Don't bump topics unless it is 48 HOURS and not on first or SECOND page

SMG4fan7236

Many Scratchers have been following this rule before: Don't bump topics unless it is 24 hours or not on first page.

However, this post by Za-Chary improved it a little and was implemented:

Za-Chary wrote:
Interestingly enough, none of the stickies in the Suggestions forums describe how to properly bump a topic to the first page. It is generally agreed upon that you should only bump a topic once every 24 hours, OR if the topic is no longer on the first page. My suggestion is to change the OR to an AND.

I, and some other Scratchers I've seen, are getting a little annoyed at users who bump topics many times within a 24-hour period. The reason these topics are getting bumped this often is because they keep moving off the first page, even when 24 hours haven't passed. This causes some users to get frustrated that certain topics are trying to get attention, even when no one appears to be interested in discussing the suggestion.

This is especially troublesome with the recent rise in forum activity due to the recent quarantine. In essence, I think forum topics should only be bumped after 24 hours — one bump per day should be enough. But of course there's no reason to bump a forum topic that's on the first page, so we should make sure the forum post is not on the first page as well, before bumping it.

To summarize, my suggestion is:
Only bump forum topics when 24 hours have passed since the last reply, AND the topic is no longer on the first page of the forum. In addition, this rule should be added to a sticky in the Suggestions forum, for clarification.

But I just don't think it was improved quite enough, as some Scratchers are still getting annoyed with all these bumps every day, especially with many stickies and forum posts in one category. To improve it even further, I would like to suggest changing 24 hours to 48 hours, and not on first page to not on first, NOR SECOND page as well. One bump per two days; good enough, and I see no point of bumping in the second page, as bumping there can clutter up the forums.

To summarize, my suggestion is:

Only bump forum topics when 48 HOURS have passed since the last reply, AND the topic is no longer on the first page OR SECOND PAGE of the forum. In addition, this rule should be added to a sticky in the Suggestions forum, for clarification.

What do you think of this rule I suggested?

Last edited by SMG4fan7236 (Oct. 20, 2025 13:34:21)

Imtwentytenth

I’ll probably stick with the old one, 48 hours seems to much.
No support.

SMG4fan7236

Imtwentytenth wrote:
I’ll probably stick with the old one, 48 hours seems to much.
No support.

One bump per 24 hours can cause spamming and cluttering, while 48 HOURS can improve it.

IloveRoblox003

SMG4fan7236 wrote:
Imtwentytenth wrote:
I’ll probably stick with the old one, 48 hours seems to much.
No support.
One bump per 24 hours can cause spamming and cluttering, while 48 HOURS can improve it.

No support, the reason why there would be a lot of spam would be that they are either new to the forums or are a spambot.

Also, not a lot of people check the second page of the forums.

Last edited by IloveRoblox003 (Oct. 20, 2025 15:32:50)

mingo-gag

48 hours equal 2 days

24 hours equals a day

I don't see why we should do this

cambegonefr

To be fair, the original rule was never a written in stone rule of the forum by the Scratch Team (correct me if I'm wrong), it was just a simple rule/forum netiquette that most users followed.

jmb1293634

I don't really care about the 48 hours but I don't think many people check the second page

FreshTheCat

… you do realize that there are some annoying scratchers on the forums who don't even wait 24 hours, what makes you think they'll wait 48?
I've actually seen someone bump a post (that wasn't even theirs) multiple times a day to keep it as the first topic, not even just on the front page

MagicCoder330

there never was a hard rule on bumping. From what I have heard (I remember a mod quote but I can't get ocular to work) as long as you aren't being egregious with the bumps it is okay, even if it is less then 24 hours.

Increasing it to 48 hours and off the second page is definitely not the way to go based off this. I currently find the system satisfactory - if you bump something it usually gets discussion, other topics being discussed on get discussed just as well too.

lfg30700

MagicCoder330 wrote:
there never was a hard rule on bumping. From what I have heard (I remember a mod quote but I can't get ocular to work) as long as you aren't being egregious with the bumps it is okay, even if it is less then 24 hours.

Increasing it to 48 hours and off the second page is definitely not the way to go based off this. I currently find the system satisfactory - if you bump something it usually gets discussion, other topics being discussed on get discussed just as well too.

This one, I assume?

Parkour_Champion

24's ok I'd actually prefer 22 or 23 hours because sometimes I bump I bit early

BadBackLeg

No support, sometimes 24 hours can put you on 3rd page, I think that's enough.

MagicCoder330

lfg30700 wrote:
MagicCoder330 wrote:
there never was a hard rule on bumping. From what I have heard (I remember a mod quote but I can't get ocular to work) as long as you aren't being egregious with the bumps it is okay, even if it is less then 24 hours.

Increasing it to 48 hours and off the second page is definitely not the way to go based off this. I currently find the system satisfactory - if you bump something it usually gets discussion, other topics being discussed on get discussed just as well too.
This one, I assume?

much appreciated.

As this is from a former moderator and posted relatively recently I don't think that we need to change the current system at all (or lack thereof)

mtaka4

Partly added:

a sticky wrote:
Only bump your topic if it is been 24 hours since the last post and it is not on the front page.

FreshTheCat

This probably won't be for the ST (of 46 members) to decide, it'll be for the 36,308,462 (or ateast the majority of) users who actually use scratch (source: https://scratch.mit.edu/statistics/, where it says there were 36,308,462 unique visitors last month) to decide.

After all, not even the current 24-hour-and-not-on-first-page rule is official and the ST will only do anything if you're bumping excessively, like in the case I mentioned earlier:

FreshTheCat wrote:
–snippity snip snip–
I've actually seen someone bump a post multiple times a day to keep it as the first topic, not even just on the front page

And as far as I know, all the ST did (not complaining) was to delete the excessive bump posts

I rest my case.

DarthVader4Life

I don't know exactly how I feel about community suggestions (that is, suggestions that ask for the community to change their ways as the solution), but I do know that I don't like the use of the suggestions forum for such topics. I think this would be better suited as a project with a link in your signature and to encourage others to adopt your suggestion (without being spammy/off-topic about it, of course).

Historically, there has not been a hard policy on bumping. Common practice is to wait ~24 hours and until the topic is off the front page. I and many others find this to be sufficient. I don't think the ST are going to be interested in implementing a hard policy on this matter since many would consider it unnecessary and there would be difficulty in enforcing it as such.

Basically, it is up to the community to decide whether they want to adopt this policy or not. For that reason, I don't think these types of suggestions belong in the Suggestions forum. I find it best for you to encourage this policy outside of this topic.

Last edited by DarthVader4Life (Oct. 25, 2025 19:22:01)

SMG4fan7236

Closing this topic because I have a better idea, check out this topic: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/873648/

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