There are several things going on here; let's untangle them a bit.One was that when this thread was made, there was some anonymous renewing of threads done just to troll. Not even worth discussing.
Then there are refreshes of unanswered music threads-- I often do that as a Guest (and have notified Joe Offer) because I do not need a number of non-content posts turning up in my post count. I refresh them as a courtesy to the people whose requests are about to vanish, and I try to remember to do it each time I go offline for a bit. It will have been noticed I am sure that these are almost invariably music threads.
Then there are a number of people, sometimes inckuding myself, who refresh old GOOD music threads when things get tense. I can only say why I do it, and no one has ever asked me or commented privately-- I do this with name showing so if it was a concern I think a PM might have been in order. Anyway, I don't do it to "control" the thread list or "push" a thread down, altho maybe in the past when I was newer to the net, that might have been part of it.
I do it because I see that I (and lots of others) have forgotten our good sense, and are no longer ignoring the threads meant to cause upset. I do it like a dog who has jumped into the wrong ditch might shake off raw sewage. It's a way of saying, "Oh! What was I thinking! Let's change the subject and discuss MUSIC." It's a return to what I think most of us agree is our best Mudcat-selves-- our musical selves. And I am not such an expert in music that I always feel confident about starting a music thread, so I refresh a good one.
And sometimes I do it because I am thinking of the newer members and the lurkers who must think the forum has lost its collective mind-- a collective mind it does not even actually have, but that new people think it does. It's a way of saying, "Relax, there is an alternative to this crap, come on in HERE."
Another thing I do, and I suspect others do, is that when I am researching something, and looking at a long thread list, sometimes I will see something wonderful-looking that I had never read before. I will open these and look, and if they are as good as they look I will bring them back for new members to enjoy.
One of the outcomes of these practices has been that these refreshed threads then take hold once more. Especially with the unanswered requests-- because as has been acknoewledged, a lot of people do not even open threads unless they have at least ten posts. Once they hit ten, they sometimes really take off. And I would have to admit this is true for me too-- a title that holds no attraction starts to look interesting after seeing it for several days, and curiosity has led me into some of the best threads we have had here.
I am posting this not to engage in debate, but to give information, and I will not be looking for replies here. If someone is having a problem with my posting practices, I will anticipate a private conversation about it, and I will discuss anything with someone who is interested in a two-way conversation.
~Susan