Time has no meaning here

We permies moderators have noticed many old threads are being brought back from the dead, with answers to ancient questions being given.

We permies moderators have deemed, once again, that this is a perennial forum. Other people might want those answers, even if the original poster does not.

Therefore, we have decided that, time has no meaning here on permies.com.*



* At least when pertaining to "zombie" threads and answering old questions. Time still applies for giveaways and dailyish freebies, pie expiring, etc, etc, etc

Hmmm... if you look at the time stamp on threads, it goes from "minutes" to "hours" to "days" to "months" to "years". This can get *really* interesting when someone posts something like, "Now is the right time to go and forage for wild hazelnuts." Right - 3 years ago, just when was that "right time"?

So those of you who want to be epic posters, who live for eternity, think about that lack of meaning of time on permies, and give us some hints - like "early August in the Pacific North West is a good time to go foraging for wild hazelnuts. At least the squirrels think so!"

Jay Angler wrote:Hmmm... if you look at the time stamp on threads, it goes from "minutes" to "hours" to "days" to "months" to "years". This can get *really* interesting when someone posts something like, "Now is the right time to go and forage for wild hazelnuts." Right - 3 years ago, just when was that "right time"?

So those of you who want to be epic posters, who live for eternity, think about that lack of meaning of time on permies, and give us some hints - like "early August in the Pacific North West is a good time to go foraging for wild hazelnuts. At least the squirrels think so!"

OR, the timestamp could just give an actual date & time. That would be a lot more sensible, IMO, for a perennial forum!

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Therefore, we have decided that, time has no meaning here on permies.com.*

But, is there a spoon?

D Nikolls wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:Hmmm... if you look at the time stamp on threads, it goes from "minutes" to "hours" to "days" to "months" to "years". This can get *really* interesting when someone posts something like, "Now is the right time to go and forage for wild hazelnuts." Right - 3 years ago, just when was that "right time"?

So those of you who want to be epic posters, who live for eternity, think about that lack of meaning of time on permies, and give us some hints - like "early August in the Pacific North West is a good time to go foraging for wild hazelnuts. At least the squirrels think so!"

OR, the timestamp could just give an actual date & time. That would be a lot more sensible, IMO, for a perennial forum!

If you have pie, which you do, you can do that.  In your profile, under Pie only Preferences you can set Custom timezone to whatever you wish the timestamp to display.

Every post I see has the date and time just below the posters name and always has?

Rob Lineberger wrote:

D Nikolls wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:Hmmm... if you look at the time stamp on threads, it goes from "minutes" to "hours" to "days" to "months" to "years". This can get *really* interesting when someone posts something like, "Now is the right time to go and forage for wild hazelnuts." Right - 3 years ago, just when was that "right time"?

So those of you who want to be epic posters, who live for eternity, think about that lack of meaning of time on permies, and give us some hints - like "early August in the Pacific North West is a good time to go foraging for wild hazelnuts. At least the squirrels think so!"

OR, the timestamp could just give an actual date & time. That would be a lot more sensible, IMO, for a perennial forum!

If you have pie, which you do, you can do that.  In your profile, under Pie only Preferences you can set Custom timezone to whatever you wish the timestamp to display.

Yes!

Another option is to hover your mouse of the "posted ____ days ago" and it'll tell you the exact date and time. Pretty sure this doesn't work on mobile, though!

Jay Angler wrote:give us some hints - like "early August in the Pacific North West is a good time to go foraging for wild hazelnuts."

Yes PLEASE!
Remember, there are folks from all over the world here. While you're sweating in the garden and swatting chiggers in Missouri, I'm down here in the southern hemisphere bundled up drinking tea, and vice versa. I would venture that plenty of people find this site looking for info, and have to adapt it to their culture, climate, and the season where they are, so context is a great thing!

As someone who has brought a few threads back from the dead, I have always assumed that if the thread was not locked, it was open to comment upon.  I normally try to search before I start a new thread. I am not always successful.  

I just did that... wrote a reply and then saw that the thread was ancient :)
Maybe the very old threads could be locked, with some information that it's old now, and perhaps inviting visitors to start a new one? Some questions and issues are repetitive... and very often there is a lot of new knowledge, research, books etc on topics that were discussed 9+ years ago.
Or, the threads could remain open but with some pop-up warning "you're replying to a thread that was started 10 years ago"?

Drew Moffatt wrote:Every post I see has the date and time just below the posters name and always has?

Are you on mobile? I'm on a very old, unsupported software laptop, and that isn't there.
Nicole Alderman wrote:

Another option is to hover your mouse of the "posted ____ days ago" and it'll tell you the exact date and time. Pretty sure this doesn't work on mobile, though!

Well there's "my one new thing learned" for the day.
Rob Lineberger wrote:

If you have pie, which you do, you can do that.  In your profile, under Pie only Preferences you can set Custom timezone to whatever you wish the timestamp to display.

Oooohhh... scary buttons - I will check that out and see if the buttons think sufficiently like a dinosaur that I figure I can set them and they'll stay set... My phone's been trying to update for 3 days now and clearly it will take someone else pushing the button to actually get it to take - for me, it just keeps doing the Mobius strip thing.
Flora Eerschay wrote:

Or, the threads could remain open but with some pop-up warning "you're replying to a thread that was started 10 years ago"?  

I like that idea! Some old threads are still totally relevant today, some less so. Some show the incredible shift in attitude that's taken place in the last decade/s and the knowledge we've amassed about living permaculture.

I don't see a problem with reviving old threads.  We favour perennial discussion on permies.

It seems like the current system is working as intended.  

I agree. There is some awesome info in old threads. It's worth time warping & digging back through ancient posts just to find cool stuff!!!

Jay Angler wrote:   Oooohhh... scary buttons - I will check that out and see if the buttons think sufficiently like a dinosaur that I figure I can set them and they'll stay set...

I believe in you, Jay!

I've always preferred open-ended forums. I've seen forums where they strictly required a new thread for anything over a week old. "If it's important enough to reply, it's important enough to start a new thread." What? Then shouldn't each thread consist of nothing but an OP? Why is the week-old thread not deleted, if it is obsolete and not to be used?  It's always seemed more organized to me to have one long thread that spans years of comments on the same topic, so people can learn everything from one thread, or remember what thread some bit of information was in, or print info more easily than having a hundred little threads on the same thing to have to sort through and figure out.

If we were to create a taxonomy of thread types, there are several types:

The Fact and Process Threads:  These are the oldie-goldie information threads -- these seem to be timeless.  A great thread on how to make something or a question on a particular problem (tree related, livestock related, etc.) will aways be relevant.  There are times where I'll go on Google to look for information about something (most recently, making lime plaster) only to find that the best information on the entire internet is right here on Permies.

Momentary Topical Threads:  Then there are those threads that are highly topical to the moment, like Me Too or the upcoming elections or homeschooling kids during this time of Covid.  Those will probably go away and never be heard from again.

Then there are Bouquets.  Silly threads related to something personal (and I'm pointing at you, lovely Pearl, the class clown) are those little moments of lightness and goodness that pop up and then disappear for awhile.  Sometimes they'll be resurrected, but they serve their purpose and then quietly go away.  I think of those threads like a bunch of fresh flowers, brought into the house for a few days or a week, but then lovingly taken out when they've served their purposes.

Philosophy of Permaculture Threads:  Paul starts a lot of these, and they seem to be pretty timeless.  These talk about ethics, finances, communication strategies, interpersonal engagements, and controversial topics.

Rant threads:  These are the opposite of bouquets --- they are little screeds that pop up about something somewhat personal, sometimes political, sometimes personal/family related.  These are most likely to be edited.  They are also a place for support and care by other members of the community.  


One of the things I find humorous is that when a REALLY old thread pops back up, the old names that resurface.  It seems like the policy of "real sounding names" wasn't there during the first days of Permies.  So those early threads have posts by funny sounding people.  I'm glad we have the policy we now have (realistic sounding names), but I chuckle at the sound of some of those old OLD names.

Drew Moffatt

Every post I see has the date and time just below the posters name and always has?

can't see any other format due to lack of pie. I just gave him a random piece of pie because I like him, let's see if it works! If so, buying pie would be a great thing to do!  Click on the link at the top that says PIE and it will tell you how much you have, and there's a link at the bottom to buy more pie!

r ranson wrote:I don't see a problem with reviving old threads.  We favour perennial discussion on permies.

It seems like the current system is working as intended.  

I like that phrase "perennial discussions." I think constant new, short threads about the same topics is reminiscent of the modern disposable society we see more and more these days. That format seems more appropriate to chatrooms or social media sites like facebook. Long, perennial threads from which people can glean knowledge and inspiration for years to come, and add their own little bit of work to here and there, seems more inline with the concept of permaculture to me.

Thanks for that decision.  Sometimes threads that weren't relevant to me years ago become very much so as situations change.  I appreciate getting to see them.

Flora Eerschay wrote:
Or, the threads could remain open but with some pop-up warning "you're replying to a thread that was started 10 years ago"?

I like the idea of a warning message. But don't base it on the date the thread was started. Some, like the Jokes thread, were started years ago but have been active the entire time.

I think it would be better if there were a little message on the page where they type the reply, saying something like "Last reply was on (date). This thread has been inactive for (length of time)."

That way people would know they're replying to a zombie thread, but it wouldn't interfere with the discussion.

Hehe, I couldn't resist making this one, too.

This is one of the many things about permies.com that I've gotten to love. Other discussion fora since the 90s have that unwritten (or sometimes written) rule that old threads are dead and should remain so. I've always thought that to be rather silly. So what if a six year old thread gets resurrected? It still is useful to newer members; plus, if it has valuable information, it's recycled which is a permie virtue. Too much good information gets lost if consigned to the past.

Permies is timeless.

I think it rather amusing to 'bump' this old thread!

I totally forgot that I made this thread! Thank you for bumping it. It brings me fresh joy to read this thread and remember why I love that permies is perennial forum!

I LOVE when someone comes back and gives an update on how things are going. So often on other forums, someone will ask a question and or start a project...and then never give an update. I love that we can go back and add to our old threads. So many of my old threads have become resources that I love to go back and look at how things have changed over time or how a project has gone.

On places like facebook, it's really hard to keep updating a post or connect different posts about a project. Everything is disconnected and hard to search and reference. But, here on permies, it's super easy to find my toilet paper castle, or how I built my kiwi pergola, or how my kids have grown alongside my garden. I love, love, love that.  

Posts here on permies are like my own perennial storage of knowledge and information I've learned. I love being able to easily find old threads where I learned things, and refresh my knowledge, or add to the thread when I learn more.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Posts here on permies are like my own perennial storage of knowledge and information I've learned.

It is the same for me! Permies has replaced my 'blog - with the added advantage that I don't feel I have to present perfect projects here, everyone is learning. If only I can persuade my family to join me here, I could use it for all the 'social media' I need.

Nancy Reading wrote: Permies has replaced my 'blog

I decided to create forums instead of a blog.  So rather than me starting a topic and people comment on it, everybody can start a topic and everybody can comment on it.  And the people replying can do formatting and add pictures and embed videos and stuff.  So a sort of "blog by thousands, and the replies can be just as rich as the first post."