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The fastest way to get a thread to be at the top of the list is to post to it. However, there is a big caveat: bumping just to be "top dog" is frowned upon - a post should have something meaningful to it.
The one permissable reason for bumping "just to" is if you have a plant, pest or disease that you really need to have ID'd. When the ID forum is busy (it usually is), things can slide down the page pretty fast. It's acceptable to bump an ID request when a few days or weeks have past without any activity - sometimes it will bring it to the surface at the right time for some fresh eyes to take a look.
What does "bump" mean? I was reading a very long thread and "bump" appeared several times as an posting by itself. It appeared to be a bad thing, indicating that the thread had veered from it's original topic, but it didn't really stop, or change anything, so I couldn't tell what the meaning was from the entries and they continued as they had.
"Bump" just means that someone wanted to push (or "bump") that thread to the top of the list. Since most forums (including ours) list threads in order of most-recent-posts to oldest posts, most threads eventually "slide" down (and off) the page. If someone posts to a thread, no matter how much time has elapsed since the last post, it will immediately return it to the top of the list, where it's more likely to get noticed.
It's considered "bad form" if you keep bumping a thread just to keep it on top. It's like someone interrupting your conversation, even though they don't have anything to say after they get your attention ;o)
Just wondering Terry, is it considered acceptable to bump a thread for someone who is looking for a thread or an answer that you saw on another thread for them to see it? My guess is you would recomment doing a link instead... I need to read up on how to do that on DG. :)
A link is fine, and probably better than bumping since otherwise you still have to take the additional step of letting the other person know where this post is. If they (and/or others) click on the link, they have the option of posting a followup, which gets the thread "back in circulation" anyway. Let me know if you need help finding the "how-to-link" info.
The one time I (personal opinion here) think it's perfectly acceptable to bump a post is when you have a plant/pest/disease you're needing an ID for, and your thread has slipped down or off the page. It makes perfect sense to occasionally bump it back up for fresh eyes to take a look at. (It's kind of like showing a picture of a lost pet to different groups of people, hoping at some point somebody will say they've seen it.)
Terry, you said (four years ago...) the following:
"The one time I (personal opinion here) think it's perfectly acceptable to bump a post is when you have a plant/pest/disease you're needing an ID for, and your thread has slipped down or off the page. It makes perfect sense to occasionally bump it back up for fresh eyes to take a look at. (It's kind of like showing a picture of a lost pet to different groups of people, hoping at some point somebody will say they've seen it.)"
What about if you're trying to get a new forum started and have posted a notice in the "Dave's Garden" forum. (Am I right that this is the method to use?) Probably people don't go there frequently. What about bumping the "new forum" note every week or two?
I don't think it's a question of time, it's really about how far it's fallen down the page. I've seen days on the Plant ID forum where that can happen within a few hours, but on a forum where there aren't that many new threads being started then it could be months before it would slide down far enough that people would have to scroll far to see it.
In the case of las's delphinium forum request, it's still up near the top so personally I wouldn't suggest bumping it at this point, people can easily see it without scrolling.
On your medicinal plants request, I think there were enough people already who expressed interest, it was just a matter of starting some threads on the herb forum to show that there was going to be enough sustained interest in the subject. So if your thought was to bump up your thread in the DG forum to try and get more people to express support there I don't think that's really necessary, the most important thing is to get threads going in the herb forum. But if you've got a bunch of threads going in the herb forum that have been going strong for a while now and you want Dave & Terry to take another look at creating the medicinal plant forum, then you could bump it up and mention that you've got a lot of threads going and ask if they'll go over and take a look.
No, medicinal plant forum on DG has been closed. I was thinking that I bumped one of my MED: threads because it hadn't gotten an answer after a couple days. There are also some others I'd like to keep in circulation (like that one that talks about using raspberry leaf tea for cramps, because I think that there are still people out there who would be interested, but haven't seen it yet) or that I haven't gotten the answer I need yet. But I think that's a decent answer, if it has slipped to the point I have trouble finding it, it is probably ok to bump it.
I don't think it's off the table - I think everyone is waiting to see if there's enough interest (in the form of threads in the Herbs forum) to warrant a separate forum.
Quoted:
if it has slipped to the point I have trouble finding it, it is probably ok to bump it.
That's true IF you're still waiting on an answer and it's a somewhat urgent question. But just to clarify - it's not okay to bump a thread just so it stays on your own personal "radar screen" - that's what the thread watcher and tags are for. (I don't think that's what you're suggesting, but someone may read it and misinterpret it that way.)
Terry - I was just talking about the specific thread "Medicinal Plants Forum?" in Dave's Garden Forum. I think a lot of interest has been shown in Herbs Forum, I hope a Medical Plants Forum will come about.
I agree that a tag is better to keep track of a post for yourself; but is it acceptable to bump a thread up if you think there might be interest in it by new people; even if there is no question to be answered?
On the second one, I'd say probably not - if someone posts a question and you know it's been answered in a past thread, you can always give them a link to it. If they have anything new to add to the previous discussion, they can post an update, which will them bump up the thread.
