I really don't care where anything is posted. It doesn't matter to me as long as there's an interesting exchange of ideas. What I do not understand is the impulse that any person would have in posting a comment and then continuing to post a string of comments as though to oneself. It is finally very, very annoying to read a string of comments by one person. Why not keep a journal if one is so driven to talk to oneself rather than come to a forum for public discussion? This isn't the AWAD space for viewing of private journals, workbooks, authors' mental crawlspace, words-in-progress, etc. It is supposedly a discussion board, and when one person insists upon posting string after string of ditties and commentaries without allowing other posters to comment on a single comment, then the chance for discussion has been thwarted.
If I had posted what I believed to be a clever limerick, I would have waited to see whether anyone here noticed it or thought it worthy for comment or a grin. If no one commented upon it, I'd lick my little wound and think, "Oh, well. I wasn't as clever as I thought I had been," and perhaps would have put away limerick writing for a while. But to post and post and post my small achievements without giving anyone chance to praise or ignore would be blatantly selfish, self-serving, and even, if I may suggest, masochistic.
I would be willing to bet good money that there is not a person here who hasn't posted something he believed to be stimulating--and something that he believed would cause a pretty interesting discussion only to see that, drat, no one noticed it. Oh, well. A small loss. Big deal. But I do not think that most here, upon receiving no comment, would then begin to create a string of comments, essentialy to self, so that their achievement would receive recognition at least by an audience of one.
Plutarch, perhaps you sometimes miss the spirit of discussion. Perhaps you could try to experience the trial of posting and seeing whether anyone takes the bait. And, if the bait isn't taken, take a deep breath and find some other thread on which you might have a comment that is finally addressed. Perhaps you could try to learn the art of discussion which includes listening to what others have to say and adding commentary in the singular. I have learned a great deal here by listening to what others have to say. In fact, that is why I come here: to see how others think. I say this in all good will: if you choose to avoid your strings of comments altogether and advance your discussion skills, you will end up at year's end with a sense of having been a part of something rather than standing apart from it. You have made interesting comments from time to time--and it would be good to have that facility developed rather than the one you have chosen to develop that annihilates discussion. If you would take my advice, I promise that at year's end (2005's end) you will be happier here.
