[Lynne]

What method did you use to delete the post? It should not update the time on the thread at all. You should click on the box next to the post, then go to the Moderation drop down and select "delete posts" and then hit Go. You'll then get to choose to hard delete or soft delete the post.

The thread.dateline column is the date the thread was created. It should not be used to 'bump' posts and in fact I don't know that it would since that doesn't change the date on the posts and those are usually used to put items in order.