Bumping up ancient threads. Is it a bad thing?

Stufrog

I was told I bumped up a thread today by an older user. I'm a new user. Is that patronising me? Even worse, the thread was called 'ancient'. Do I detect a hint of patronage in that statement or not?
Just because a thread is old is it such a bad thing that I missed the original thread? It's hardly a party that ended 5 mins ago.:D
The thread is still live on the web therefore it's still available.

If it not available, the Mods should remove old content.:T

Browntoa

afraid its normally the form for SEO/keyword spammers to bump old relevant threads , or for spammers to "hide" their posts in what seems like a genuine thread

some of our more cynical forum members may have incorrectly thought thats what you were up to , ignore it and carry on posting

pogofish

The Parking Tickets forum suffers from this very badly and yes, bumping is a bad thing there as POFA 2012 changed the landscape considerably and the current approach is continually changing/evolving in the light of new approaches to appeals and challenges.

So anyone bumping a thread can put old/outdated/superceeded info back to the top of the board, confusing matters for other posters who are often already confused and often in a bit of a panic, or they can post on threads that may seem superficially similar but are quite different when you get down to the facts for their individual case and confuse the advice ongoing for other posters - or they simply get missed.

They also often hook-into the wrong advice, which could kill their chance of a successful challenge stone dead, costing them considerable amounts of money or at worst, landing them with a potential court case. - so bumping is really unhelpful for everyone.

Then there are the guys who can't even read and post on totally unrelated threads!

And lastly OP - As part of your signup, you indicated that you had read and accepted a number of conditions, including a clear and explicit no-bumping condition. So why are you bumping your gums about it now?

NeverInDebt

You bumped up a oldish thread about energy price comparison sites and it particular mentioned business yet your homepage in your profile is a business energy price comparison site is it not? So you do have a interest in this field.

Also why should old thread be closed down the reason many old threads do get posted in is prime example what you did today as the Poster has a business interest in this topic

You seem to post more than a passing comment in this topic of comparison sites too

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62904164&postcount=17

I wanted to help Tight Scot out (the poster of this thread) as they were looking for a business energy comparison site. I know one but was told I'm not allowed to post brands in the forums because I'm a newbie.

StewThom wrote: »

I was told I bumped up a thread today by an older user. I'm a new user. Is that patronising me? Even worse, the thread was called 'ancient'. Do I detect a hint of patronage in that statement or not?
Just because a thread is old is it such a bad thing that I missed the original thread? It's hardly a party that ended 5 mins ago.:D
The thread is still live on the web therefore it's still available.

If it not available, the Mods should remove old content.:T

Sparhawke

I personally dislike necro-posting but I know it goes on. The reason is at least on this forum that nothing is ever deleted for legal reasons; if you bump a thread that has been dead for years all the original posters have likely moved on and it isn't even relevent any more adding to the possibility that newer threads might be prematurely killed off.

I personally think there are a lot of dead stickys around that could be buried, merged or updated, but that is not my call.

If a topic has not had a response in years unless it has been designated an official topic I think it is better to make a brand new one.

If a post has been dead for five years how can you possibly think it has any relevance? (Only an idiot, someone completely ignorant or a spammer could)

jamesd

StewThom wrote: »

I was told I bumped up a thread today by an older user. I'm a new user. Is that patronising me? Even worse, the thread was called 'ancient'. Do I detect a hint of patronage in that statement or not?

The old user probably did it because they thought that you were seeking patronage.

robatwork

And the answer is.... "it depends".

If it's one of the old threads about a shoddy/scamming company that often appears on the praise/consumer forums, then it's completely relevant and useful to put an update on the original thread. For example "I was also scammed by ABC builders and we are going to court".

Otherwise it's clearly right to start your own thread rather than hijack an existing old one just because it appears in a google search. Or if it's about Subway.

mjm3346

Browntoa wrote: »

afraid its normally the form for SEO/keyword spammers to bump old relevant threads , or for spammers to "hide" their posts in what seems like a genuine thread

some of our more cynical forum members may have incorrectly thought thats what you were up to , ignore it and carry on posting

By the looks of it they were totally correct, check the old topic bumped and the OPs home page.

Stufrog

Browntoa wrote: »

afraid its normally the form for SEO/keyword spammers to bump old relevant threads , or for spammers to "hide" their posts in what seems like a genuine thread

some of our more cynical forum members may have incorrectly thought thats what you were up to , ignore it and carry on posting

:T I will thanks. Just to confirm. I am not a spammer. I am a human being. I am not a robot.

I am looking for great deals and prefer nothing more than watching big companies get caught out and fined for nefarious business practice. If here's where I can do it and keep my finger on the pulse: Excellant

Tiddlywinks

Resurrecting old threads is annoying...

The number of times I have started reading a thread only to realise after a couple of pages that it was years old... very frustrating.

You shouldn't have to check dates at the top of the posts all the time... people should exercise common sense. Do they really think people want to wade though loads of old content to get to a new post which says "this happened to me too" or something similar?

mjm3346

Don't know why old threads are not automatically locked after a few months without any posts.
Anyone can start a new thread and include a link to the old one if they need to.