's already a thread about this."

Heck I don't even know how people can remember threads from more then a few months ago.

reply to post by Reptius

Heck I don't even know how people can remember threads from more then a few months ago.

Yeah, especially by members that have only been here 2 weeks..

Those rules are there so that we aren't cluttering up one forum with multiple threads on the same subject.

Besides which, if you post your findings on the thread from "ten years" ago it will be bumped to the top of the list and people will be able to read it

Sorry,but I personally love reading really old threads with new updated information on them.You get to see how the story or theory has progressed,and might possibly get to read people changing their thoughts or ideas.

I spend most of my time reading threads on A.T.S. when I should be posting more, have'nt got time for both,but I have learned many things I would never have known,and things that have certainly has not been covered fully in the MSM,if at all.

Try it , you might like it!!

The "There's Already A Thread On That" Nazi's really amuse me. Especially when they were the author. I like it best when you see bickering over a current event with two new threads posted closely together. Not just on this forum, either...it happens everywhere People are so attached to the fruits of their ego, it becomes about them and not the information. As if the content of the thread was a singular idea worthy of individual praise, and not just a regurgitated news article copy and pasted on every blog on Wordpress.

I won't double post a thread on purpose. But once i do, it is up to the mods and gods as to which way providence will lean. Truly, i rarely start a thread anyway.

With the exception of topics which already have a multitude of threads, the unwritten 'rule of thumb' is to allow the 'new' thread if an existing discussion has not seen a reply for the past 60 days or so.

Hope that helps.

There's a lot to be said for continuity and for having all the information about a topic in the same thread, no matter how old it might be. It lends some organization, makes research easier, keeps the board less cluttered, allows people to more easily get valid search results, allows updates to be in the same place so that those already familiar with the topic can just get the new and those who might be unfamiliar topic to get all the background on it, and prevents repetition of information in multiple threads.

Having many multiple threads on the same topic dilutes the information, makes identifying patterns harder, makes it hard to remember which thread you have and have not posted in, makes it harder to fill people in on background information.

There are far more benefits that detriments to this practice of keeping like information in one place. And frankly, I think that people who think it's no big deal to have multiple threads on the same topic have just become conditioned to be scattered and disorganized and lazy and to not want to think that hard. But that's just me.

(P.S. And oh, by the way, this of course doesn't apply to the one-off type threads but to those that are truly on the same topic,and the lazy and disorganized factor applies to the people we loosely call "journalists" in the MSM today as well. They are sucking more and more at background and followup and heaven forbid they made a mistake, there is rarely a retraction unless it's buried somewhere.)

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


To be fair, it's usually the authors who know that there is already a thread. In addition, many times they are posting simply to let participants in a thread know there are more comments or more information in other threads. Not everyone has the motive that appears to amuse you.

In addition, you're right, there are rules as to where multiple threads on the same topic may and may not appear, and the mods know them best.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


Cool...

Never heard that one.
Good to know.

I have actually found topics of interest on the web and when I search on ATS , I might see that it has been discussed years ago , and that the thread has not had any replies for several months or years . Sometimes , the original author of those threads are no longer even a member here , or they haven't posted in years , as well as some of the participants in the thread . I go ahead and post my new thread , explaining all of this as well as posting a link to the other threads that now lie dormant .

I have not had a thread deleted when doing it this way . So , do a search and if you see it has already been discussed , be courteous by making mention of that in your thread .

So far , I've not had any problems from staff or other members when I do it this way .

Here you go : www.abovetopsecret.com...

"There's already a thread about this." without actually posting a link to that thread is a common tool of trolls and some skeptics in an attempt to make the topic go away