The Search Feature

[Apocalypse Tank]

I am sure you, the typical Escapist, have seen people telling others to use the search feature numerous times. While I can understand the effort to avoid repetition and unnecessary entries, I fail to see why some users are forced to beat upon a piece of dead meat.

My argument is that the new topic will probably have different wordings in comparison to its predecessors, if not modified by the topic creator outright. Does that mean I support billions of troll topics in regard to religion or Halo 3? Absolutely not. However, if the user decides to generate a new discussion, it is much more likely to be noticed by the community. The responses, thus, will be more enthusiastic. There are reasons why "What do you think happens after death?" finally reached the forgotten realms. Why waste the time to add a single comment onto a 7 pg. behemoth (which would receive another response in over 9000 days) when you have the power to refresh the discussion anew? Are we trying to collectively archive each specific topic?

A place for discussion should be adaptive and dynamic, not a encyclopedia with all things under strict topics.

P.S. I didn't use the search feature.

 

[Pimppeter2]

It can be worded differently, but its still the same question.

I mean "Halo 3 is for the suxxors" is the same as "I believe Halo 3 was truly not as great a game as others have claimed"

You're getting the same responses

Anyway, its okay for people to say Use the serch bar, but its a little bit of a dick move when everybody does it. Or people say it to insult others

 

[Apocalypse Tank]

I'm loving how ironically numerous this thread topic is.

I guess that after seeing "Which religion is best" threads for the hundredth time, people start to get a little bored watching christians and atheists fruitlessly try to convince each other

Basically, we should just ban topics altogether?

 

[chronobreak]

This isn't a slippery slope argument or anything, we clearly state we as a community prefer the necroing of thread to the creation of the same old thing. If it is a different question, then by all means have at it, but the search is there for a reason. There is a core of Escapists who do the right thing and use it, and we simply try to be the example amongst everyone by following the rules.

Why not archive a specific topic? One thread, containing everyone's views on the topic at hand. Seems very efficient to me. If someone has to tell you your thread has been done a million times, you were not paying proper attention to the search ability.

Our search is also quite flawed, especially for a community that celebrates good order and neatness. Never the less, you should be able to find what you are looking for if your topic is one of the religion or political variety.

 

[Pimppeter2]

It can be worded differently, but its still the same question.

I mean "Halo 3 is for the suxxors" is the same as "I believe Halo 3 was truly not as great a game as others have claimed"

You're getting the same responses

Anyway, its okay for people to say Use the serch bar, but its a little bit of a dick move when everybody does it. Or people say it to insult others

but by saying its for "Suxxors" your saying the demographic that play the game are Lame/idiotic/Suckers. Where as saying the other statement your saying that the game is not well structed and could have been better and attacking only Reviewers of there choice.

Also i try not to use search. Gets in the way lol.

Yea, but you're pretty much guaranteed the same responses. If I come up with valid reasons why I believe halo is a good game, I would still get pumbled by Halo haters as much as I would if I made a thread about how Halo was the best game evar because its rocks and playstation sucks

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Good points, and I agree. However, one thing just struck my semi-OCD mind as off:

7 pg. behemoth

I'm sorry, but 7 pages isn't exceedingly long. I've been part of discussions that got to around 20 pages in one day.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

That way we can have the same idea in once nice spot. Not all over the forums

 

[Sneaklemming]

All I have to say is this

Spoiler

 

[grimsprice]

Lol true the response would be the same. BUT if you made a well structed Arguement and Cited reasons that others can easily see as well as don't say its "Low Brow" you should be fine. Still the "FanBoy" Demographic would attack no matter what lol.

I call Bullshit. I've seen well structured arguments and cited reasons. It never works, and the fanboy responses pale in comparison to the "omg, another halo hating troll" responses from the mild mannered escapist.

I've seen it happen.

The bottom line is, when you start a topic discussion like "halo, good or bad", regardless of the wording or position of the post, it's just going to garner the same content.

And, find the difference in all these zombie apocalypse threads. I dare you.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.131960#2930993

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.122419#2462419

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.133652#3012462

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.80490#1051873

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.79501#1015512

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.114231#2080569

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.116002#2156280

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.130652#2865839

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.82502#1127274

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.134081#3020882

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.68064#618307

The Search Force is strong in me. Its there for a reason.

 

[Apocalypse Tank]

I am fairly amazed by the notion of archiving what is said in the Escapist. Going through a discussion that occurred long ago does not only provide outdated information and inaccuracies, but will also be tedious and indirect.

In regard to the idea of "topics that have nothing new to offer", I can only say it is subjective to the speaker or else these topics would not have existed in the first place.

 

[Apocalypse Tank]

All I have to say is this

Spoiler

O come on, it wasn't that long.
I made it as short as possible.
You ever read the backside of a book?

 

[Sneaklemming]

All I have to say is this

Spoiler

O come on, it wasn't that long.
I made it as short as possible.
You ever read the backside of a book?

I read the fountain head, by Ayn Rand... but it is shorter than Atlas Shrugged...

ok let me try again...


EDIT: ok Ive got the idea of the OP....

And, this is actually a repeat post... IRONY... and yes I agree with you... (unless its been done to death, like this - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.152995

 

[Seldon2639]

Eh, it depends. A simple topic (who's your favorite actor) can easily be brought back up from the grave with your post tacked on the end.

A more complex topic would have the kind of nuance the OP describes. Especially if it's a tangent on the original thread, it makes sense to make it a new thread itself. If someone makes a thread asking about what caused the financial crisis in America, and I want to write an entire thing about how "Owner-Equivalent Rent" caused a sharp downturn in inflation rates (or, rather, calculated inflation rates) while decoupling the actual home value from the inflation-adjusted home value, I would want to make that a stand-alone thread.

So, bottom line:

If all you're doing is fishing for badges for large view totals and replies, GTFO. If you have something new to add to a discussion which would go unheard if attached to the existing thread (since, especially in big threads, most people don't read all the posts), make a new thread.

 

[The_Prophet]

I made couple of threads the same as this in the past. Trust me, people don't care.

 

[LeonLethality]

I'm loving how ironically numerous this thread topic is.

I guess that after seeing "Which religion is best" threads for the hundredth time, people start to get a little bored watching christians and atheists fruitlessly try to convince each other

Basically, we should just ban topics altogether?

I don't know how you extrapolated that from what I said, but to your question I'd say no, just the topics that have been done an exhaustive amount of times such as "your favorite game," "what's the ____est thing you've ever seen," "religion," or "____ popular game sucks." These things have been done a thousand times, have nothing new to offer, and most serve no purpose except to stir up a fight

that and almost no thought is involved I miss when I first joined escapist was abundant with threads that required thought and had much discussion value... I miss those days...

 

[Gxas]

that and almost no thought is involved I miss when I first joined escapist was abundant with threads that required thought and had much discussion value... I miss those days...

And I remember when I started feeling that way, about the time that you joined (no offense intended, its just a fact).

And I'm sure members who joined before me could say the same about the time that I joined.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Depends on what it's a thread of. Some of them should be dead obvious such as "what's your favorite music/movie/game" etc, but sometimes people can just be unlucky and have had something that has been done before even though it's obscure. I don't really mind to be honest, it certainly doesn't bother me unless it really was a silly repeat.