Is there a way to Bump a question? The reasons it might be acceptable to do this:
1) The question was asked before it got "on the radar" for enough people to notice it.
2) The question was asked long enough ago that new members of the forum might not have seen it and had a change to answer.
3) There is no current answer to the question. Obviously if it's been answered then that particular question is closed.
In general, if a question does not receive the attention you desire, you should consider applying a bounty.
However, regarding your initial question, please read the following two threads on Stack Exchange Meta:
The following will cause a question to be bumped:
- Addition of an answer
- Edit or retag of the question, or edit of an answer* **
- Addition of a bounty (by anyone)
- Successful reopening (if the question was closed)
- The Community user will bump non-negatively scored questions that have at least one answer scoring 0 and none scoring more than that.
- Questions are picked randomly from the top-viewed inactive questions.
- The number of unanswered questions bumped per hour depends on the site: 4 per hour on Stack Overflow, 1 per hour on Meta, and 2 per hour on Super User and Server Fault. The default for a new site is 1 per hour.
The following will not cause a question to be bumped:
- Deletion or undeletion of the question or an answer
- Upvotes/downvotes on the question, answers, or comments
- Close/reopen votes on the question
- Flags (offensive/spam/moderator)
- Creation or removal of comments
- Pending edits
- Accepting an answer
- Protecting or unprotecting the question
* This holds true for edits that generate a revision in the post history. Edits on a post within 5 minutes of its creation or another revision-generating edit fold the changes back into the previous revision, and do not cause the post to be bumped
**Questions with sufficiently low score will not be bumped when either they or their answers are edited. The "sufficiently low" threshold is -4 on SO and new SE sites, and -8 on MetaSO (as of Aug 25, '10 -- see Grace Note's comment).
Yes!
"Bumping" old questions is perfectly acceptable, and even encouraged, when you have something new to contribute.
Unlike traditional forums, the Stack Exchange sites don't have any strange rules about interacting with old questions and no one is going to diagnose you with perverse sexual afflications when you do so.
Since the primary goal is to get good answers to questions, no matter how long it might take, there is nothing at all negative about sharing your knowledge. In fact, that's what you're supposed to do. If you post a helpful new answer, it's very likely that you'll earn a couple of upvotes for your trouble.
You might also earn some badges for this behavior (which is another clue that it's encouraged, as badges are generally only awarded for positive behavior). For example, the bronze Revival badge is awarded to people who answer a question more than 30 days later when that answer earns a score of 2 or more. And the silver Necromancer badge is awarded to people who answer a question more than 60 days later when that answer earns a score of 5 or more. Each of these badges can be awarded more than once.
Following the same rationale, editing old questions and answers (whether your own or someone else's) to improve them or bring them up to date is also highly encouraged. It will bump them up, mainly so that your edits can be audited by the community.
Do note, however, that only edits to the question (including retags), edits to any of its answers, and posting of a new answer will bump the question. Comments don't bump anything.
Edit: In fact, just by way of example, I did something very similar to what I think you're proposing here. It earned me a couple of upvotes—I don't think the question's topic is a very popular one. But it felt good to share what I learned, and at least two other people did find it helpful, so that's got to be worth something.
