Bumping of Old Threads

[jay611]

Please do not bump old threads as they push the new ones down, and onto other pages causing members to have to search through the old topics to find the newer ones.

What is considered and old thread? if it hasn't been replied to in over a month, it is an old thread.

How can I ask my question without bumping the thread? Start a new one.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Jason Underwood
Newport News, Virginia
CSX Peninsula Sub MP.16
Jay611@cox.net
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href="http://railsintheeast.tripod.com/"]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/BCR2014/rnte2.jpg[/a]

[pstraten]

Thanks, Jason.

I don't mind a month old, but a year or two or more is getting routine anymore. If you just have to let everyone know everything, you can always just add a link to the thread that sparked your question.



PaulS

[John 136 6000 GO]

It's quite a while since I've visited here, let alone posted a comment.

Back some time ago, when I was a regular reader and sometimes posting, there was a phenomenon whereby someone would move a thread up the priorities by simply posting the one word "Bump" - sometimes it was just the heading, with no body.

While this may be tolerable if done to a topic which has had no reply for a few days (especially if no replies at all have been posted to the original question), I would certainly think it amiss to be doing this to threads that are several weeks old.

On the other hand, if the person who is reviving an old thread is doing so by adding to it, then this may be OK. As has been mentioned by others, it is also possile to simply start a new thread with a link to the old one. My feeling is that which precedure is to be prefered is really a matter of context.

Cheers to all

John

[AZ Rail Rat]

Log me in to agree with those who DISAGREE with the stated "bump" policy. By the time I joined some two years ago last month, this forum was going strong. Not sure what the post count was then, I think somewhere pushing 100K, and now it is pushing if not exceeding 200K. Sorry gang, I just did not have time to read through ALL those posts.

I relied on just reading new posts and was very glad when some old subjects got brought up. Sorry, but I don't see how starting a new thread on an old subject can transfer the knowledge from that old thread.

My sympathies to those (moderators) who have to organize what sometimes seems like a mess, but that's one of the tasks you volunteered for. Starting new threads? Seems like all that does is split large boxes into smaller boxes and opens up lots of duplication.

One possible solution would be to allow people who started threads to delete them. How many out there are just "Hey, how are you?" or "Is SOANDSO still here?" I, for one, would take time to go through topics I started and delete any that no longer have any social redeeming qualities.

I would, that is, if I could find a "List all posts by" button like other forums have.

[Kenny1234]

I dont understand the act of penalizing those who come late to a thread for whatever reason. Reasons could be someone took a break, had other life priorities for a bit, or they just now have gotten into new things like route building and are needing further clarification on old subjects...

If there are people who live on here and who object to the "trouble" of new questions on out-of-date content, may I suggest that they GET A LIFE and shut off the computer for a bit. There seems to be a few people on here who hit the refresh button every 15 seconds who are the cause of all the conundrum.

[geode]

I think that more to the point here, would be better to put more emphasis on people putting more thought into writing in the SUBJECT line something significant to the point of the thread. I see about one out of five that do that. It would make for searching for a solution to a problem much easier.
I started reading this forum a year ago when I started simming, and have read many many of the older threads. Don't know how many threads I overlooked because of subjects stating things NOT related to the subject. And the problem of not being able to search by thread number. I gave up after reading hundreds and it taking too long to get to the the place I left off the day before. To search that way got to be a pain because you can move only three pages at a time and to toggle a couple hundred pages to get to where I wanted got progressivly longer as I searched. We could use some more searching options. But to ask some of the guys on this forum to make their subjects more meaningful...well good luck, it has to be spelled right or we'll never find it. Sometimes we find that we have a better answer to a problem discussed some time ago, and go ahead and post (bump it up) because it might be a helpful solution. Anyhow I believe there is no solution to this problem. Asking folks to get smarter, good luck.

George