Topic: I pretty much only read 3 threads on this forum (Read 27650 times)

Alex C · « **Reply #100 on:** 20 Jan 2009, 22:21 »

Quote from: MrBlu on 20 Jan 2009, 21:26

Tech forums are too slow, and don't have enough ATidiots and nVIDIots fighting over superiority (nVIDIA).

Yeah, see, unfortunately, most of us south of the comics board are actually somewhat sane. For example, I have an ATI board right now, but were you to mock me for it, I would shrug and mumble something about the $40 rebate that was available at the time.

MrBlu · « **Reply #101 on:** 20 Jan 2009, 22:24 »

Feh, I'm cheap and broke. So I want a 4850.

...

*Leaves for PC forums*

Alex C · « **Reply #102 on:** 20 Jan 2009, 22:29 »

I'm feeling you. I was still in college when I put together my current rig, so it wasn't exactly time to spring for the 8800 GTX, ya know? The previously mentioned $40 rebate was basically used to purchase my weight in bulk ramen.

jimbunny · « **Reply #103 on:** 20 Jan 2009, 23:14 »

Back to the topic...

More on the MF thread. Although I love the fact that I can get all those Joni Mitchell albums for free, I've noticed in the past that getting an entire discography at once - bugger any moral concerns - simply is not good listening practice. Along with the moral qualms I do feel at not having to invest at all in a particular artist to hear all of their music, I'm a bit leery at the current practices evident in the thread, though I support the existence of the thread as a concept as well as the mixing of genres in it.

I might suggest the following rule: one album per post, or one album per artist per poster per page. That is to say, one person can post one album by a particular artist per page. This cuts down on the "dump" aspect of the thread, as well as encourages posters to say more about what they are contributing. Forbidding the use of allmusic reviews might be going too far, but I feel like when someone talks about an album in their own words, it encourages more discussion than when they don't.

MrBlu · « **Reply #104 on:** 20 Jan 2009, 23:56 »

Quote from: Alex C on 20 Jan 2009, 22:29

I'm feeling you. I was still in college when I put together my current rig, so it wasn't exactly time to spring for the 8800 GTX, ya know? The previously mentioned $40 rebate was basically used to purchase my weight in bulk ramen.

Man, that's one reason I'm going to Culinary school. I hope to avoid having to stock on ramen.

Professor Snuggles · « **Reply #105 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 00:04 »

Oh come on guys I've been waiting to post that image forever and no comments? Shit you.

fatty · « **Reply #106 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 00:12 »

I did not mind the blog thread. It is good to have a place to dump such discussions. But I did feel it was a bit singular. It was the be all and end all of bloggy threads. I've seen forums with such threads as 'bad day thread', 'things that made you smile today', which provides more variety of threads to be maintained.

I would propose a 'bad day thread' as one way for people to be a bit bloggy and a bit sympathetic of each other - for example.

I also retract my previous comment that news should be part of the discussion thread. This forum could easily be populated with threads about current affairs, interesting news and such. I see no reason for this forum to be a lot more engaging if some good thread making was encouraged.

Inlander · « **Reply #107 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 00:34 »

Quote from: Animal Ghosts on 21 Jan 2009, 00:04

Oh come on guys I've been waiting to post that image forever and no comments? Shit you.

I'm still trying to figure out if the pot is meant to be you or Jens.

Sox · « **Reply #108 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 00:54 »

Quote from: jimbunny on 20 Jan 2009, 23:14

I might suggest the following rule: one album per post, or one album per artist per poster per page. That is to say, one person can post one album by a particular artist per page. This cuts down on the "dump" aspect of the thread, as well as encourages posters to say more about what they are contributing. Forbidding the use of allmusic reviews might be going too far, but I feel like when someone talks about an album in their own words, it encourages more discussion than when they don't.

That is brilliant.

KvP · « **Reply #109 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 01:27 »

For the record, I think a blog subforum, at least as I understand the concept, would be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. The whole point of the blog thread was that it was singular. I posted in it because it wasn't the "KvP's thoughts and feelings" thread. If I had to choose between making a thread about shit that happened to me and not posting it at all I'd choose not posting it at all, every time. And not just because of the new thread stigma (although that is a large thing that was easily avoided by posting in the monolithic thread I don't think forcing people into such an either/or position to beat that apprehension out of the forums will work at all.) but because, unlike an actual blog / journal / whatever, the blog thread didn't serve a simple declarative function.

The last posts I made in the blog thread before it was locked outlined a situation that I was in that I was not taking well, but I didn't post it just so that people would read it. I got several thoughtful responses and opinions, in the thread and in PM, that made me look at the situation in an entirely different light, and saved me a whole lot of anguish and energy. I don't doubt that there are people who would post just to post, and I'm guilty of throwing noise out just as much as anyone, but the thread provided useful engagement many, many times for many, many people. That the blog thread was singular meant that you were less self-conscious going into it, which, along with the bad things that entailed, made it easier for people to be honest, and made it easier for them to benefit from sharing.

I suspect most people are like me, and are averse to making small threads in which their concerns dominate the discussion. So people's concerns will go undisclosed. And for the stoics of the board that's fantastic, but for some people you either post on the internet or you internalize your shit, which is very bad for you, and those people ought to be allowed to decompress. I think whatever frustration that might cause is worth it. You know what you get when you enter the thread.

The splintering idea, of making a blog thread for your good days and your bad days, could turn out well, I've seen it work before, but you run the same risk you do splitting up the mediaf!re thread - the saddoes all get funneled into one thread, and the happy people congregate in another thread, and the benefits of both threads are diminished.

jhocking · « **Reply #110 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 03:47 »

Quote from: Animal Ghosts on 21 Jan 2009, 00:04

Oh come on guys I've been waiting to post that image forever and no comments? Shit you.

I am proud of this forum for having internalized this image:

back off-topic:

Quote from: MrBlu on 20 Jan 2009, 21:26

Tech forums are too slow, and don't have enough ATidiots and nVIDIots fighting over superiority (nVIDIA).

I just learned that there is a big difference between the Geforce 9400M and the 9600M GT. damn nvidia and their conniving naming

fatty · « **Reply #111 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 03:53 »

I have one more question/request...

Can we have a birthday thread???? One where we wish people happy birthday and discuss such things as birthday parties, presents and such related topics. Would that be so bad? I mean, it is better than the days where we had new threads for everyone's birthday. (This is not related to the fact that it is my birthday tomorrow - but it was benito's birthday yesterday!)

jhocking · « **Reply #112 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 04:00 »

Go ahead and start a birthday thread. We are all ready to flame your ass.

evernew · « **Reply #113 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 04:04 »

=== THE HIJACKING ===

Int.
An internet forum.

A thread of irrelevant content is being discussed.

Enter FATTY.

FATTY: "want moar birfday freds"

Enter EVERNEW.

EVERNEW: "That's actually not a bad idea as a birthday poses very peculiar challenges and opportunities, namely The Drunken Hook-Up At Your Own Party, What To Get My Best Friend and Oh Shit I'm 30.

On that topic, it's my best friend's birthday tomorrow and she doesn't drink alcohol and I don't want to give her music or movies and what could I get her?

Fade to credits.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #114 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 04:17 »

Birthday wishes and all of that are kind of what Facebook is there for, no?

Inlander · « **Reply #115 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 04:33 »

"I'm gonna start a new social networking site. Arsebook!"
/

Oh wait sorry wrong thread.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #116 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 04:39 »

Quote from: Inlander on 21 Jan 2009, 04:33

Arsebook!

I would ~~see this band~~ sign up for this site

Liz · « **Reply #117 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 05:06 »

Man, I already have my profile picture. Sign me up!

Patrick · « **Reply #118 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 08:14 »

I would be interested to see some of these new ideas in place for a week or two, just to try shit out. If we don't like it, we can revert back, it'd just be a matter of unlocking threads.

There should be a locked news sticky to let people know exactly what changes have been made, assuming you mod/admin people go forward with this.

Sox · « **Reply #119 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 09:55 »

Quote from: KvP on 21 Jan 2009, 01:27

For the record, I think a blog subforum, at least as I understand the concept, would be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.

Hmmm...you know what? Our stance on blog posts is really shit. I give a shit, I want to know how shitty or how brilliant somebody's day has been. If they're any good at writing, it doesn't even matter if I know them. I have a couple of friends here, and a lot of acquaintances I'd like to keep up to date with. I don't have time to ask 50 plus people "How has your day been?". I reserve that for a handful of people, but it doesn't mean I don't want to hear about the rest.

Yes, the blog thread became a dump. But all the good threads that last more than 4 or 5 pages do. Didn't we used to lock threads after the fourth page? I think a revision on the rules concerning 'blog posts' would be a good idea, but that an entire subforum devoted to the matter is just silly.

Ã¶de · « **Reply #120 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 10:19 »

Yeah, I kept up with the blog thread because I got to know people better, and kept up to date with people's lives.

Jace · « **Reply #121 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 11:30 »

I liked the one giant blog post, because, honestly, you never really have to read ~~the first pages~~ more than the last couple pages of something like that, it's all old news. Maybe instead of a page limit, blog threads would be locked after a certain time frame, but still have one giant blog thread. With the number of people that use this subforum, I'd hate to see a new thread for each person's blog, it would clutter things, although having BLOG THREAD: THE SEQUEL wouldn't be so bad, I don't think.

Sox · « **Reply #122 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 11:56 »

A weekly blog thread in the style of the WCT threads in the comic forum.

Patrick · « **Reply #123 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 14:36 »

I wonder if it'd be possible to write a script for the server to run where it automatically locked it at a certain time every Sunday, let's say, and auto-opened a new one under the admin's name. I am not capable of writing such scripts, but this is the internet, I'm sure one of us knows how. That'd save some effort.

est · « **Reply #124 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 14:58 »

In the style of the WCT threads? So we'd have to all drink heavily then beat ourselves over the head with heavy items before posting?

Professor Snuggles · « **Reply #125 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 15:09 »

Quote from: est on 21 Jan 2009, 14:58

In the style of the WCT threads? So we'd have to all drink heavily then beat ourselves over the head with heavy items before posting?

Oh man I am in favor of this.

est · « **Reply #126 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 15:11 »

Quote from: Jeans on 21 Jan 2009, 15:00

how does it feel to backtalk your children, ben

Oh man, I have seen the future:

"Who doesn't know shit like this? Are you some kind of idiot?"
"This isn't helping me with my homework, dad"

0bsessions · « **Reply #127 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 15:24 »

What in the hell would be the point of even locking the blog thread if it just gets reopened that same day?

ViolentDove · « **Reply #128 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 15:38 »

Quote from: 0bsessions on 21 Jan 2009, 15:24

What in the hell would be the point of even locking the blog thread if it just gets reopened that same day?

I think it's similar reasoning to capping threads at fifteen pages or something, so it never gets ridiculously long.

october1983 · « **Reply #129 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 15:46 »

I'm with Jon on this, worrying about the length of the thread is kind of missing the wood for the trees. It's not like once a thread tops 15 pages people suddenly start going "Oh awesome I can start shitting this up now!" Just making new threads and closing the the old isn't going to stop threads being shit. Instead it's up to us to prove that we deserve nice things by not being fucking inane and actually doing good things.

RedLion · « **Reply #130 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 21:10 »

Uuubbuullub. Deleted my other post, since it was horribly whiny. But what bugs me more than just about anything is arbitrary decisions, whether in meat life or internets.

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #131 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 21:14 »

I never really liked the blog thread either. I mean people going on and on about themselves or what they did recently is just not always fun to read.

jhocking · « **Reply #132 on:** 21 Jan 2009, 22:40 »

Quote from: RedLion on 21 Jan 2009, 21:10

what bugs me more than just about anything is arbitrary decisions, whether in meat life or internets.

Well which decision do you feel is arbitrary? I mean, I'm assuming you were making a statement that is relevant to this thread.

spoon_of_grimbo · « **Reply #133 on:** 22 Jan 2009, 05:52 »

Quote from: Cartilage Head on 21 Jan 2009, 21:14

I never really liked the blog thread either. I mean people going on and on about themselves or what they did recently is just not always fun to read.

if you don't like a thread, don't read it. it's not like you need to have it removed to not see it. i've never once even looked in the blog thread (and a great many other threads tbh) because the idea behind them hasn't interested me. there's still a crapload of other threads to get involved in.

mooface · « **Reply #134 on:** 22 Jan 2009, 06:16 »

the way i see it is that people are going to want to vent to the internet about the problems in their life whether there is a blog thread or not. i mean, the "what i've learned today" thread is basically a semi-blog thread now for a reason. we're a pretty close knit community and so it's not surprising or strange that when people have an especially bad or good day they are going to want to share it here.

the whole idea behind the blog thread was to give people a place to share what's going on in their daily lives and i think it actually worked out pretty well. like others have said before me, if the thread doesn't interest you then don't read it. i wouldn't think to have the "You'd better not be sober!" thread shut down just because i don't drink and don't care about everyone's incoherent ramblings. if you think that the blog thread is boring, you're free to ignore it along with any of the other threads that don't interest you.

0bsessions · « **Reply #135 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 09:25 »

The difference is, the drunk thread doesn't devour potentially interesting threads. The drunk thread merely shields us all from drunk posting, to an extent.

The blog thread had gotten to the point where people really weren't posting interesting things in general anymore because they were just posting it in the blog thread. "Don't read the blog thread" doesn't solve the fact that those of us who don't care about the minutiae of most of the blog thread posters have to either trudge through page after page of whiny, self absorbed bullshit mixed with inane and inconsequential personal anecdotes if we actually want to see any of the cool bits.

Seriously, I rarely ever read the blog thread, but I tended to keep up to date on the people I actively give a shit about through Meebo and Facebook. The same goes for most of us who skip the inane BS that that thread became.

CardinalFang · « **Reply #136 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 10:05 »

The blog thread was still posting interesting things. They apparently just weren't interesting to you. Why is that a reason to kill it?

Can you please provide examples of the potentially interesting threads that the blog thread devoured. Also why if you read something you thought would make an interesting topic didn't you start a thread about the topic yourself?

Quote from: Eris on 20 Jan 2009, 18:50

But the problem is that people will automatically just tell people who start a new thread that they should go to the Blog Thread. Sure there are stuff in there that should be there, and there is also stuff in the blog thread that would make good threads. If Elizzybeth started a thread about her grandmother and wanted to talk about the grieving process then it would be an interesting thread and people could give their own experiences, but it was posted in the blog thread and any real potential discussion was reduced to simple condolences or offers to PM conversations, because her original post got lost in the masses of posts in there and people missed it.

I don't know Elizzybeth but perhaps she didn't want to start a thread about the grieving process. Perhaps the blog thread was exactly what she wanted. It certainly seems to be the case with other posters that the blog thread was exactly what they wanted. Why take it away on the off chance that some theoretical interesting thread is never started.
What I don't understand is what horrible power that the blog thread had that prevented someone from starting a thread about the grieving process after reading Elizzybeth's post.

The lack of new threads I think has far more to do with the rough treatment that they're given when someone is brave/foolish enough to start one.

I think it's just odd that the blog thread was started IIRC because of all the new threads that popped up with comments about someone's personal life. These threads were inevitably swamped by old timers yelling GET A BLOG. There was even a nifty graphic that was used and in at least one case a game of hangman was used to get the point across. So the blog thread was created and became very popular. Now the blog thread is locked can we look forward to cries of "GET A BLOG" again?

jhocking · « **Reply #137 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 10:53 »

Well I've already said it once but I'd like to point it out again in order to maybe stop this argument about the blog thread:

Quote from: CardinalFang on 23 Jan 2009, 10:05

The lack of new threads I think has far more to do with the rough treatment that they're given when someone is brave/foolish enough to start one.

I very much agree with this. It also seems that both jon, eris also agree with this. Regardless of how everyone feels about the blog thread specifically, it seems that we're all in agreement that we need to stop harshing on new threads. So how about we just focus on the part we all agree on?

In my own case, I am quite used to people starting threads that nobody finds interesting so they fade away without any responses (myself included; hell I may have just done it today.) I see nothing wrong with this; how about from now on, instead of shouting GET A BLOG or whatever, we simply ignore uninteresting threads so that they'll just kind of fade away?

ADDITION: Does anyone else find it ironic that this thread is getting a bit long in the tooth?

Ã¶de · « **Reply #138 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 11:18 »

This forum is all talk.

pwhodges · « **Reply #139 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 11:42 »

Except the pictures.

Ã¶de · « **Reply #140 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 12:13 »

Which are worth roughly 1000 words each.

pwhodges · « **Reply #141 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 12:38 »

Touché

RedLion · « **Reply #142 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 12:52 »

Sorry, but I still don't see how the arbitrary locking of the blog thread was justified except that some people were never cool with it. It wasn't eating up potentially cool threads, it was just people venting. It was nice to be able to hear about people's day-to-day lives sometimes. People shouldn't just start threads about "man my day sucked," because if everyone did that, that would be all this forum is. The blog thread served a useful purpose in giving people a place to do that.

I really don't think there was any good reason for it. Except that some people have a problem with threads that are popular enough to continue living more than a month.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #143 on:** 23 Jan 2009, 21:36 »

If we cast our minds back you'll remember that the Blog Thread was created because people were bitching about the direction the forum was going in, much like this thread.

ITT people are never happy with anything ever

KvP · « **Reply #144 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 01:30 »

I was as annoyed by the shuttering of the blog thread as anybody, especially given that there are long threads with consistently worse content (the fashion thread) but I accept that it's gone and that it's not going to be restored. It's been my experience that when changes are made in a forum they're always permanent (unless the change is persistently and obviously disruptive to the rest of the forum) I don't doubt that the decision to lock the thread was largely arbitrary - if the problem was length there would've been a new thread started in the wake of the locking, ala the mediaf!re thread. But est doesn't really have to explain himself, he doesn't serve us. It's his decision as to what constitutes an appropriate thread for the forum, and the blog thread for whatever reason was deemed inappropriate. The reason doesn't matter. If you really want to, start another iteration of the thread. I don't imagine it'll get locked, at least not right away. The last one did go on for quite awhile. Don't bother trying to convince people who never saw the utility of the thread to agree with you. They feel as strongly about whatever it is they think as you do. Just don't keep going on about it here.

To reiterate, if you feel that strongly about it, just start the thread again. It's that easy. Are you afraid people are going to bitch? People are bitching plenty already. People are still bitching about a thread that they successfully shut down almost a week ago. You might as well start it just so that, if nothing else, this thread will start making sense.

Professor Snuggles · « **Reply #145 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 01:44 »

Ironically, since this thread, and everyone starting to just make new threads, I've pretty much stopped reading the board entirely.

I suck, guys.

KvP · « **Reply #146 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 01:46 »

Might as well trust your gut. You shouldn't have to read something you have no investment in.

Ladybug · « **Reply #147 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 02:24 »

I think the thing about the blog thread was that it might not have turned out the way some people had hoped, but it also proved to be a popular and, in a sense, valuable thread to those who liked it, and those who didn't could just ignore it. It was a way to get to know other people on the forum better, a place for people to be happy, sad, angry or whatever about things that wouldn't have made sense as its own thread, and people could give and receive advice on day-to-day happenings. In my opinion, not a lot of what was posted in the blog thread would've made for a good thread on its own anyways, but I may be alone in that view. Now that it is closed, a few new threads have appeared, but I don't really see how or why those threads couldn't appear while the blog thread could live on either.

That being said, I guess closing it for a while to see what happens isn't necessarily bad.

jhocking · « **Reply #148 on:** 24 Jan 2009, 11:44 »

Quote from: Ptommydski on 24 Jan 2009, 10:52

some crazy ass backward thinking nonsense

*files away another great expression*

est · « **Reply #149 on:** 25 Jan 2009, 00:48 »

Quote from: KvP on 24 Jan 2009, 01:30

I accept that it's gone and that it's not going to be restored.

I am not sure where this is coming from. I said earlier that I was locking the blog thread mainly as an experiment to see if some new threads pop up and if we can kind of reboot what is seen as worthy of a new thread.

Quote from: KvP on 24 Jan 2009, 01:30

if you feel that strongly about it, just start the thread again

Yes, exactly. I only meant to lock it up for a little while, someone should start it up again if they have something to blog about that doesn't necessarily merit its own thread.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: I pretty much only read 3 threads on this forum (Read 27650 times)

mooface