Thread Bumping Guidelines

[Rhade]

I'm seeing threads being bumped at ridiculous rates lately, particularly at low-volume times. Middle of the night, weekends, etc. This needs to stop.

This community is formed by very friendly people offering their expertise and guidance for free. This is not a service where you can arrive and demand an answer - quickly, slowly, or at all. If you want regular, speedy service, then post in the Jobs forum and build a relationship with one of the many contractors who frequent this board.

So before you bump your thread, ask yourself these 2 questions:

- Is my thread still on the first page?
- Has it been less than 12 hours since the last post in my thread?

If the answer to either question is 'Yes', then don't bump your thread.

I have started warning people, and will continue to be generous with warnings. However, if this behavior does not improve, some form of punishment will be used. I'm leaning towards locking threads for 24 hours for abusers.

Exception:

If you are making a good faith effort at attempting to solve your own problem, and discover new information that might increase your chances of getting a solution, then you may feel free to post more often. Here is an example:

Post 1

Statement of problem
Attempt A
--- some code
Attempt B
--- some code

Post 2

Attempt C
--- some code
Attempt D
--- some code

Exception to the exception:

This forum is not your personal development diary. Go make a blog if that's what you want to do. We do not need a running dialog of every little attempt that you have made to solve your problem.

Aim towards making 1 post that shows 3 attempts, rather than 3 posts showing 1 attempt each.

Bump contents

Do try to make your thread bump be useful. Post more information, demonstrate that you are trying, demonstrate that you are willing to do some work. Any of these will increase the likelihood of receiving help.

If your bump consists merely of variations of the following:

Bump
Up
Why hasn't anyone answered this?
900 views and no replies??!
No one can help me?

You are reducing the chances of getting help. You make it seem as though you aren't working on your own problem anymore, and are simply going to wait until someone hands you the solution on a silver platter. Most of the experienced folks here prefer helping someone who is really trying. If you aren't trying, why should we try for you?