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Gadget
10th-June-2005, 01:07 PM
Since Andy McG seems to think I kill a lot of posts, I thought I would start a new one - just to balance the karma on the ether.

What kills a thread? What content or tone or type of post leads to it's demise and sinking into the realms of obscurity? What sort of thing should we avoid posting in order to maintain a thread's discussion?

Personally, I think that he may have a point in that posting (soley) links to other threads may take the heat out of a debte when folk see that stuff has been discussed before (or again, and again, and again, ...)

I also think that followup posting about the wording or style of writing rather than the post's content is a good way to kill a thread.

Same with deviation from the main subject into trivia or two/three way chat with posts every 36.5 seconds.

ducasi
10th-June-2005, 06:14 PM
What kills a thread? What content or tone or type of post leads to it's demise and sinking into the realms of obscurity? What sort of thing should we avoid posting in order to maintain a thread's discussion?I've noticed a few threads go suddenly quiet after I've posted. A little bit disconcerting, but it makes me think that I must have just posted the definitive answer to whatever question was posted, and that everyone must have agreed with me... :D

Or else they became suicidal reading my post and quickly hit the "New Posts" link in a desperate attempt to find anything else to read... :whistle:

I've got no problems with HarperLinks to previous threads. Like what was said on the other thread, (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5545) it allows people to get some context. If they feel like something wasn't said, or they want to restate an older point, go ahead and post – lots of people won't bother reading the old thread anyway.

Posters should feel at perfect liberty to choose to post on the old thread or the new one, depending on where they think their post best belongs.

As to what actually "kills" a thread, I think the two big factors are how long it takes to post a reply to it, and when the last post was made. The best time to get a reply seems to be around lunchtime. If a thread hasn't received any attention all morning (perhaps because it calls for longer replies) then it can get lost in the lunch-time scramble. Longer replies will also quite often be put off until later...

When later comes around, you've forgotten and there are no new posts on the thread. And once it's off most people's "New Posts" search, it's a lot less likely to re-emerge.

Top tips for ensuring the longevity of your favourite thread:

Post lots of smaller replies rather than a big long one
Spread them out over the course of the day
Don't be conciliatory
If you can be, try to be antagonising (without being offensive)
Take offence at completely innocent posts :devil:
Don't post after 5pm on the Friday of a big weekender! :wink:

As I haven't followed any of these tips, I expect this will be the last post in this thread. (Of course by saying that, someone will have to prove me wrong and post something. (Unless by saying that you all want to prove me wrong and now won't post. (Ad infinitum... ))) :waycool:

Clive Long
11th-June-2005, 01:19 AM
<< snip lots of classic Ducasi, quality stuff >>
Top tips for ensuring the longevity of your favourite thread:

* Take offence at completely innocent posts :devil:
<< snip >>

:rofl: :rofl:

Chortle , chortle.

qjohn
13th-June-2005, 10:07 AM
Top tips for ensuring the longevity of your favourite thread:

Post lots of smaller replies rather than a big long one
Spread them out over the course of the day
Don't be conciliatory
If you can be, try to be antagonising (without being offensive)
Take offence at completely innocent posts :devil:
Don't post after 5pm on the Friday of a big weekender! :wink:
And add a pointless poll with an option that no one can resist.

David Bailey
13th-June-2005, 10:56 AM
Posters should feel at perfect liberty to choose to post on the old thread or the new one, depending on where they think their post best belongs.
Well, I think there's a bit of room for judgement here - if a thread is repeating a well-established one from (say) 2 weeks back, it's probably best to carry on posting in the established thread. But if the last reply was 6 months ago, fair enough, use the new one.

However, if your post is interesting enough, that's all that matters - where you put it is less so. IMO.



As to what actually "kills" a thread, I think the two big factors are how long it takes to post a reply to it, and when the last post was made. The best time to get a reply seems to be around lunchtime.

Good points. I'd also like to point out the excellent points in the FAQ (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3458) on this very topic.

In fact, the "Why don't people respond to my thread?" subtopic, written by Gadget, seems to cover a lot of this area. So maybe we should kill his thread... :whistle:

CJ
14th-June-2005, 01:11 AM
:rofl: :rofl:

Chortle , chortle.

What we need now are the Wheelies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Mmm, what was the witch called?? :confused:

Dreadful Scathe
14th-June-2005, 09:26 AM
Fenella :)


see here (http://www.chorltonandthewheelies.co.uk/)

Gadget
14th-June-2005, 09:27 AM
Fenella