air805ronin wrote:Several other forums I visit for alpha games discourage bumping ancient threads due to the fact active development can make old posts (older than 6 or so months) lose thier applicability.
This is not "several other forums." If you find a thread that is applicable, please bump that rather than starting a new thread. It doesn't matter how old it is, just so long as what you have to say is relevant. In the case that you describe, you might begin your post with something to the effect of "I see that this thread is a year old, and some of the stuff discussed has been implemented already, but here are my related ideas..." Alternatively, if you really do think that your idea is so very groundbreaking and different from every other thread, but you see tangentially related threads, you can start with "There are a few threads discussing a similar idea ([link 1] [link 2] [link 3]), but all of them are quite old, and my idea is new and different in the following ways..."
Ultimately, the forums function better when threads serve to foster conversation. If there are a hundred different threads that all begin "This game needs more Wumpuses!", then it as though we are all standing in a crowded room shouting at the top of our lungs with our ears plugged. The relative merits of ideas are never discussed, and ideas are never fleshed out. On the other hand, by bumping an older topic, you acknowledge that someone else had a good idea, then build upon it. Ultimately, this is far more productive.
xander