Feedback & Announcements > Is it okay to bump old threads?

[Beautiful Soup]

^ Please make us and yourself a favor... could you stop bumping old threads?!... is from 2004[!]

I suggest if you are interesting in some topic post it as new

Is it bad to bump old threads then?

On another forum I visit, they prefer you to post in previous threads rather than start a new one on an existing topic

Lenny? What do you think? Should we be recycling old threads or would you prefer us to start anew?

[edit by webmaster] I created a new topic from your post and moved it to the appropriate subforum

[Jess]

Although in some ways it makes sense to continue a discussion in the same topic thread, I find it rather confusing when a "new" thread appears and I start to read through it, and I'm sure we had this exact discussion several years ago... plus it can be quite strange to read your own old posts!

(Though it's even more confusing in other fandoms where the state of the story was quite different at the time the topic started - a two-year-old post with people trying to predict what's happening 'next' in the story can make for quite puzzling reading before you notice the dates!)

Personally I'd probably start a new thread with a link to the original one.

[Lenny]

It is okay to bump an old topic if you have something useful to add to the discussion. I prefer having all discussions about a topic in the same place in stead of spread over lots of different threads, because it will cause people to repeat what they already said.

If you have something to say about the topic, but want to start a slightly different discussion, you should create a new topic.
For example: there's a general topic about discussing the pro's and con's of Tim Burton's movie. If you want to discuss the quality of the script, it should go in there. If you want to discuss the similarities of the characters at the engagement party with the characters in Wonderland, it should be a new topic.

However, if your reply is something like "I totally agree with that!", I'd rather have you not posting at all

Examples:
viewtopic.php?p=17183#17183 --> This is okay, as it adds to the discussion
viewtopic.php?p=17216#17216 --> I'd rather not have this, because it is off-topic.
viewtopic.php?p=17164#17164 --> You shouldn't do this. It doesn't add anything to the discussion, so it isn't worth kicking an old topic for.

Jess: you can detect recent replies by looking at the icon before "Posted: [date]". They will be white if you've already read the reply, and orange if it is new. You can also use the 'view posts since last visit' link on the top right of the forum index page.