I'm concerned that we are not giving as friendly a response to new posters as we should. I'd like to suggest:
1. It's scary to post on a new board for the first time. Everyone seems to know each other and you're new. It's even more scary when you're talking about something that is very personal that you haven't talked about to anyone else before. A friendly response is therefore very important.
2. As I've said before, the main purpose of this board isn't to provide a cosy home to old regulars, but to provide helpful answers to people with questions. Therefore new, uncertain, posters are what the board is about.
3. Some people have abrasive styles of speaking. Sometimes that is due to nervousness or feeling insecure. Sometimes it is due to other things behind the scenes that we don't know about. (There are some people here with horrific stories.) We should never be quick to take offence.
4. Under this new software, new posters don't get shown the dates of posts unless they make a selection in their preferences that they are nowhere told to make. It's therefore not fair to come down hard on people for re-opening old threads. I think it's something we fuss too much about, and cause more trouble over than it's worth. Either the re-opened thread can be left quietly to die again, or the poster can be politely told that the thread is old and the original poster gone. Occasionally, re-opening the thread may actually prove to be worthwhile.