|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197
member
|
member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 197 |
Jazz,
Here's my $.02...
If there are too many posts, don't read them all. On other message boards, they may have hundreds of new posts each day. The readers of the board sort through the posts by subject and read the interesting ones. Yes, that may take away from the homey feeling of the board somewhat, and you might miss out on a clever "in" joke. What can be done?
After having been away for 5 days, I'm home for 2 days before I leave again to go to my parents' home for Christmas. When I got back from my last voyage I found nearly 200 posts in Q&A alone. There's no way I have time right now to sort through all that. I read the subjects of the threads, and if there was one of particular interest, I read it.
I agree that dragging out old dead threads can be frustrating, but what if someone comes along who has something really interesting to say on the topic. Should we fuss at them because they bring up something that we (or someone at some time past) already talked about? Should we expect them not to express themselves because we don't want to have to reread some old posts? They might have something really interesting to say! I don't think we can just tell people not to post in a thread because it's been a while since anyone has looked at it. If you don't want to rehash the topic, don't read it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Xara's is the voice of reason tempered with humanity, of justice tempered with mercy, of order tempered with grace. But, what would you expect from someone from Carolina who likes to pet cats?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
This is posted in response to Xara's excellent statements. She says, basically, cull and read the threads that interest you. But there's something all of you can do, something that doesn't happen often enough.
When you are responding to a thread, the system automatically maes the subject of the post re: followed by the original subject. All too frequently people, including myself, are guilty of not changing the subject to one that gives an idea of what the new post is about. See what I've done with this one.
This might help all of us, as I suspect there are very few people who aren't pressed for time.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Yes, xara echoed my earlier thoughts in a much more eloquent way. Message boards are such. And again, I'm glad this one exists.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Another board I frequent allows for posts with no message, i.e., a post with subject line only and nothing in the body of the post. This is signalled to the masses by having [NM] in the subject line supplied by the board software if no text is included in the body of the post. I have already tried this on this board and it doesn't work but we can implement it ourselves by putting [NM] in the subject line and putting some trivial text in the body.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
[NM]
That makes no difference when you read it in flat mode except that there's a one line post.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Forgive my ignorance, but why in the world would we want to
make a post that doesn't have anything in it? Excepting
Avy's superb Apropos of Nothing post, of course.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Jackie asks (and well she might): Forgive my ignorance, but why in the world would we want to make a post that doesn't have anything in it?
If you have only a short comment on something and don't wish to require of the reader the overhead of waiting for the post to come up and the further overhead of waiting for the original thread to come back afterward and it all fits in the Subject line then why not?
On the other hand, JazzO remarks that That makes no difference when you read it in flat mode...
All I can say is that if you are reading in flat mode then this may not be any help to you. For the record the board from which this technique was derived has only flat mode. The moderators of the site have pointedly refused to allow threaded mode on the grounds that the habitués are too unruly in terms of the digressions and that threads would get too out of hand.
I understand on an intellectual level that there are advantages and disadvantages to both flat mode viewing and threaded mode viewing. For me, even irrespective (OK tsuwm?) of the [NM] proposal, threaded mode viewing is so far superior to flat mode viewing that I don't understand why anyone would want to view in flat mode. Perhaps some kind soul can disabuse me if this notion.
Unfortunately it seems as though the only way to change viewing modes is by editing your profile in Display Preferences. I had thought that there was an easier way but I can't seem to find it. Perhaps some savvy individual could disabuse me of this notion, too.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>threaded mode viewing is so far superior to flat mode viewing ...
I use both. I start in threaded which loads quicker, then switch to flat if there are several posts in the same thread, I find it quicker. It involves less clicks and I don't have to keep scrolling up and down the screen. I can generally work out the jigsaw without threaded although sometimes have to switch back. I think it is "each to his/her/their(?!) own".
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,328
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
721
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
