topic Re: Bumping up old threads? in Community Chat

Bumping up old threads?

sugar plum — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:25:22 GMT

I honestly don't understand why this happens.

I'm referring to threads that are 1+ years old.

Why not just start a new thread?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

sunshine45 — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:14:12 GMT

6 months old?

i dont consider that an old thread. i dont think the mods consider that an old thread either. if all of the posts on that thread are still relevant, i dont mind at all.

i do believe that maybe a YEAR of inactivity on a thread i may consider "old."

Re: Bumping up old threads?

GrailSeeker — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:22:16 GMT

This varies between websites. Early on, when I first frequented a forum, we were instructed to do a search and that if something had previously been discussed, please don't start a new thread. These forums had limited server capacity and this helped save space (if I understood correctly).

That's probably all changed now, but when a website loads slowly, I always think there is just too much junk on it for the server.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

sugar plum — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:22:59 GMT

Good point @sunshine45. I edited my OP to reflect that. Thanks.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

Trailrun23 — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:04:23 GMT

There are lots of threads that were started many years ago. Not sure why they just don't delete everything but a more recent time frame.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

dooBdoo — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 23:02:20 GMT

@sugar plum wrote:
I honestly don't understand why this happens.

I'm referring to threads that are 1+ years old.

Why not just start a new thread?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

@sugar plum, I think the reason it happens is that they use the search bar for a topic, they see the list of threads, and they choose one to post on without looking to see the dates on it... and they add a post which bumps it up.

In other cases, they might decide to start a new thread and as they begin typing in the thread title they see the drop-down list of suggestions... and they choose one of those, don't see the thread date, add a post, and up it bumps.

Some posters aren't aware the standards prohibit thread bumping.

It's a common policy on most (perhaps all) moderated forums to disallow bumping threads as it's considered to be problematic to pull up really old discussions that dropped away from activity.

Some of the moderators have explained that if we bump old threads that are inactive for more than a year or so, they will either be locked or deleted (so those that fall at or under that 1-year limit are probably okay) but some posters aren't aware of this.

I think it's good to mention it now and then for those newer posters who aren't aware, so thanks for this thread!😊

Re: Bumping up old threads?

dooBdoo — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:36:19 GMT

@GrailSeeker wrote:
This varies between websites. Early on, when I first frequented a forum, we were instructed to do a search and that if something had previously been discussed, please don't start a new thread. These forums had limited server capacity and this helped save space (if I understood correctly).

That's probably all changed now, but when a website loads slowly, I always think there is just too much junk on it for the server.

This wouldn't be the case with more modern technology, for most large venues today, @GrailSeeker. I think if you look at the posting policies for sites, most if not all of them now include the admonition against bumping (some call it necroposting).

Re: Bumping up old threads?

Icegoddess — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:42:09 GMT

A lot of times it's trolls. I saw one the other day that was started in 2015 and all of the posts except the last post was in 2015. The last post had nothing to do with the topic of discussion.

It seems there is a lot of bumping of old threads around the Christmas/New Years break too. Guess bored people having a little fun although I don't see what fun they would get out of it.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

dooBdoo — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:55:38 GMT

@Trailrun23 wrote:
There are lots of threads that were started many years ago. Not sure why they just don't delete everything but a more recent time frame.

@Trailrun23,

They keep the old threads for the information we might want to find... but if we bump them we end up losing that historical info on the threads since they'll be deleted (or might be locked).

For that reason, if we think a very old thread is worth preserving it's better not to bump it in case that would result in getting it deleted.

It's an easy programming process to loop through old threads and find the ones deemed too old for additional posts and lock them so they wouldn't be bumped -- it's basic programming 101 and would take no time to accomplish -- but the Q purchased a "canned" prepackaged platform for the Community created and managed by another company, it has few "bells and whistles," and they've said before they don't plan to make any changes to it.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

dooBdoo — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 22:45:13 GMT

@Icegoddess wrote:
A lot of times it's trolls. I saw one the other day that was started in 2015 and all of the posts except the last post was in 2015. The last post had nothing to do with the topic of discussion.

It seems there is a lot of bumping of old threads around the Christmas/New Years break too. Guess bored people having a little fun although I don't see what fun they would get out of it.

Good point, @Icegoddess!

Re: Bumping up old threads?

Mz iMac — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:04:51 GMT

Re: Bumping up old threads?

Lisa now in AZ — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:41:35 GMT

I think that, while it might be trolls, it may also be new posters who would have no idea about looking at dates. They type in something they want to talk about, see the thread, and jump in. I know I was guilty of that when I first started posting here.

I think threads should automatically lock after a certain period - maybe 6- 9 months of no activity. The thread can still stay, but shouldn't be open for new posts. But, that would take some IT knowledge, however limited, and QVC does not have that for this board.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

ECBG — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:52:14 GMT

If you start a thread, a pop up appears with old related threads. I guess they find someone one asked almost the same question.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

RedTop — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 01:12:32 GMT

What I've noticed is that bumped threads are usually a new poster. I take it they have read thru pages and pages until they find a thread they connect with and ad a post. Once it bumps up, an older poster ads to it without realizing it's an old post.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

chrystaltree — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 01:17:31 GMT

I don't know why people resurrect dead threads. I don't know why people are searching through old posts. I agree. Why not start a new thread. I think a new thread would get more responses.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

Mz iMac — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 01:19:29 GMT

@Lisa now in AZ There are a lot of "Locked" posts on this message board. Some are in the Suggestion Box forum area if you care to look.

Re: Bumping up old threads?

sugar plum — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 03:39:12 GMT

Many thanks to everyone who responded! 💙

So many great perspectives, thoughts, and explanations which have given me and I'm sure others a broader view of why bumping occurs.

Have a great evening all! 🙂

Re: Bumping up old threads?

AngelPuppy1 — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 10:36:51 GMT

I'm not up with all of these terms like bumping, etc.! I try to look at a few pages to see if something has already been started if I want to start a new topic. Once in awhile I will do a search but at times I feel like I don't want to spend a lot of time doing these things. I don't see that it makes a difference if a post that has a bit of history is added to.