Can someone explain bumping and the proper etiquette regarding it?

[Rickocaster]

If I understand bumping, it is the practice of posting a reply to a topic.  What does it mean when someone says, "bumped up" or "bumped up a notch"?  What does "thanks for the bump" mean?  Which list does a topic appear higher in when it has a lot of replies?

And what is bad manners when it comes to bumping?  Am I a shameless self-promoter if I reply with "thanks" when someone writes something nice?

I just want play nice in this forum. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

[SteveG]

Replying to a post "Bumps" it to the top of the list, so it should get more views / replies. If you are digging through the archives and find something cool, by all means bump it for others to hear too.
As for thanking ppl for comments, that is being polite, not shameless IMO.

[OsCKilO]

Then there is always          Response anxiety   .......

[Bluesberry]

Bump away I say.  I have heard many a wonderful song that I didn't hear before because of someone bumping it up.

As for posting a thanks on one of your own songs, well, there is a whole set of rules on that:

• You have to wait until there are at least three posts first.
• You have to wait at least 2 hours
• You have to have logged out of the site at least once before the "thanks" post
• You have to have eaten a meal of some sort first, preferably some protein
• You have to be sipping a beverage of some sort while posting
• you have to have a tinfoil hat on your head during the posting

Thats it really, pretty simple.   

Bump away people, bump away.

[OsCKilO]

This Bumping session has been officially opened by Sir Bump-alot himself!

[Migs]

Bump away I say.  I have heard many a wonderful song that I didn't hear before because of someone bumping it up.

Exactly !  In fact I am now going to dig up and bump one of Witchita's songs that I was listening to this morning cos I have a question about it.

[launched]

Bump away I say.  I have heard many a wonderful song that I didn't hear before because of someone bumping it up.

As for posting a thanks on one of your own songs, well, there is a whole set of rules on that:

• You have to wait until there are at least three posts first.
• You have to wait at least 2 hours
• You have to have logged out of the site at least once before the "thanks" post
• You have to have eaten a meal of some sort first, preferably some protein
• You have to be sipping a beverage of some sort while posting
• you have to have a tinfoil hat on your head during the posting

Thats it really, pretty simple.   

Bump away people, bump away.

Ha! That's great, Dave - Some of that crap I've put up would not be possible without a little liquid courage!

T, I also suffer from response anxiety. And, "The damn things been on page one for too long anxiety" Especially if they are certain particular songs...

I think we should do whatever we want because this site is about having fun first!! Uh oh! I feel like hijacking a post now!!

[64Guitars]

If I understand bumping, it is the practice of posting a reply to a topic.  What does it mean when someone says, "bumped up" or "bumped up a notch"?  What does "thanks for the bump" mean?

The site keeps track of which topics you've read and which you haven't. Many members deal with the huge volume of messages here by only looking at topics that contain unread messages. You can do this by clicking on "Show unread posts since last visit" at the top of each page to the right of your avatar. Or, you can bookmark the following link to "View ALL unread topics sorted in ascending order by date of last post".

Topics tend to become inactive after a while. If there are no new messages in a topic, it will be excluded from your list of unread messages. Bumping is when you reply to an inactive topic, making it active again because your new message causes the topic to appear in everyone's list of unread topics.

Which list does a topic appear higher in when it has a lot of replies?

It's not a competition, so there's no ranking system for topics. All topics in all boards have equal ranking, regardless of the number of replies. However, topics with no new messages tend to fall off the radar of those members who only view unread messages. Bumping puts those older topics back on their radar.

Bumping is seen as a useful service by many members because it brings some great music to the attention of some members who might not have heard it otherwise. However, there is also a downside to bumping. Many members find it extremely difficult to keep up with the high volume of new posts here and bumping makes matters worse. So, if you read an old, inactive topic and want to post a reply, by all means feel free to do so. But it's probably not a good idea to go on a mad bumping spree. That will swamp everyone with unread messages from topics that they've probably already read.

[Wiley]

Could the adminst. possible or you put a bumping category on here. Then we wouldn't get so bogged down. It does get confusing at times.  And I have heard many great posts that have been bumped.  But it does tend to swamp us sometimes.

[Rickocaster]

Thanks everyone. What I'm taking away from this is:

1. be conservative with mindless replies so it doesn't clutter the lists of unread messages

2. dig deep for some cool music that might have fallen off the radar and bump it back into the spotlight for others to enjoy

3. pull the tinfoil hat out of the back of my closet

Rick