The discussion revolves around a proposed enhancement to the bumping functionality in Discourse, specifically for topics with zero replies. Bas suggests adding an option to bump topics that have no replies but are not closed, which could help re-surface unanswered questions on busy forums. EricGT questions the utility of bumping topics where the original poster (OP) hasn’t been active in years, noting that such topics may be better closed. sam proposes that this feature could be implemented via the automation plugin, allowing for more complex rules. Bas clarifies that the current automation system lacks the necessary trigger, but ToddZ points out that a “Stalled topic” trigger already exists, which could be used for this purpose. The conversation highlights the need for a more nuanced bumping system that considers user activity and topic relevance.
Suggested improvement for the bump functionality
On busy forums (~50+ topics per day), it can be good to re-surface questions that haven’t received any reply after a period of time.
This is similar to the existing bumping functionality, which looks at “unanswered (= without an accepted answer), non-closed” topics.
This proposed change would instead offer an option to only look for “no replies, non-closed” instead.
Hi Bas
Was this recently implemented on the OpenAI forum?
I ask because these are being noticed, flagged, reviewed and often closed.
I think bumping was recently turned on indeed, but that is the original, before this proposed change.
Thanks
Sorry to say but you are now on my usual suspects list for things like this on OpenAI in a good way. It is that your background, what you do at Discourse and your access all converged as evidence on this one. 
Take care,
Eric
Also consider this.
If the topic is a question seeking an answer, then has the OP visited the site in the last 30 days and if a solution has been checked for a reply.
As OpenAI category API is currently set to bump several topics a day many are getting flagged by users so that moderators can decide to close them if needed. In checking one such flag a few minutes ago for a question topic also checked the last visit of the OP which was over 2 years ago and no reply was marked as a solution. As the OP will most not likely not care at this point, is there any benefit to such a topic being bumped?
I find it kind of hard to explain, I guess the proposal is to add to:
Only bump topics with zero replies
However, this then just opens up the door to the “sometimes I want X and sometimes I want Y” problem. (eg: no reply bump 3 a day, any reply - as soon as one year old and unclosed - bump 2 a day)
I feel this is a good fit for the automation plugin, we can allow for complex rules in that case which can catch edge cases like this, plus we would allow stacking.
Automation would work yes!
If I understand things correctly, then it cannot do it in it’s current state though, right?
So we’d need to add either a trigger (“no replies after x hours”) or an action script (“check for replies after x hours”)?
Here is an example on this site were the topic was automatically bumped then closed by a moderator+.
That would be great!
Just noting that Discourse Automation has this trigger now:
Stalled topic: Triggers when a topic has not received replies after a certain time
