Things that make for a good/bad thread

[RunDownHouse]

I'd like to point out that many shitty threads are easily salvagable, and many decent threads can be made great, with just a little extra thought on the part of the OP. [censored] 's first example is a shitty thread because it goes nowhere, nobody really cares, and it isn't even unusual.

However, a little extra time and thought could have turned it right around. The OP could have talked about his reactions on seeing the newborn and how he thought it would change his life. He could have concluded his post by asking others if they've had any major, life-changing experiences lately, or what the biggest perspective shift has been, and invite them to share those.

Before you rush to vomit something across the "Post" box and click "Continue," think to yourself: where will this thread go? Is it easy for others to relate to and contribute to this idea?

EDIT: Goddamn filter

[bosoxfan]

Threads by drunks can be good

thread

[Los Feliz Slim]

Bad: Threads about other threads, posting, posters, mods, banning, grudges, cliques blah blah blah.

I understand that many these threads and posts are well-intentioned, but I don't think they do any good and can actually be doing harm, such as it is. I do understand that by posting in this thread I am violating my own above criticism because I am implicitly endorsing that which I abhor, but you'd all get really annoyed if I did it any other way. And nobody really cares anyway. I hope.

[samjjones]

There should be a little thumbnail icon of Commodus giving the thumbs up or thumbs down to the left of a thread listing; this way we could know at a glance what is worthwhile reading or not.

[Richard Tanner]

[ QUOTE ]
And nobody really cares anyway. I hope .

[/ QUOTE ]

Truer words have never been spoken.

Cody

[razor]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, you're preaching to the choir on this one, our enemies are always comming up with new, better ways to make us look at crappy threads, but I have a way to fight back, if a thread says "I totally had a threesome but should I call them back" I skip it as there would seem to be little gained from reading it (now if I see many "Threesome trip reports" later, maybe I'll go back and catch up on past readings).
Sometimes even I get tricked into looking at a stupid thread, but when that happens I calmly sit back, take a deep breath, and remember that I'm on an internet message board and that I'd probably just have wasted those 15 seconds anyhow.


[/ QUOTE ]

I 'fight back' the same way.. but it isn't that simple. It keeps me from wasting much of my time but it does nothing to encourage Zee, AndyFox, sfer, Rick Nebiolo, bisonbison, snakehead, Monty Cantsin, Louie Landale, El Diablo, clarkmeister, meagantw, Fossilman, etc. etc. to start or continue posting in OOT...

There is a group of really smart, interesting, diverse people here and it would sure be nice to be able to discuss all manner of topic without a lot of noise.

Yes, I can avoid noise... but, I'm also thinking of what I might be missing by all those other smart, interesting, diverse people who choose to avoid OOT because of all that noise.

[Richard Tanner]

Your's is an argument that I can respect and I think points out the only real problem we have. I don't care about the quality for my own personal reasons, but rather that, with the massive influx of craptastic posts, it scares the entertaining populus away. Sadly, however, I know of few non-drastic solutions that would be viable.

Cody

[meleader2]

[ QUOTE ]
Good : pics of your hot ex-gf fingering herself.
Bad : people bumping old threads for no reason.

[/ QUOTE ]

bump

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
Your's is an argument that I can respect and I think points out the only real problem we have. I don't care about the quality for my own personal reasons, but rather that, with the massive influx of craptastic posts, it scares the entertaining populus away. Sadly, however, I know of few non-drastic solutions that would be viable.

Cody

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait, so now you're saying that drastic measures are needed to keep the entertaining populus from being scared away from OOT by the crap posts? That's exactly the point of the [censored] experiment that you've been arguing against!

[Richard Tanner]

Wait a tick, I haven't argued against anything, I have, however said that people should just ignore the flys and most (but probably not all) of them will wilt from lack of attention.
As for his idea, go ahead and ban people taht are overtly trying to derail the usefullness of the forum, that's fine.

Cody