Many threads are created that appeal to broader groups, permit larger generalizations, or otherwise gain the attention due to having a subject du jour that many users would enjoy common parlance. Many threads that have more specific or narrower directives are ignored by many users as either not being pertinent to their interests or otherwise not worth their time or attention. For this reason if I made a thread about SourceSDK , it would probably find itself buried into page 5 before another user saw the Gaming discussion that also was interested in SourceSDK. Even assuming that this other rare user shares this common interest, it will depend on how carefully worded and considered that the thread was made if they even will post anything. If their post was so sufficient in opinionation or fact, it may even be possible that the next user to spot it may not feel they have anything to add, so they don't.
A couple years ago this didn't happen because new threads were not all that common, and people held lengthy discussions on existing threads because they already were there. New pages took days to occur, and now the First page is entirely replenished in less than 5 hours.
Erana said:
Most threads simply aren't a type of topic for a discussion to last that long.
I beg to differ. There are a great many topics that can be discussed at length. However, the challenge lies in people being interested in such topics.
Many people incorrectly assume that the best way to generate such a topic regards either controversy or sex, or both. While lengthy topics and sex/controversy aren't mutually exclusive, they are usually given more attention than they rationally deserve because regardless how intelligent the average Escapist user is, the average Escapist user is subject and victim (for lack of a better word) of the Escapist and many other sources' Marketing machines.
