Anyone else paranoid of huge threads?

[MrPatience]

I think that I have only once posted in a thread with more than 100 responses.
I take a lot of time composing my posts, by the time I have finished this one it will probably have taken me at least ten minutes. If you have something to say, you might as well present it as well as you can, you know?
So when I see a thread that catches my eye, and turns out to have a great many responses, I tend to ignore them. It just feels like the effort would go to waste. Personally, if I was posting in a thread with more than, say, 70 responses, I probably wouldn't read all 5 or 6 pages worth of responses prior to my own, lest the discussion was particularly enthralling.
Most of what you read will be a contrived wad of textual vomitings, and not even worth reading anyway. And if I did post late in a thread, I'd make certain to quote, as added insurance of getting my own post read.

So what do other Escapists do? Do you contribute to huge threads? If so, do you commit to reading every entry?

 

[sageoftruth]

Depends on what I see. If I feel I really must comment, then I do, but my chances are lowered if it is a large thread.

 

[micky]

wouldn't this be funny if this got huge?

 

[Lust]

I used to read them. By the time I did that, and posted, another 12 comments would be there. I gave up on that. Sometimes commenting on big threads can be insightful.

 

[tomtom94]

With long threads, I skip to the end if I want to comment.

Feel sorry for all the people in the middle who are basically ignored now.

 

[Eleima]

I completely agree with you, MrPatience, form counts too. The problem is gonzo threads, is that by the time they grow to a few pages, no one will ever, ever read beyond the first couple of posts. Posters will just skip to the end, voice their opinion, and that's it. There's practically no discussion. With the exception who people quoting each other back and forth, carrying on their own little discussion.
That's not to say that I never post in any of those "hot threads", it's just that they make me a bit wary, if you know what I mean. I might contribute a post, but rarely have the time to read the entire thing.

 

[gl1koz3]

I often jump in, read a bunch of those big quote trains and post my thoughts based on that. It doesn't matter if someone reads it... On the other hand, someone who'll need the results of discussion, will read it all anyway.

 

[PurpleSky]

Long threads only happen in game threads and when people argue,quoting each other.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Rarely, I like helping out the little guy,

Also, in large threads the chance of being ninja'd increases. It's like Goodwins law without Hitler.

 

[Lizardon]

When I thread has gotten big, I assume someone has probably already voiced my opinion, so I don't see the point.

 

[Sassafrass]

Yeah, I sometimes post in big threads. I like reading them as normally after 7 or so pages, all there is massive quote trains that are at times funny.

And if the topic interests me or I see a comment that makes me think "Oh, someone is might get annoyed at that!", I read every page to see if they have done so and to see what people have said. But I won't do so on any thread that has like 10 pages. I have a limit, you know?

 

[ProfessorLayton]

If it's something that's huge, as in 7+ pages, I hardly ever post. Because a couple of reasons... my post will probably never get read, someone's probably already said what I wanted to say, or the reason it got to be that long in the first place was because of two people already in an arguement. When I do feel the need to post something, I almost always quote someone and speak to them directly because otherwise I'm not contributing much.

 

[Edorf]

I usually read the two first pages and the last page

 

[Marter]

I usually try and read the large threads, if the subject interests me. If it doesn't, I'll probably just read a page, then get bored, and skim the rest. They don't make me less likely to post though.

 

[crotalidian]

I tend to be reticent of posting an opinion on a 3 or more page thread that has already been posted and I browse on here while at work so haven't got the time to read all previous posts before contributing.

as has already happened in the 14 posts so far

 

[SalamanderJoe]

Has anyone seen the 'Pimp my Gun' thread in off-topic? That thing is at page 70 last time I looked!!

 

[Kragg]

If it's something that's huge, as in 7+ pages, I hardly ever post. Because a couple of reasons... my post will probably never get read, someone's probably already said what I wanted to say, or the reason it got to be that long in the first place was because of two people already in an arguement. When I do feel the need to post something, I almost always quote someone and speak to them directly because otherwise I'm not contributing much.

speaking to you directly ! hah

i agree, and it is how most posts evolve, i think it's the way this forumtype is built that lends itself best to these kinds of topics aswell, all posts gather under eachother, first and last being most important, by the time you hit page 3 everything about the original topic has been said and then it involves in mini discussions quoting eachother with 2-3 people

other kind of forums like the old newsgroups you would build ontop of a quote of someone and that branch would buildup and you would still have your old original topic as a smaller piece of the tree.

i dont like it, but i dont hate it either, i'm not scared of topics with 10 pages, but i'm not as naiive to think that i am adding anything to the original topic after 10 pages, so yes, quoting is the only thing to do that makes any impact

 

[teqrevisited]

I'll usually only post in a long thread if noone has voiced the same opinion. Doesn't really add much to it and I can watch the responses to the parts I care about either way. I'll jump in if I can put another perspective on something that's been covered, though.

 

[Vrach]

Yeah I'm a bit like you OP. When I see a thread that's really long and really active (unless it's a forum game thing), I don't feel like responding cause I know by the time I wrote my post, it'll be promptly buried beneath several other posts and never read.

As for reading the replies prior to posting, no I never read them all unless it's a small thread. I read a couple to make sure I'm on the right page with the discussion and not talking about sth completely different and if it's a thread that really interests me, I might read a page or two of replies to see the different opinions. But from then on, I'm mostly only interested to the replies made to my own post.

 

[PoliceBox63]

wouldn't this be funny if this got huge?

That's what she said