Did we find out what sucked old posts up to the top?

Once in a while, it does indeed happen that a poster will decide to delete their posts which will send the threads to the top. In this age of AI, where anything you write could be copied verbatim without citation, people might want to erase their presence.

But, I don't have a clue what happened.

.>Did we find out what sucked old posts up to the top?

Samantha Brown's evil twin.

I am guessing that is a humorous response but I don't know who Samantha Brown is.

Samantha Brown is a TV travel presenter who has appeared with Rick Steves at travel events and some videos.

Hey everyone,

I know some of you remember seeing that sort of thing here before, but it has been like 10+ years (?) since I've seen it. It's an old bug that we thought we had eradicated. It turns out that there is one rare scenario we hadn't accounted for, and it was definitely a surprise that it affected inactive threads. We know exactly what caused it and we're patching it. Such are the joys of a custom-built forum. :)

While I understand why many of you wanted to talk about it, we'd prefer it if you can avoid conjecture about other forum members - past or present. I think it's the sort of thing that has a certain tone if you're talking about it among friends over drinks, wondering what happened to someone. But the tone is different when it's written into a public forum. Some found it to be distasteful to put it mildly. I don't assume bad intentions, but it's important to point it out so we can avoid it. It's the sort of thing that makes people not want to post here as it's not welcoming.

Also, while many of you did reply in a way that indicated you didn't prefer the thread... many of those posts served to push that discussion further along. Sometimes its best not to post at all, and its one of the many reasons why we have guideline #4 about not responding to guideline violations. The point in this case is to limit the impact.

And fwiw I'm sorry that moderators weren't on scene faster, but I think you know we do what we can. In an age where forums are closing or switching to AI moderation, I hope you all can appreciate a human touch, despite the limitations that brings. Without very timely intervention, it does put more responsibility on the members of the community to hold it together for everyone. Most of you are very mindful of this already - thank you thank you - and maybe this message helps bring on a few more of you on board with what that means and what it takes to keep an online community together. Aaaand... enough with that... go enjoy talking travel. :)

Thank you for 'demystifying' the situation.

VERY well said. Thank you webmaster.

I think you know we do what we can. In an age where forums are closing
or switching to AI moderation, I hope you all can appreciate a human
touch, despite the limitations that brings.

I adore this forum. I love that it is human-moderated. I love that there are no pop up windows. I love that there are no flashing ads. I love that it is civil.

Honestly, it very well may be the finest forum on the internet, travel or otherwise.