Don't chime in very often on site talk, but have to agree, I find the date/time better than the new "how long ago".
Also I don't see anything wrong with newbies commenting on inactive threads...sometimes the best conversations are when a newbie( or any member) questions or adds comments/information to the previous posts. Would not want a time stamp to give the impression to newbies or anyone that an inactive thread shouldn't be used...
Just my thoughts...
