Hi - Just wondering. I know that appending an old thread to bring it to additional notice is NOT on, but before I make a prannie of myself...will the same thing happen if I EDIT an Original Post from some way back? Reason: I changed my story and reposted it later in the thread, but people seem to miss there the newer version, and keep responding to my old one instead. I'd love to be able to put a notification in, at the start of my original post, to let people know there is a corrected version of my story later on—but I don't want to do this if it will result in thread-bumping.
Thread-bumping hasn't been well defined. The rule against thread-bumping exists to prevent people from promoting their own threads after the discussion has been pretty much exhausted. It basically consists of just saying "bump" so that the thread appears at the top of the new posts list. It's perfectly okay to comment on old threads, though, if you're saying something new. Otherwise, we wind up in a ridiculous situation: You want to talk about, say, plot outlining, so you start a new thread about it. People then complain that there are already several old threads on the topic, so don't start a new one. So you comment on an old thread about plot outlining, and people complain that you're bumping an old thread. You can't win, can you? So go ahead and comment on an old thread if you have something of substance to say. Don't just say "bump" though - that's frowned upon. If you've revised your story and appended the revision to your original thread, that's fine. That's asking people to comment on something new. Just don't bump an old thread to ask people to keep commenting on something old. I hope that's clear enough.
Hi Minstrel - No, I think we're talking apples and oranges here. I'm not talking about commenting on an old thread, I'm talking about doing a short edit on the ORIGINAL POST of an old thread I started. I was just going to 'edit' the original post, not comment on it. Would this count as a 'bump' or not? I'm afraid to try, for fear it would. It's a technical question, really. Does an edit count as a bump?
Substantive posts are not thread bumping. Thread bumping is typically along the lines of "Anyone else want to comment?" However, if its obvious someone is just throwing together a trivial post to elevate the thread, the moderators aren't idiots, and will act accordingly. One "clever" member used to repeat points he made in his previous post to try to circumvent the rule. The moderators give the benefit of the doubt in most cases, but they will notice patterns of behavior s well as individual posts. Revisions of writing in the Writing Workshop SHOULD be posted at the end of the thread, not edited in place. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop.
I'm pretty sure that that's what he's doing - my understanding from the OP is that the edit isn't an edit of the story itself, but just appending, "Hey! There's a newer version further down!" to the original, otherwise untouched, post.