I tend to read a lot of forums, but not post all that often, because I find that, a lot of the time, people don't seem to be reading and/or responding to other posts on the thread, unless there's some sort of flame war going on.

I've found that the question/answer type of forum on Greenspun encourages this (as you have to scroll through a lot of answers that are posted as they are received, rather than by responses to individual posts). Because of this, I think forum topics tend to die before their time, which can be frustrating, since I think the discussion only gets good after a lot of opinions have been given, and people start to hack through their assumptions and try to convince each other of their arguments, or even change their own mind.

Of course, I do like the occasional, "What kind of shampoo do you like?" thread, but I'd like to see some of the more lively discussions go on longer than they do (when someone inevitably says, "This is dull! Could we all just drop it?" or somesuch).

Do you like longer discussions? Or to have something new and short to read every day?

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

Answers

I'm with you on this one, Patrick. Long involved discussions where people actually explore their views and then even reconsider them are fantastic, in my opinion.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

It's fun to have people posting tidbits ("This is the wonderfully wacky way I like to grocery shop/attend to my personal hygiene/sing songs on the potty") and I really like those threads, as long as the stories are reasonably well-written and fun.

But the longer discussions are sort of like Montel Williams in slo- mo, lots of excitement and high emotion and a great deal of fun to contribute something that actually adds to the discussion rather than simply repeats something eighty other posters have gone on about at length.

So forums that go on at length: good. Bad: people who go on at length: Ack. Ack. Shut up!

But here's me, here's my glass house. Maybe I should put the shiny rock down, now.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

In theory, I like longer threads that get involved in the issues more, but I'm contantly amazed by how quickly they turn into brawls. Have most people never met anyone who disagrees with them, or something? Usually, unless the subject matter of the thread is incredibly banal, someone is invoking the Third Reich by the fiftieth post. Because I get tired of endless ad hominem attacks by people who clearly aren't listening to each other, I generally comply with Godwin's law.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

Well, I think long threads are long because they're more interesting. In this forum, they usually have something to do with journals.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

I find the threads where everyone just gives their opinion to be boring. It's discussion that is interesting.

I hate the Hitler rule. As far as I'm concerned it was invented by pacifists (and others) because they know they automatically lose the argument whenever Hitler's name comes up. I see no good reason to end a perfectly good debate just because somebody mentions Hitler.

Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it...

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

At the risk of provoking on of those brawls of which I just complained, Jim, I will sign a written document stating that I think the goddam diary threads are the most boring rubbish I have ever read. How fifty adults can get all het up about whether another adult is going to put a donate button or a banner ad on her website completely escapes me. I haven't seen anything like it since the playground, if you want my honest opinion. Of course, it's none of my busines and all I have to do to avoid it is not read it. But the diary threads were exactly what I was thinking of when I referred to liking long threads in theory and finding them banal in practice.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2000

I like really, really long forum threads, and it doesn't matter if it's about journals or shampoo (providing, of course, I'm interested in shampoo that morning) I just like having a lot of stuff to read.

As for participating, I like the discussion to ramble on, and I don't mind digression at all. . . but when it's a hotbutton issue, it gets really hard to keep up, and it feels kind of silly to say "Well, ninety seven posts ago, Sailor Moon said. . ."

So I guess it would be fair to say I like long threads that unfold slowly, to maximize my pleasure as a voyeuse-reader, as well as my ability to participate.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

But Saundra, thinking about it, on long posts don't you eventually get bored with everyone? Same thing, over and over, until you find yourself skipping down looking for the inflammatory language?

Or uh, er, um, is that just me?

ee hee.

But even when I don't suddenly develop an attention span disorder, I get a little discouraged by the long posts, much as I like them. They can be difficult to follow, with the point lost back somewhere in the mists of time.

And another thing! It's reeeally annoying to say something you think is Valuable and Important, that will Make Everyone's Lives Change, and no one even acknowledges you! Why, I never. It's kind of why I like the better class of chatroom. Instant feedback.

Word.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

I like long ones to a point - the Donate/don't donate thread (which, perchance, you may be referring to, Patrick?) took it to extremes, though. I read forums at home on a dialup but I took to reading that one on the SuperFast WorkNet so as not to annoy my ISP or my beloved, who shares the internet connection at home.

what really annoys me about forums? People who say, "that's my two cents" or "My $0.02" or who translate it into local currency. I scream silently and stop reading.

Call me a grouch.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

No particular preference one way or the other. Long threads I don't mind if the material's interesting. When it does just devolve into lots of shouting at each other with nothing really going on, like the donations thread, then I will admit I miss the option UBB gives to close a topic that Greenspun doesn't have. Otherwise I kind of like the Greenspun thing. Fewer bells and whistles than something like UBB, but a lot less clumsy in some ways. And that's my 2.2 cents worth (GST adjusted). (Sorry, Anna!)

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

*grouching*

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

Jen- sure I skip posts when I get bored, or if a topic is suddenly 900 entries long and I have no idea why, I go looking for the flame war. It's all entertainment to me. I also read the backs of cereal boxes, though, and will skip the nutrition facts until I've read every other nugget of text on the box. Then I will, indeed, read the nutrition facts. :) It just all depends on -my- level of boredom that day. If there's nothing else interesting going on, a sixty seven post thread on tofu becomes interesting to me. :)

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

My favorites are the long threads that keep evolving as they go ... reminds me of those undergrad days sitting around with a couple of beers and talking about sex or religion or whatever until the wee hours of the morning.

The problem is that there's a fine line betweeb those threads and the ones that become like the playground arguments, with two people saying "Na-ah" or "Yu-huh"* for dozens of posts at a time.

*=Spelling may be incorrect.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

I like the long threads that get into interesting discussions, and I don't mind if they go off onto tangents if the tangent interests me too. I like short-ish answers within those threads, though.

With hot topics there's a point of diminishing returns when everyone's said their piece and nobody's mind has been changed and people start repeating their positions and insulting each other, if they haven't already. That becomes boring. My pet peeve there is the people who come along and lecture others for not being civil. If people want to be civil, they know how. They choose not to be.

I also like the topics where everyone posts short answers about their favorite shampoo or something. Those can be interesting.

finally, I just have to point out that Beth's forum on greenspun, with all its limits, is so much quicker to read than any of the forms that use UBB. I don't know if it's the spies server or what, but response time on those forums is so pokey, it's really frustrating.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000