anti-prose. random matter.
reviving what was once dead...
Published on September 24, 2005 By crimson In Blogging
How many times have you scrolled down in the forums to catch sight of a title that seems vaguely familiar? How many times have you seen a once familiar author's name on a list of articles only to discover later that the article was written eons ago?

I can't say that I hate rediscovering old articles. In fact, I rather enjoy re-reading good stuff, and later pleased to see the responses of bloggers from long ago. It piques my interest to find out who actually brought an old article back to life. Was a newbie who is digging back into the files of a now-favoured blogger who just had to comment about something that moved him? Is it an old blogger desperate for attention, waving a sign saying 'look at me, I'm still here!' Sometimes there's no clue whatsoever, not by the responder, nor by worthiness of the aforementioned article. Occasionally a revived article is just a bland, inconspicuous peice of writing; nothing outstanding or noteworthy there.

It's my guess that zombie blogs appear when the state of the forums seems a bit stale. People tend to go digging for quality stuff. Reknowned bloggers are re-read, and gems are unearthed. Sometimes old wars are focused apon, other times people's personal libraries are perused after writing a cleverly worded retort, or writing a moving piece of their lives.

Zombie blogs, good or bad, are a great indication that not everything we write is reserved 'for the moment'. Zombie blogs are a good reminder that sometimes our words leave an impression on people... something most of us strive for, in one way or another.

Comments
on Sep 24, 2005
Nice article...I might even revive it in a few weeks or months.

Sometimes when I get too busy or other things are going on, I don't get to read JoeUser everyday, and I'll respond to blogs days or even a week after they've been posted. Also, just last week, I was trying to search for an article that contained a music lyric game I liked playing, but I haven't had luck finding it. It is several months old, I believe.
I guess I am one of those contributing to zombie blog revivals.
on Sep 25, 2005
Most such revivals I see seem to be people finding the article through a search engine, reading it for the first time, and deciding to comment. They probably don't know or care about the vintage.

Sometimes long after the fact, I'll discover further comments were left on an article I'd been following. I usually don't respond further, though. I guess I'm sensitized to creating zombies.
on Sep 27, 2005
When I first started blogging here there were times I'd see an article in the
Forums, not knowing or realizing it was an "Oldie" and go blithely commenting on it
only to later read the date the article was posted and
very red faced slink back to my own blog.........

Now a usually read the oldies, have just stopped commenting on them
unless it's quite a profound article and I want to add my two cents worth!

Maybe with inflation that would be my "quarter's worth"??