Ok, so as some of you might have heard the forum is going through an upgrade. In order for this upgrade to go through smoothly they must archive some of the forum. Now this DOES NOT mean that these threads are going to be gone forever, they will still reside on the archive server that is linked to on the left hand side. Every thread that does not have a post from 2-1-2012 on will be archived. We have until the end of the month.

We would like to do this in a some what of a controlled manner. So we have laid out just a couple of rules.

1. Everyone is allowed 5 bumps. Anyone exceeding this will have their post deleted. If you break this rule twice you will probably be banned until after the forum upgrade (which may or may not permaban you)

2. If you have used up your 5 and still have a thread you wish to have bumped just post it in this thread and either Original Position or myself must approve it.

3. You may NOT bump inflammatory threads. This is any thread that it's sole purpose is to rage on another poster. Any of these bumps may result in the poster loosing their 5 bumps.

That's all of the rules for now. Any previously bumped threads will have the bump posts deleted so we all have a fresh start. Please let's all be civil about this. Also, all talk about bumps should be contained in this thread.

Alright, let the bumping begin!

I just want to point out the actual purpose of a bump in this situation is to keep the thread open to allow the conversation to continue. Bumping a dead thread is really just a waste.

Thanks Jib for doing this.

Wouldn't it be valuable to an individual who wanted to remember aspects of a conversation which had reached completion in "dead thread"?

No. The thread will be archived. You can still find it by searching for it or going through the archives. The thread and its contents won't disappear.

We are allowing bumping of old threads. We want to keep any great thread to be easily found and be able to continue the conversation. I know there are a couple probably year old threads that I still want to continue when I get a chance.

So the only real restriction on bumping is that it cannot be an inflammatory thread.

If in the future someone wants to revive it can they be "revived"?

You can gain access to the thread, but you will not be able to post. Think of them as locked threads.

I'm not pushed about bumping threads, so if anyone's on their last pick and is torn between two, shoot me a PM and I'll sort you out (assuming Jib and OrP are OK with this). First come, first served.

Instead of bumping old threads about what certain terms mean, eg. atheism, can we get an FAQ that among other things(*) contains definitions?

"Atheism = lack of a belief in god"
"weak atheism = ..."
"strong atheism = ..."
"etc."

It seems to me we have the same discussions all the time.

--------
(*) explaining the burden of proof

If someone wants to create a FAQ, they are welcome to do so. I'm too lazy myself.

First, we could do both.

Second, we have talked about this before. As OrP pointed out I think that our laziness coupled with our inability to agree on anything here has kept us from doing so thus far.

Anyone remember who started the epic slavery thread that we had?

I am not sure if PM's are going to be saved or not. but to be on the safe side if you want to keep your old PM's as the bottom of the inbox page there are links to download all of them to a file.

bump

^ lol