Old Threads: How not to bump them up

[BlackChaos]

I've noticed a lot of old threads being bumped up accidentally by some members. Especially new members who might not know their way around the forum as well, but still want to help out.
Also, there's the spammers who are ever vigilant for the quick post count.

Although I support people posting on threads as much as possible and all-round healthy discussions, its one thing to say something on a thread which has been open for discussion and another to say something on a thread which has been dead and abandoned by the OP for more than a three months.

I thought I would help some of the members out by providing a few simple tips and a little nudge in the common sense gland.

Please note that the following guidelines mostly apply to the threads that ask for help or support.

• First and foremost, check out the date the thread was first posted on. If its more than two months old for most threads, thats pretty much it. But in the case of compilations, guides, tutorials, informative posts, etc. the date doesn't really apply. You're free to post any time you want to discuss something related to the OP's post.
  
• Check the date of the last few replies. If you're planning on posting on a thread, its always good to check out the last few replies to check out where the discussion is headed. This gives you the opportunity to map the timeline of the post. If the posts are too wide spread across a few months time, then that probably means the thread is gone.
  
• If you find a thread which you think may possibly be abandoned and doesn't actually have a solution, think it over. If you have the perfect solution for it which you think might benefit the OP or anyone else in a similar predicament, post ahead. Some one in the future might search for such a reply and end up not having to post another thread.
  Problem solved before problem posted.
  
• If the OP has said in the thread that the problem is solved, or if other members have solved the problem for him and the OP acknowledges, refrain from posting unless its really important. This applies mostly to older threads.
  

Not all of you may find these useful, but I think it might just help some one out there. If you take a second to think before posting, you could save your post from going in vain and instead help out some one who actually needs you.


Thanks for reading
BlackChaos