Kinsman, is a Placemark the same as or different than a bump.
Here’s how I use the two:
A “PlaceMark” is used by the poster so that he/she can return to a particular place in a thread.
A “bump” is used by the poster to help to raise the visibility and thereby the popularity of that particular thread. In the old days you could sort all of the posts in Free Republic starting with the most recent, without regard to whatever thread they were associated with. That’s why you see the phrase “bump to the top.”
Anyway, that’s the way I use them.