diff --git a/src/socket.io/topics.js b/src/socket.io/topics.js
index 2f09cbe68f..06e7526f89 100644
--- a/src/socket.io/topics.js
+++ b/src/socket.io/topics.js
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ SocketTopics.markAsUnreadForAll = function(socket, tids, callback) {
 						return next(err);
 					}
 
-					db.sortedSetAdd('topics:recent', Date.now(), tid, function(err) {
+					topics.updateRecent(tid, Date.now(), function(err) {
 						if(err) {
 							return next(err);
 						}
diff --git a/src/topics.js b/src/topics.js
index 99a1c6b761..545945af89 100644
--- a/src/topics.js
+++ b/src/topics.js
@@ -470,11 +470,6 @@ var async = require('async'),
 		});
 	};
 
-	Topics.updateTimestamp = function(tid, timestamp) {
-		db.sortedSetAdd('topics:recent', timestamp, tid);
-		Topics.setTopicField(tid, 'lastposttime', timestamp);
-	};
-
 	Topics.getUids = function(tid, callback) {
 		Topics.getPids(tid, function(err, pids) {
 			if (err) {
diff --git a/src/topics/delete.js b/src/topics/delete.js
index c1966bd7b2..2a654b551c 100644
--- a/src/topics/delete.js
+++ b/src/topics/delete.js
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 				Topics.setTopicField(tid, 'deleted', 1, next);
 			},
 			function(next) {
-				db.sortedSetRemove('topics:recent', tid, next);
+				Topics.removeRecent(tid, next);
 			},
 			function(next) {
 				db.sortedSetRemove('topics:posts', tid, next);
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 					Topics.setTopicField(tid, 'deleted', 0, next);
 				},
 				function(next) {
-					db.sortedSetAdd('topics:recent', topicData.lastposttime, tid, next);
+					Topics.updateRecent(tid, topicData.lastposttime, next);
 				},
 				function(next) {
 					db.sortedSetAdd('topics:posts', topicData.postcount, tid, next);
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 				db.sortedSetRemove('topics:tid', tid, next);
 			},
 			function(next) {
-				db.sortedSetRemove('topics:recent', tid, next);
+				Topics.removeRecent(tid, next);
 			},
 			function(next) {
 				db.sortedSetRemove('topics:posts', tid, next);
diff --git a/src/topics/recent.js b/src/topics/recent.js
index 8a3d8011e8..77d8023d32 100644
--- a/src/topics/recent.js
+++ b/src/topics/recent.js
@@ -33,4 +33,17 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 		db.getSortedSetRevRangeByScore('topics:recent', start, count, Infinity, Date.now() - since, callback);
 	};
 
+	Topics.updateTimestamp = function(tid, timestamp) {
+		Topics.updateRecent(tid, timestamp);
+		Topics.setTopicField(tid, 'lastposttime', timestamp);
+	};
+
+	Topics.updateRecent = function(tid, timestamp, callback) {
+		callback = callback || function() {};
+		db.sortedSetAdd('topics:recent', timestamp, tid, callback);
+	};
+
+	Topics.removeRecent = function(tid, callback) {
+		db.sortedSetRemove('topics:recent', tid, callback);
+	};
 };