The discussion addresses why only staff members can reply to topics without bumping them to the top of the list. ice.d initiates the thread, suggesting that allowing all users to reply without bumping would be beneficial for providing answers to old topics without resurrecting them unnecessarily. Canapin counters that the restriction exists primarily to prevent vandalism, as hidden replies could contain inappropriate content. ice.d proposes limiting this feature to staff-selected categories, but Canapin questions how this would prevent abuse and notes that bumping serves a valid purpose; they suggest asking a moderator to reset the bump date manually as an alternative. Moin clarifies the current mechanics of the ‘reset bump date’ tool, explaining it is now mostly useful for wiki edits or after deleting spam, as edits and standard replies no longer bump topics automatically. Moin further suggests that ordering topics by creation date, as seen in the #announcements:blog category, might solve the underlying issue. ice.d reiterates their use case: wanting to update a guide or notify an owner without disturbing the forum’s activity flow. Canapin remains unconvinced, arguing the feature offers little real benefit and is unlikely to be implemented. The conversation concludes with ice.d expressing confusion over using flags for non-staff posts, while NateDhaliwal asks for further elaboration on this specific point.
So i noticed you need to be a staff member of a forum in order to reply without changing the bump.
Why is that?
I think mostly that if you noticed a old topic and you realize you have the answer but you dont want to make an old topic from a year ago re-appear at the top of the list i think we all should be able to reply without bumping.
Spanish
Me di cuenta de que es necesario ser miembro de un equipo del foro para responder sin cambiar la fecha de publicación.
¿Por qué?
Creo que, sobre todo si ves un tema antiguo y te das cuenta de que tienes la respuesta, pero no quieres que un tema de hace un año reaparezca al principio de la lista, todos deberíamos poder responder sin tener que cambiar el tema.
How would that prevent vandalism? Would it be like a category restricted for trustworthy people?
Honestly this is very edge case, how often someone wants to reply to a topic but not see bumped, and how often would a bump actually harm the forum’s role as a source of information and discussion? Bumps serve a purpose.
If someone really wants to answer a topic but not bump it, they can still ask a moderator (or admin?) to reset the bump date after they posted.
Possibly or maybe like the post still notifies everyone that a new reply is there but the reply doesnt change the date so that is a way to prevent vandalism
My understanding is: if the last post is 2 months ago, and someone replies today, and staff resets the bump date, the post goes back where it was 2 months ago.
Now, on my test instance, I’ve posted a reply to an old topic, the topic was bumped, I reset the bump date, but the post stays the first on the topic list.
I might be missing something. I’ve used the reset bump date many times in the past and I don’t understand why my post doesn’t go back where it was previously. If someone knows something about this…
That’s because the most recent reply defines the bump date. Reset bump date was helpful when, for example, you deleted a spam post, because then it allowed you to reset the date to the one of the last post after the spam post was deleted. But now the date is reset automatically on post deletion. It was also helpful for minor edits that bumped the topic, where you could reset the date to the date when the post was created, but edits no longer bump topics.
Reset bump date still works, for example, when the first post is a wiki and a wiki edit bumps the topic. Then you can reset the date to the one of the last reply.
@ice.d what problem do you want to solve with replies not bumping the topic? Why do you want users to be able to reply without others noticing? Maybe a topic list ordered by date of post creation would solve your problem.
It’s used in the #announcements:blog category here on Meta.
This is what you see when you visit that category:
Because for example on sweezy.community i found a post i no one has been on for sometime and i want to reply but its been a few months so i dont want to bump it essentially.
On my forum let’s say there is a guide i want to let the owner know of something on the topic that everyone should see i want to be able to reply without re-bumping the topic
From your examples that still seems rather unnecessary.
I don’t really think that replying without bumping the topic will have any real benefit for anyone.
If a reply to a topic bothers of annoys other members, the problem is probably the content posted, not the bump itself…
Anyway, there’s no way to do this and it probably won’t change if no one else is interested in the feature.
True but im sure a time will arise I.E a small edit to the post for the author but you dont want to make it re-appear just so that people know of the edit if admins dont allow DMS or chat
