Can somebody please explain what they mean by the word "sticky", as in "this is a sticky thread"?

I suspect that this may be an American usage that has not yet crossed the Pond, as I don't understand how anything in the nature of a Forum posting can adhere physically to anyone who reads it, in the way that a sticky toffee can get stuck to one's fingers!

It refers to the ability, mostly in SMF and PHPBB forums, to force a topic to remain at the top of any given forum category.  The option is literally called "sticky," as in making the topic 'stick' to the top.

gamergirl wrote:

It refers to the ability, mostly in SMF and PHPBB forums, to force a topic to remain at the top of any given forum category.  The option is literally called "sticky," as in making the topic 'stick' to the top.

Whoa...I'll probably kick  myself for being so clueless, but what do SMF and PHPBB stand for?

Gamergirl, Thanks for the explanation. The clouds of doubt have parted and the beams of knowledge have come shining through!

By the way, do you know what's brown and sticky? A stick.

SMF and PHPBB are just two different types of forums, they're both free ware and basically open source, meaning the programs are free to use and the coding for these forum packages is available to be edited and modified to suit both graphic wishes as well as compatibility issues and other things like that.

The Indexer wrote:

Gamergirl, Thanks for the explanation. The clouds of doubt have parted and the beams of knowledge have come shining through!

By the way, do you know what's brown and sticky? A stick.

I love your joke about the stick.  So cute.

desert blondie wrote:

gamergirl wrote:

It refers to the ability, mostly in SMF and PHPBB forums, to force a topic to remain at the top of any given forum category.  The option is literally called "sticky," as in making the topic 'stick' to the top.

Whoa...I'll probably kick  myself for being so clueless, but what do SMF and PHPBB stand for?

SMF = Simple Machines Forum. Which just goes to show that the average coder has no imagination or understanding of branding.

phpBB = phb Bulletin Board. A Bulletin Board (forum) built with php (a programming language).

What we have here at HubPages is PunBB. The BB we can guess is Bulletin Board. The "Pun" is some inside joke by the creators.

As gamergirl states, a sticky is a thread that is stuck to the top of a sub-forum.

There are also "announcements" and that sticks to the top of every sub-forum on the site. Used by site admin to draw attention to whatever it is that they need everyone to know.

Another popular forum application is vBulletin. But unlike the three mentioned here it costs money for a license to run vBulletin. But you do get what you pay for. Depending on what you want it can be a better option than what the freebies offer.

darkside;)
Im always learning lots of stuff here in the Hubs, forums, comments and you;) including what the word sticky now means!