Why do some OP's have "flame" icons in front of the title? Who puts them there?

[Atticus]

What are they supposed to mean?

[scarletwoman]

1. It indicates discussion thread with 50 or more responses.

I don't think anyone "puts them there" - it's probably just automatic.

[Atticus]

4. Really? Then why this: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287647830 nt

[Kali]

5. that was posted by the OP from their computer/phone

notice that the little flame is not moving? the DU flame for 50 or more replies is animated

if you click on any other threads that have the DU flames you won't see them in the OP subject line

[Atticus]

9. So, the author of the OP put the icon there? Is this not deceptive, i.e., so similar to the

"hot topic " flames?

Are there any restrictions as to what icons we use to draw attention to our posts?

[Kali]

12. yes the author puts them in

lots of posters do it, and I don't think there are any restrictions.

is it deceptive? not really, if you look at the list of posts it is actually pretty easy to differentiate the ones from the DU system and the ones that are actually in the subject line. that same author has other posts with different icons. other authors use all kinds of icons.

I don't think this is anything to get worked up about.

[Maeve]

2. Hot topic

That is--it has a certain number of responses (50 IIRC, used to be 25 back in the day)

[GoCubsGo]

3. It means "hot topic."

The flames appear after a certain number of comments are made. Not sure what that number is, though.

[Atticus]

6. See: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287647830. Four responses, one re

as I post this.

???

[scarletwoman]

8. See Kali's post #5 in this thread. (nt)

[lapucelle]

7. How about this one?

One rec...three responses.

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1287647830

[scarletwoman]

11. Same OP that Atticus is asking about.

The explanation is here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=13060090

[Renew Deal]

10. There are two different flame icons

The ones furthest to the left are hot topics. The larger size flame is an emoticon that someone is manually adding to their threads.