What's with the old threads popping up in "New and Unread"?

Seems to be one every time I look.
“New and Unread” section is just below whatever thread I happen to be reading. Helps find new and/or unread threads that have recent posts.
So, what up?

Example: this random one just showed up:
Questions from High School student

General topics

Is it the usual phenomenon of bot comments bumping up zombie threads before their spam gets deleted?

No, because there is no new bot post. Even that one above was last posted in April 2024 or something like that.

I usually browse using “Latest”. I just checked the New/Unread, and I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary. That thread isn’t showing for me in Latest, New, or Unread, at least not within the first couple of mouse wheel scrolls.

Seen just now, under this thread:

|Gaetz report to be released

Political Topics|5|69|Dec 2024|

Nothing here.

Screen grabs within



Recent one:

|Doge has died!

General|0|82|May 2024|

If I get a non-new, non-unread thread at the bottom, as far as I can tell it’s always within the same category as the existing one. So I see this link (Offline for a few at some point - #3 by SpaceLobster) in this thread because they both are within Site Feedback.

No, this does not answer your question, but it is additional info. Maybe “New & Unread” is short for “… & Similar Topics”.