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In the days before StackExchange used Imgur for images, I had linked quite a few images to my college's web server. Now all those links are broken, and I will eventually move them to Imgur. But the consequence is: the old posts get bumped to the frontpage. To turn this post into a question:

Q. Is there a way to edit a post without bumping it to the frontpage?


Update (22Sep2017):

12Mar2017: "Will work on them incrementally."

I believe I have now updated all the lost images and broken links in my postings (triggered by an email/username change from orourke to jorourke)—approximately 200 postings. I appreciate everyone's tolerance during this six-month process. Thanks especially to @MartinSleziak for retagging.

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    $\begingroup$ This would be a method that all the spammers would like to find. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 19:25
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    $\begingroup$ @GeraldEdgar: If everybody can do this, then yes. -- But I doubt this would be the case if it were a privilege earned at some decent number of points (3k?, 5k?, 10k?). $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl Mod
    Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 22:54
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    $\begingroup$ @Stefan: If you have uncountably many points, then yes. Namely, you need to have database editing access. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 6:21
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    $\begingroup$ Joseph, what ballpark figure are we talking about? If it's really a lot of posts, maybe you can make a specific request for this to be automated if possible? $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 6:22
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    $\begingroup$ BTW the possibility of minor edits without bumping has been discussed previously. For example, Minor edits, subject to review or “Silent” Edits for MO?. (I would expect most of these past discussions to be tagged (bumping) and/or (minor-edits), but it seems that it is not the case.) $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 8:09
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    $\begingroup$ I will specifically point out this post, which is basically question whether there is some consensus when bumping too many questions is considered excessive: Do we have an unofficial quota on how many old questions one should bump for minor edits in a single day? $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 8:10
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    $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila If searching for jpg url:cs.smith.edu can be considered as a rough estimate, this search returns about 100 posts. Of course, there might be many other domains with broken links (be it images or regular links) - one example is mentioned here. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 8:29
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    $\begingroup$ It seems that the Community user sometimes performs minor edits without bumping the post -- see e.g. here -- the Community user edited the answer 2 days ago, but the last activity of the thread was 9 months ago. -- Or do I misinterpret what happened there? $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl Mod
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 10:22
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    $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl That appears to be part of SE's move towards https, and would have been initiated by someone with database access (likely running some sort of script to go through all posts and alter http:// links to https://). $\endgroup$
    – user642796
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 10:39
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    $\begingroup$ If it's about questions you have asked yourself, I am pretty sure that nobody will yell at you for bumping them... your questions are often so creative and invite to think out-of-the-box ! $\endgroup$
    – Wolfgang
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 17:25
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    $\begingroup$ May I add that many of them deserve review? Of course prioritize your work as you see fit Joseph, but if there are groups with a common theme, including some unanswered questions, I would be pleased to see each group once again on the front page occasionally. Gerhard "Votes For An O'Rourke Channel" Paseman, 2017.03.12. $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 19:24
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, everyone! $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 21:54
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    $\begingroup$ @JosephO'Rourke As far as I can say, August 2010: stackoverflow.blog/2010/08/18/new-image-upload-support and meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4376/… (But I guess for MO this is relevant only since the site joined SE network.) $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 4:30
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    $\begingroup$ I have noticed that several of your posts have (geometry) tag, which is deprecated according to the tag-info. So if the posts are going to be bumped anyway, it might be a good opportunity to remove the tag at the same time. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 17:21
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    $\begingroup$ First of all, I look forward to see Joe's posting being bumped to the front page and updating the beautiful pictures is a great opportunity for that. Second, I noticed that having English mistakes and other forms of sloppiness has the effect of having my posting bumped (when I or other edit to correct these mistakes.) In a sense, this is averaged away with the clear disadvantages of sloppiness and mistakes. (And the sense of unjust bumping also give me an intensive to be less sloppy.) It is a little similar to being short which is overall a disadvantage but good on flights. $\endgroup$
    – Gil Kalai
    Commented Sep 24, 2017 at 14:36

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This is not an answer to Joseph O'Rourke's question, but rather an apology of my own, along the same lines: Many of my old posts used images that I hosted at Photobucket, and they have now have disallowed direct linking for free accounts. Thus I have now begun moving all the images to imgur as well.

I will try to restrict myself to bumping 4 or 5 old answers to the front page per day. As my photobucket album had 64 images in it, this process should be finished within 2 weeks or so.

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    $\begingroup$ I guess this post could be considered as an answer to the title of this question, if one were to interpret it as a request for apologies :) $\endgroup$
    – j.c.
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 17:40
  • $\begingroup$ Why don't you just do them all in one go, if they anway need to be fixed? -- Is having once 64 posts bumped more of a nuisance than having 14 times 4 or 5 posts bumped? $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 21:15
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    $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl I was intending to (roughly) follow the guideline in this post meta.mathoverflow.net/a/604 . $\endgroup$
    – j.c.
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 21:33
  • $\begingroup$ I'm still working on mine, a few per day. Kinda fun to revisit these old posts (and sometimes embarrassing). $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 21:47
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    $\begingroup$ @Stefan, yes, having 64 (which is all or nearly all) the current questions bumped off or nearly off the current list is more of a nuisance to readers. I suppose four or five happening every twelve hours is still acceptable. Gerhard "Maybe More During Slow Periods" Paseman, 2017.07.26 $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 22:24
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    $\begingroup$ This is now done. As it turns out, many of my posts had multiple images, so there were a lot fewer than 64 bumped posts (closer to 20). $\endgroup$
    – j.c.
    Commented Aug 9, 2017 at 22:33

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