The easiest diagnosis for thread raisage would be "Can I add anything significant to the topic that will revive it?"
see, if nobody responds i'm not going to get bent out of shape. i'm not on a 'revival kick'. that's kinda why i'm flummoxed as to why anyone is getting bent out of shape because of >when< i responded, whereas if there's no interest besides mine then, erm, it should blow over without them asking me to be less prolific... shouldn't it? *turns around* *beholds Thread of Babel* ah.
why it's considered good etiquette to eat your meal with the cutlery provided rather than your hands
wow. that's so, so,
so oblique. is this cutlery programmed to disintegrate in less than five months [oh sorry, i meant TWO WEEKS], though the same food is on the table, and it remains recognizable and even edible [if only to the great unwashed masses of indiscriminate newcomers]?
time to fire off one of those hypothetical situations:
a thread has not been posted in for several months. it has not been locked. it contains no posts that declare the topic resolved, moved, banned, or otherwise 'off limits'.
someone who has just found this thread for the first time finds their curiosity aroused, and decides to raise their hand and babble a bit.
some possible outcomes:
a) this late, new post is completely ignored. OMFG THE HORROR THE WASTE OF PRECIOUS SECONDS AND BYTES WHAT IF THIS HAPPENS TO ME A SECOND TIME THIS VERY DAY WILL I BE ABLE TO ENDURE THE STRAIN
b) someone decides to fill the poster in on what they overlooked, or weren't privy to in the first place. learning experience?
c) someone decides to upbraid the poster for their 'lack of discretion' or perhaps some other rubric. all well and good, until the third or fourth different angle of such upbraids, at which point poster begins to wonder wtf is up with the moratorium on curiosity.
d) the discussion veers in a new direction. hey, at least a whole new topic didn't have to be created. or does it now?
e) someone who joined between original topic 'death' and new poster's stab finally decides they have something to say on the subject. whee.
and many more...
is that it? the danger of open-endedness?
if so, more locking. or restrict my heinous spammy reflexes.
if not, what's the worry?