Whats the point...

[RetiarySword]

I know the title sounds a little morbid, but I'm not talking about the life, death, religion and all that jazz. I'm talking about right here on this forum. I was browsing through the main page forum list when one of them (Name withstanding) caught my eye. It was a bit of a taboo subject but it was sort of taking a pop at me so I wanted to post my educated reply. Opening this thread I noticed it has only being open for about an hour or two and already had about to pages of replies. Reading through I was thinking 'How many people read theese replies, and still think someone will read theirs with full thought and initiative to reply'.

Long story short, have you ever thought to yourself why bother, no one will read this anyway so I might as well save my keyboard the strain? Or do you post still thinking it will change the view on the subject?

 

[Erana]

Either enjoy yourself, or off yourself, or be miserable. There's no definite point, but why not do good with what you've got?

That's why I like white mages. =D

 

[Maet]

I only make a meaningful reply if I'm one of the first dozen or so to it, and the subject deserves it. If it's a generic "favourite this or that" thread or something equally trivial, I just chip in my answer and be done with it.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

I only make a meaningful reply if I'm one of the first dozen or so to it, and the subject deserves it. If it's a generic "favourite this or that" thread or something equally trivial, I just chip in my answer and be done with it.

...I don't think I have anything to add to this...

 

[fluffylandmine]

I just keep posting my views until you can no longer ignore me.

You can ignore something for a period of time before you have to face it.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Long story short, have you ever thought to yourself why bother, no one will read this anyway so I might as well save my keyboard the strain? Or do you post still thinking it will change the view on the subject?

No, I make the replies here so I don't say them to real people*
Occasionally I get dragged into intelligetn conversation in the process, which is very satisfying.


*By real I mean people with faces attached to their names who are also close enough to thump me when (not if) I annoy annoy them.

 

[Vivaldi]

I only make a meaningful reply if I'm one of the first dozen or so to it, and the subject deserves it. If it's a generic "favourite this or that" thread or something equally trivial, I just chip in my answer and be done with it.

...I don't think I have anything to add to this...

Second...

 

[Tartarga]

i dont really care if anyone reads it or not i just like voicing my opinion

 

[OverlordSteve]

I don't post in threads so often I'm not even going to post in this on-

-God dammit.

 

[Galletea]

I do wonder. I make valid contributions knowing full well when the OP will ignore them. I still do it though, I'd be daft not to voice my opinions, even if they are ignored.

 

[xitel]

Well, I think if a thread is hugely popular and is the subject of a hailstorm of posts, any effort to make a contribution will likely be overlooked. But if its a thread that you actually care about, if you make a concerted attempt to post in it and respond to people, you can make yourself heard.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I only make a meaningful reply if I'm one of the first dozen or so to it, and the subject deserves it. If it's a generic "favourite this or that" thread or something equally trivial, I just chip in my answer and be done with it.

...I don't think I have anything to add to this...

Second...

Thirded.

Quotes usually attract the attention of people so if I am going to post in a topic that has more then a page of posts, I usually quote one or two people that I have a point to make with thus sending them a message and they will come back and we'll have a conversation that way. Other than that, no, I really don't bother too much.

 

[Erana]

Well, I think if a thread is hugely popular and is the subject of a hailstorm of posts, any effort to make a contribution will likely be overlooked. But if its a thread that you actually care about, if you make a concerted attempt to post in it and respond to people, you can make yourself heard.

Or...
You could do like I do, and have a gimmock. Mine is being the edge-of-bearable female.

The sad thing is, it works brilliantly in real life.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

I like to post in any topics that aren't completely inane. Though I always steer well clear of anything that is Religious or Political. I just don't care as strongly as everybody else about things.

 

[j1-2themax]

Sometimes I'll type up a response to a post, think to myself, "Is anyone going to actually read this?" and just not even bother posting it. Usually this happens when I find I'm not really saying anything new, though, so... yeah.

 

[Vivaldi]

I like to post in any topic that aren't completely inane. Though I always steer well clear of anything that is Religious or Political. I just don't care as strongly as everybody else about things.

I am so with you, I just got fed up with stupidity so I posted my wonderful feelings on that thread and vow never to read another one of those ever again.

 

[Aardvark]

It's a problem with internet forums. There's an initial critical mass of users you need to reach, before the forum becomes self-perpetuating. Once you hit it, you can sit back and watch threads appear, expand and eventually die, while younger threads take their place. Once this mass is reached, the forum will start to attract new users at an exponentially increasing rate, until you hit a second point, where the lifespan of threads has accelerated far beyond the point where normal people read them. The point where before the casual forum poster has read the initial post, the thread is fifty two pages long. Once you hit that point, you start to bleed people who make worthwhile contributions to the community and are left with callow invertebrates who thrive off the white noise that pollutes the place. You can attempt to delay that point by expanding the forum, creating sub-forums and specialty forums, where self-important cocksnarks will gather and dispense condescending advice to anyone else who dares enter their domain, while engaging in a cocksnark-only big dick competition to see who knows the most about their pointless niche of choice, but in the end, you're only delaying the inevitable. Eventually, the forum will reach a point where all the worthwhile individuals have fled the enslaught of internet weenies to more peaceful pastures. Threads will expand and die within a matter of seconds and your forum will contribute only towards furthering the decay of the internet.

But fear not. There is good to come of this. Your traffic figures will be phenomenal and you'll have advertising drones beating down your door to hawk their useless garbage on your site. You can then take the proceeds and start another internet forum, under a different assumed internet identity, and relieve the magic once more.

 

[qbert4ever]

I try to only post if I have something to say other then "yep", "nope", or "whatever".

That's not to say I won't from time to time. But, well, there's a reason I've been on this site for almost a year and still haven't Gone Gonzo.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Out of the 134 posts I've made I've been quoted 52 times.

So I guess some people do read my posts. Not sure why though...

 

[Gotham Soul]

If it's something deep, I tend to keep any intelligent answers I have to the first or second pages. If its longer, I find the funniest post in the thread and build off of that.