I do agree with you that it is lame to bump up old threads in certain cases. Worst case scenario for me is clicking on a thread because it has a new post and seeing "bump". That's just utterly useless and a waste of every forum member's time in my opinion.

Adding useful information to an old thread is a case by case basis, however. If it's an old thread that stayed on topic that just seemed to wither and die for a while, then adding related information is fine. Even brown crusty plants can come back to life by just adding water! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If it's a thread that somehow had its topic abruptly derailed or migrated slowly to a completely different topic, then adding another post related to the original topic just throws everything off balance.

Should there ever be three threads of the same thing all right next to each other at the top? Absolutely not.

Basic gist of it is the same as life's: Everything in moderation. Basic rule of a forum: Try to place your post where it makes the most logical sense (keeping in mind that "bump" makes no logical sense).