Recently there’s been a rash of users bumping really, really old threads. “Bumping” is when a user posts in a very old thread, which brings it back up to the top of a particular forum or subforum. Bumping can be rather annoying when it’s done en masse because it can stifle legitimate discussion as newer, “fresh” threads are bumped down for old, recycled threads. Please please, pretty please don’t do this. Even if you believe the ultimate effect is relatively minimal, bumping threads unnecessarily just serves to irk many people. I’ve also seen, though, a rise in users taking it upon themselves to essentially be the “bumping police”. In many cases, this just takes the form of good-faith requests on behalf of the community to stop bumping threads. This is all well and good. Some of it, though, I’ve seen get a little more muddled, and that’s no fun. Users are sometimes telling bumpers that there’s a hard and fast rule (most say one week) where a thread that’s older than that can’t be bumped. This isn’t true. The matter of to bump or not to bump varies in each situation. Sometimes a 3 week old thread may be legitimately bumped with new, relevant information. Sometimes a 4-day old thread may be bumped unnecessarily. It totally varies. I’ve seen users threaten bumpers with reports to the admins and/or bans. Please don’t do this. Most of the time it’s just not merited at all because the user bumping threads is new to the forums and/or to wikiHow in general and they’re just making a tiny netiquette mistake. No big deal. Either way, we can take care of it, and if it’s a particularly chronic or heinous problem you can just message one of us and we will take care of it. Also, not everyone understands that threads can legitimately be bumped, even if they’re long “dead”. If a user bumps a thread that’s a few weeks old to add some relevant link or relevant point, this isn’t completely terrible. Edit: This is going in General Chat because 1) It’ll get visibility with the people that need to see it most 2) It’s not really suited for Village Pump, I feel like.
Stickying this for, like, a day, so it doesn’t get missed.
Thanks Mike! =) June Days
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*Like* :*| People just don’t get it. *sigh*
It’s still stickied. I feel as though netiquette is an ever-changing set of suggestions. In the future, we should take it upon ourselves to explain just why we are irked rather than react with hostility. In fact, perhaps we should also try to be less…offended; the offense is only in our minds, and it may not be the intention of the supposed offender.
Thanks Mike, and ISMKW, I second that!
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To get to the point:Don’t bump threads.
Really? Because technically every time you post on a thread, you are bumping it, no matter how old it is.
Please don’t bump. …What?
She simply said don’t bump threads. She didn’t say don’t bump oldthreads. But even then, that’s still not the point of Metsguy234’s post as she suggests.
That was a joke, but yeah. To recap what Mike said: - It’s easy to irk other users by bumping a zillion-week-old thread - It’s not a good idea to do so all at once - Newer discussions have priority HOWEVER - It’s easy to irk other users by being the bump police - There is no rule as to when a thread “dies” - There is no set guideline to when it is a bad idea to bump a thread - Threatening new users with an admin ban is a punishment unfit to the “crime” of bumping an old thread - If you have relevant information to an old thread, don’tbe afraid to provide it - If you have uselessness for an any-dated thread, even new threads, dobe afraid to provide it
Bump. I know I’m bumping this, but this is important. Also, thought this was an announcement thread… When a thread of yours is no longer posted on, and isn’t going
to be posted on, please don’t request closing - That’s considered bumping and it’s not going to be back up anyway.
June Days
^ I second that. These are all good reminders for everyone, the bumpers and
the bumper police.
