I don’t know if people will think this a good idea, or I don’t know if it’s even possible, but I got a new forum category idea. Imagine you just discovered the forums. You started to comment on many threads, then you commented on a thread where the last post was 10 weeks ago. Then an admin will come on the thread and tell you DON’T BUMP OLD THREADS!!!and will close it. You will probably feel discouraged, sad/angry, you might even want to quit, and you might be embarrassed. To keep that from happening, there should be a category where an admin (if it’s possible it can get moved automatically) can move a discussion that died out a week ago to that category. Who likes that idea?
This might be a good idea, but couldn’t (if possible) an admin just send you an email via wikiHow asking you not to? I agree, if is upsetting and embarrassing, especially if you were not the original bumper. Maybe a slightly kinder template, or wikiHow email?
Like: Hello, hon, I noticed you just bumped an old thread. Please don’t do that. I will give you a Cherry Pepsi and a Danish and lets talk about bumping. It makes the newer discussions go down. So please don’t do that. Here’s a coat for your journey to the forums. Thanks!
I think older thread categories would be better :] ;p
I think
that right now, it’s moved to general chat.
What if it’s a popular forum game or thread that the bumper had input (like," I think this idea is good/bad/whatever because…")
A week is a little short amount of time to move threads, don’t you think?
I saw someone bump a week old thread and an admin told the bumper not to bump old threads. So a week would be fine.
4 days ago? Now, now, JKL, you shouldn’t bump old threads.
Honestly, the system is fine right now. And in a previous thread I heard everyone (not just admins!) are not going to be as harsh about bumping old threads.
system
11
Bumping old threads is a little mistake some newcomers to the forums may make, but honestly, it’s just what it is: a mistake. I don’t see that it’s all that big of a deal. My favorite bumping moment? http://forums.wikihow.com/discussion/538/please-dont-bump-old-threads-in-gc./#Item_7
system
12
Hey, this is a reasonable idea. It can be confusing to new members and readers of the forums when this happens, even if we have gotten gentler about it. I don’t think we need to create a new category though. I recently discovered I can archive discussions from before a certain date, which closes them so that they cannot be commented on. This would not involve creating a new forum category. @JKL1234
since this is a spinoff of your idea, but I would like more community feedback on this idea, can you start a new Village Pump thread? Something like “Should old discussions be archived?” Explain that I can close threads that are before a certain date, and ask how often I should do this. For example, today I can archive all the threads from before 7/10/11 (a month ago). Personally I think one month or two months is good but would like to see more feedback.
Oliver
13
If the archiving still lets admins re-open threads that could need continued discussion (such as those in bug reports), I think 2 months would be a good timeframe.
Lojjik
14
Seems to be a reasonable idea, with a category called ‘Archives’
There’s a reason it’s frowned upon to bump old threads willy-nilly. If someone bumps a couple of threads from, say, last month, newer threads can be dropped in the thread ordering, possibly bumping them off of the forum homepage. Many people respond mostly to the threads on the homepage (because they’ll be there when they’re the newest, or the most recently updated) and so bumping something relevant and time-sensitive “below the fray” can be problematic.
