I'm confused. Is there a rule contradiction here?

[GTASAddict]

Suppose you want to address something. Upon creating the topic, a popup stating: "Has this subject been covered recently? Perform a search before posting" comes up. As a result, you perform the search to find out the subject was addressed a few years ago and additionally, the topic hasn't been replied to in years. You reply and get a popup stating: "You've replied to a couple topics that are from 2005, those topics that are 7 years old! Check how old a topic is before you reply to it." Basically, you can't recycle a topic (as in bumping old topics) plus you can't spam (make re-posts) a topic duplicate. So my question is, what to do in this situation? I interpret it as a catch-22.

[Andreas]

If you are searching topics of a certain subject and the only results are topics that are a few years old then you can create a new topic about the same subject. Do not bump topics that are several years old because it only causes confusion. If the 'newest' topic of this subject is only a couple of months old then there is no problem if you bump it. Make sure that if you bump a topic, that your post is ontopic and really adds something useful to the topic.

[Girish]

Bumping older topics is discouraged because it creates a discontinuity in the discussion. People might not realize that it's an old topic that has been bumped and replying to older posts is not productive at all.

 

As a rule of thumb, you can avoid bumping topics that more than a few months old.

[Pyrrhic]

I'll assume this thread is specifically regarding this thread as it is clearly what made you make this thread.

 

Raydoonhagaydoon is known for bumping extremely old threads, it's like his 'signature move'. He doesn't need to do it, 95% of the time he's not adding anything new to the thread. For example he bumped a 4-5 year old "Favourite Haircut" thread with the following post:

 

 

Default.

 

This is breaking two rules:

1. Bumping an old thread without adding anything new/constructive.

2. It is a one-word post, which is considered to be useless spam.

 

For threads like these ("opinion" threads), rather than bumping an ancient thread with your opinion, let it go and keep it to yourself. Most likely nobody gives a sh*t about your favourite pair of shoes in San Andreas or your favourite street in GTA 4.

[Space Cowboy]

In some threads people are asking specific question, so 5years reply not gonna help them since they either already know the answer, or they don't care. But if you want to contribute with something good in discusion threads, bumping old thread isn't prohibited.