I can support this 100%.
I do not personally use a auto bumper on any websites, nor will I ever. I feel it is far too over-rated, and so many people use it and it's just pure laziness.
If I want to offer a service, i'm going to comment on a thread stating that. If I want to sell gold I am going to make a thread and comment on it stating it.
Lol at the people who actually use the auto bumpers saying no support, obvious bias.
Using an auto-bumper, and or paying an individual to bump your thread(s) is not akin to being lazy. It’s a paid service that is available to everyone. Businesses are opting to lose out on their overall margins by paying for said service. It’s in its simplest form, a basic advertising and market-reach strategy.
You also need to realise that the scale of a business is quite relevant here as well. Your business is nowhere near as large as others (does not refer to everyone) that utilise auto-bumpers /pay an individual to bump their thread. For said businesses, it’s not feasible for the owner of said business to post themselves, especially when they are hardly involved in the day-to-day administrative operation of their business, i.e Bogla/Arcus, R2P, etc.
Also, sighting people who use auto-bumpers as bias, yet those that do not as objective, is quite comical.
There are however two aspects pertaining to auto-bumping/paying an induvial to bump your thread(s) that need to be made evident/added to the rules, these being:
1. If a business/user is paying an individual to bump their respective thread(s), then said individual MUST clearly include in their bump message that said bump is a paid service, and they are no way affiliated with the business itself.
This is paramount, as users may presume that the individual being paid to bump the thread is connected to the business itself, which can result in situations where the paid bumper is highly reputable/trusted, and the business owner is not, resulting in a disingenuous representation of the business, and its market reputability. Essentially, people can easily be tricked into a false sense of security.
2. If a business/user is using an auto-bumper/paying an individual to bump their respective thread(s), then that business/user MUST be online to tend to potential customers. This is already part of the rule’s AFAIK, but potentially may need to clarify that it extends to auto-bumpers/paid bumpers as well.