Bumping vs. New Threads

Okay, people have been recently brining up very old threads, or creating duplicate threads, causing some people to want to kill them either way. The most common responses to these things are:

"STOP BUMPING!!!"

or

"USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION NEXT TIME!!!"

===

These things are both very irritating to post and most probably obnoxious to get as a response, so this issue now has some importance.

===

The issue, in case you haven't picked up yet, is whether it is better to bump an ancient thread, or to create a new one entirely.

===

Keep in mind that people actually may do whatever we think is better (), so choose carefully, and do not critisize them for whatever we have decided is the best.

Cheers!
Afreet

 

[opinion]Dependzors. If the thread is damnfully dead, where everything is resolved, just make a new thread. Although this may sound nonsensical as the new thread might not have connection to the resolved thread, some people still bump old, done threads for minor reasons.

If thread is dead, but still has unfinished discussions, look at how long it is. You bump and old thread, and some new people have to browse through 50 pages to get the idea of the whole thing to avoid getting flamed, so it might not sound really good. You make a new thread, you are suggesting that it doesn't necessarily have to do with the old thread, but it continues one of the topics. [/opinion]

 

The rules are that it is allowed to resurrect an old thread if you are contributing to that thread's original topic (rule 9). In fact it is pretty much expected that you do so. If you revive a thread about sheep with a post about sheep then you are doing the right thing. If you are doing the right thing then ignore the people who say "STOP BUMPING!!!", they are wrong.

Though bumping a thread with spam, something along the lines of "BUMP!", or something unrelated to the thread's topic of conversation is not allowed.

Basically if you make a new thread, and there is a thread for it already, then SP may land you with a link to the other thread, the well known "search function" line, and will lock the new thread you made. Your call.

To answer your question: It is better to revive an old thread then start a new one.

 

I find the search function to be unreliable sometimes...

 

I find the search function to be unreliable sometimes...

Only when you use small or very common words.

 

That could be... I think it failed when I searched for "Enemy Rush" or something...

 

Only when you use small or very common words.

Where that might be unavoidable sometimes. And it doesn't seem to work for "exact phrases" or such.

 

I don't think that there's anything directly wrong with bumping, provided that there is still some relevance left in the discussion and the subject matter has not changed or been rendered irrelevant since the last post, as well as the stuff Freezit said. On the other hand, if a thread has been untouched for 2 years or something then it's really so much easier to just make a new one, especially seeing as
a) The other new members that have joined since that thread was ended probably don't want to read through more than a few pages,
b) The original members in the thread have probably forgotten it anyway, and
c) It digs an old thread out of nowhere and makes the forums look messy.

I know SP doesn't have much tolerance for duplicate threads, but this usually concerns modding/hacking matters that have already been addressed many times. I don't think there's anything wrong with making a new discussion thread a couple of years after the fact, but making a thread to ask a question when there's a perfectly (from my experience <_<) adequate search system isn't only annoying but is a problem on many forums. On the other hand, if the search system doesn't turn up any answers, then there's nothing wrong with asking for something. Hmm...
IDEA: Maybe someone could make one of those all-purpose "ask questions here" threads in the mod and hacking subforums. In my experience they have worked very successfully, and keep thread clutter to an absolute minimum by keeping all questions in one place.

What really ticks me off though is when somebody not only bumps a really old thread but continues on the conversation as though it's still active. I really don't understand what possesses people to do that. If you're going to bump a thread that old you should at least be able to say "O hay seeing as this thread is here already I decided to bump it rather than make a new one".

 

What really ticks me off though is when somebody not only bumps a really old thread but continues on the conversation as though it's still active. I really don't understand what possesses people to do that. If you're going to bump a thread that old you should at least be able to say "O hay seeing as this thread is here already I decided to bump it rather than make a new one".

Exactly! They shouldn't do that. When you restart a thread you must stick to the original topic of discussion, not attempt to continue the one that is already there.

 

What really ticks me off though is when somebody not only bumps a really old thread but continues on the conversation as though it's still active. I really don't understand what possesses people to do that. If you're going to bump a thread that old you should at least be able to say "O hay seeing as this thread is here already I decided to bump it rather than make a new one".

Sometimes this is because they didn't realize it was such an old thread. If they've only just read it, then to them it is as if the conversation just happened. I've done that occasionally – posting in old threads without realizing how old they are. (Not on this board, I think.)

 

I'd say bumping old threads could be worth a try. Especially if you have some question for the authors of the old thread
Just be like, I know this an old thread but, I'm curious about what you said here...

Or if you just want to keep chatting about the same topic but ignore what previous people have said just start a new topic

 

It is rather better to post about everything related to a one topic than creating a new topic.