Usually, if I do find I have something to contribute, I'll see that someone else has brought up my point already - that, and I prefer to just read anyway.
I'm too terrified of making a stupid post, since every time I try and write up something I hate how idiotic I sound and delete it for fear of getting reamed. I should really get it over with and just make an ass of myself already, and become a better man for the experience.
Posting is a skill that improves with practice. I remember when I first stopped lurking I'd have to go sit on the couch and work out my thoughts on a pad of paper and them very deliberately compose something. It all works a lot faster now. Being on this forum has really improved the essay writing I have to do for school.
I'm too terrified of making a stupid post, since every time I try and write up something I hate how idiotic I sound and delete it for fear of getting reamed. I should really get it over with and just make an ass of myself already, and become a better man for the experience.
oh yeah, I have this problem too. I'll get it written up, read over it and then decide I don't like it and delete it.
Came very close to happening to this post as well.
Well, if you find that often people have already posted all the stuff you wanted to say in great detail, it's always fun to post the exact contradiction of whatever you originally wanted to say and watch people get hot and bothered.
Gorgeeen on
No god damnit! The sheriff is a nig*Church Bells*r!!
Since the new forum was put into place I post even less than I used to. I like the Joined dates, I figure if someone has been around for over a year and they hadn't been scared away or banned, they might be able to debate a little bit.
Now, unless I recognize a name there is no way for me to know if a poster is cool asshat or just your run of the mill noob asshat :P
Or by, God forbid, reading their post and replying to it based on its own merits rather than some preconcieved notion of what you're "supposed" to think about their posts based on seniority.
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
Since the new forum was put into place I post even less than I used to. I like the Joined dates, I figure if someone has been around for over a year and they hadn't been scared away or banned, they might be able to debate a little bit.
Now, unless I recognize a name there is no way for me to know if a poster is cool asshat or just your run of the mill noob asshat :P
Or by, God forbid, reading their post and replying to it based on its own merits rather than some preconcieved notion of what you're "supposed" to think about their posts based on seniority.
Yeah. No offense, Thaiboxer, but your post represents the type of thinking that leads to join dates being removed.
Wow, the reason I didn't want to post this, is the same reason I was going to give that lurking is important. Usually in D&D, there are some people that know what they are talking about, and post much faster than you, or read the thread before you. What you want to say has been said already, or been put much better than you could ever attempt to put it, so why jump on the bandwagon.
Yeah, why did I post again, this same post was stated about 4 times before this, all much better.
I lurk here a fair amount but the main reason I don't contribute is that I don't care if other people know my viewpoint or whether they agree with me or not. And oftentimes I'm in the "I don't know and I have no opinion" group. Stuff like abortion, class structure, whatever. "I don't know and I have no opinion" fits what I think about all those pretty well. But I'll still read what other people think about it. Why? I'm not really sure. Maybe its because since I could care less what other people think about what I think, I'm trying to figure out why anyone else spends so much time typing on the internet to inform anonymous others their view/idea/whatever on something.
Its kind of contradictory of me posting that considering my views, but I have no qualms with changing my mind about whatever to suit my needs whenever it arises.
EDIT: It doesn't help that I'm a slow reader. Topics usually spring up and move so fast that I don't have an hour to read through 10 pages (I don't know if thats really how long it takes me, I'm just saying). So oftentimes I'll read through the first few pages, get bored, and go somewhere else. On the bright side, I hardly ever forget anything I read. I know some people who read super fast and they'll read a book several times and say "wow I never noticed that last time I read it!" I hardly ever read books twice, but when I do I almost never notice anything I don't remember from the first time I read it.
Although Loren and I haven't had a good religion thread to jump in in a while.
"Good" being the key. I'm sick of these "OLOL my pastor said this, I kinda believe it but I think it might be dumb. Also, you can't prove that god doesn't exist kthxbaiiiiii!" bullshit threads. I like religion threads that are kind of a continued narrative from previous good ones, but I think it's been too long since the last interesting one.
...
Uh... I lurked for like, a year. I can't remember what gave me the incentive to post. I think I may have been bored at work and I knew I had something to say that was insightful. Or maybe I'm just prettying it up.
I read more than I post. It's because there aren't that many threads which meet the criteria for being worthwhile to post in. A thread should:
1) Be interesting (fuck sports threads)
2) Be in an area I have reasonable competence (politics threads interest me, but I rarely have much to add)
3) Not have degenerated into either:
3a) Everyone whaling on the dumb guy(s)
3b) A hundred poasts a minute (circumcision thread)
3c) Two people doing line-by-line responses to each other.
That doesn't happen that often.
If I'm at a loss for input, but I'm interested in the subject, I'll ask for clarification or elaboration on someone's point. It normally turns out well.
I read more than I post. It's because there aren't that many threads which meet the criteria for being worthwhile to post in. A thread should:
1) Be interesting (fuck sports threads)
2) Be in an area I have reasonable competence (politics threads interest me, but I rarely have much to add)
3) Not have degenerated into either:
3a) Everyone whaling on the dumb guy(s)
3b) A hundred poasts a minute (circumcision thread)
3c) Two people doing line-by-line responses to each other.
That doesn't happen that often.
If I'm at a loss for input, but I'm interested in the subject, I'll ask for clarification or elaboration on someone's point. It normally turns out well.
I'm kinda with HalberdBlue. A lot of the stuff I don't really give a crap about. Politics? Meh.. Abortion? Some bullshit about drugs or Israel or sports or global warming? Beh..
I love music, and art, and cool movies and shows. I might post something in those threads.
A lot of people here throw around some serious jargon. It doesn't "intimidate" me like "oh no! these people are smarter than me", but it kind of annoys me along the lines of "Jesus Christ, I'm sure you could've said that in a simpler way. Speak English and maybe we can have a discussion". I'm not stupid. I've done very well in all my schoolwork, enjoy philosophy and science and technology, did very well on my PCAT and am going into Pharmacy.
Yes yes, I'm well aware many of you are debating professionally or writing essays or something, but I guess this atmosphere isn't for me. Someone said earlier that they write out their posts on a notepad first? I'm sorry, but that's too much for me. This forum feels like a job.
I usually show up to a thread and find that someone is defending my opinion perfectly well and doesn't need any help. The result is that I only post when I need to ask a question or when I'm so worked up about something that I can't keep quiet. As you might imagine, the latter option doesn't usually work too well.
A lot of people here throw around some serious jargon. It doesn't "intimidate" me like "oh no! these people are smarter than me", but it kind of annoys me along the lines of "Jesus Christ, I'm sure you could've said that in a simpler way. Speak English and maybe we can have a discussion"
i think sometimes (a lot of the time) threads in here become intellectual pissing contests where the goal is to fit in the maximum amount of sarcasm and passive agressive (or hell, overt) insults that you possibly can when replying to someone that you disagree with.
that probably discourages a lot of people from posting, i think.
D&D can be really informative and interesting (which is why i post here), but the whole "you're a fucking moron if you don't agree with me so i'm going to call you that seven more times in my post" gets really tiresome sometimes. some random lurker probably isn't going to want to contribute to a thread where a lot of that is going on. it just seems hostile
Pants Man on
"okay byron, my grandma has a right to be happy, so i give you my blessing. just... don't get her pregnant. i don't need another mom."
I mostly only get involved in threads when there's a failure to argue my position. The majority of things I would say in most threads are already covered by other posters, so, rather often, I wait to see if they're around before even bothering. So, say, in feminism threads, if TheCat's already in there, things are already being handled. There's just only so much room for argument once you have a more or less science/equality/atheism tendency going on.
So I usually end up aiming for threads where that mindset is still weak for most people, like free will or objectivism or other things which most people still take as given, one way or another.
They're especially fun because I know shitall jargon. :P
I'd post more if you'd all spend more time posting about football.
see, threads like those generally aren't that successful because not that many different people post in them. it's like the same five dudes who care about football, ovr and over.
i mean, they're cool threads because hell, it's football, but it'd be nice to have more input. i usually go to my other forum where i post constantly, because for five months out of the year it's football city. weekly Ohio State football threads? c'est magnifique!
Pants Man on
"okay byron, my grandma has a right to be happy, so i give you my blessing. just... don't get her pregnant. i don't need another mom."
I'd post more if you'd all spend more time posting about football.
see, threads like those generally aren't that successful because not that many different people post in them. it's like the same five dudes who care about football, ovr and over.
i mean, they're cool threads because hell, it's football, but it'd be nice to have more input. i usually go to my other forum where i post constantly, because for five months out of the year it's football city. weekly Ohio State football threads? c'est magnifique!
I'd post more if you'd all spend more time posting about football.
see, threads like those generally aren't that successful because not that many different people post in them. it's like the same five dudes who care about football, ovr and over.
i mean, they're cool threads because hell, it's football, but it'd be nice to have more input. i usually go to my other forum where i post constantly, because for five months out of the year it's football city. weekly Ohio State football threads? c'est magnifique!
Same, although I'm talking about proper football.
aaaaaaaawwwwwww snap
edit: but i like soccer too, i just don't follow it that much. i wonder how D&D would react to non-generalized sports threads. like "les miles says something crazy then jim harbaugh says something crazy then colt mccoy looks like he's 12"
Pants Man on
"okay byron, my grandma has a right to be happy, so i give you my blessing. just... don't get her pregnant. i don't need another mom."
Well, I usually keep Firefox open on the D&D index or the [chat] thread, so I can just refresh once in a while. Plus, if I'm reading an interesting thread and I have to leave, I just keep it open where I left off. So I guess I contribute to the "viewing" numbers.
And I'm typing this in the "quick reply" box. Does it make me count as "viewing" or "posting"?
Leaving the tab open doesn't contribute to the number. You would need to access the page from time to time.
Your login times out in a few minutes if you don't at least refresh
Sometimes I'll go into a thread, type something like 2 paragraphs long, then just close the window.
I do this more often than I post, but it's all well and good because reading discussions is entertainment enough. I always come into a discussion too late, and if and when I do post the thread is on its last leg, and I then feel like a threadkiller.
The first forum I ever joined was this australian one that my sister's boyfriend was part of for some reason. It taught me alot about the internet (goatse among other things of course), including a fear of forums because they were elitist assholes.
I try to give every topic a good read through unless it's way over my head in science, or the chat thread. I don't post since many of my opinons are pretty juvenile, but when a topic gets into a good debate it can be informative and help me form my own opinion on an issue.
I'd probably post more if I lived in the same time zone as most other forumers, and could be assured of getting a quick reply to keep the discussion going. Then again, I'm in the same zone as the Cat and she seems to manage.
Also I agree with everyone else's reasons. For instance, I have strong opinions on the current Israel thread, but they're the same as most other people's so there's no point in posting them.
And I'd just like to take this opportunity to say 'fuck you' to the other CrimsonKing, the one without the space.
I mostly live in the chat thread as the other threads are either out of my expertise or not that interesting to me.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
I'd probably post more if I lived in the same time zone as most other forumers, and could be assured of getting a quick reply to keep the discussion going. Then again, I'm in the same zone as the Cat and she seems to manage.
Also I agree with everyone else's reasons. For instance, I have strong opinions on the current Israel thread, but they're the same as most other people's so there's no point in posting them.
And I'd just like to take this opportunity to say 'fuck you' to the other CrimsonKing, the one without the space.
Oh my god, I didn't realise there were two of you! I apologise profusely for accidentally sending waves of hate your way, because the other guy is a total dick.
Most of the time the people I agree with don't need my help. Other times threads are simply interesting to read and learn something about american society or politics.
I posted a lot during spring semester this year but haven't kept up with it this summer. I'll probably start posting more once classes start up again.
Then again, inadvertently I got Drez banned for a little bit, which I kinda felt bad about.
Nah dude, that really wasn't your fault. That was my fault. And I wasn't even blaming you at the time, I was blaming Marx. But it's all water under the bridge at this point. What you did was totally fine and appropriate within Phalla standards - I was not upset or angry about anything you did whatsoever. Please don't feel guilty about that. You were as culpable as someone selling me a bus pass and then I guess on the bus and the bus crashes. Sure you were somehow involved in the chain of events, but not guilty in the slightest.
My fiance has been a forumer since 2004, but he lured me in with promises of Caturday threads. I've been actively lurking this whole summer (lots of free time, i.e. internship) and just joined a week or so ago. My first post was in SE++ and someone immediately called me a furry. That, plus a natural shyness, have kept me pretty quiet.
I post a little, but not very much. Whenever I find a thread I'm interested in it's usually already at like 20+ pages and the last few posts are usually some guy saying "bla bla bla" and then someone else saying "what the fuck is wrong with you we already went over that like 15 pages ago GOD." So I tend to keep out.
Posts
And if I do someone already said it. And therein lies the problem of there being a bajillion people on the internet.
MKDS Friend Code: 476-802-986-689
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Pokemon Friend Code: 3222 2050 0417
That is why I dont post but lurk.
oh yeah, I have this problem too. I'll get it written up, read over it and then decide I don't like it and delete it.
Came very close to happening to this post as well.
Or by, God forbid, reading their post and replying to it based on its own merits rather than some preconcieved notion of what you're "supposed" to think about their posts based on seniority.
It's hard to break the lurking habit at first, because your first xx posts will go unnoticed. Until you can start making cohesive paosts that people pay attention to, lurking is quite attractive.
Yeah, why did I post again, this same post was stated about 4 times before this, all much better.
Click image for my huge backlog
Its kind of contradictory of me posting that considering my views, but I have no qualms with changing my mind about whatever to suit my needs whenever it arises.
EDIT: It doesn't help that I'm a slow reader. Topics usually spring up and move so fast that I don't have an hour to read through 10 pages (I don't know if thats really how long it takes me, I'm just saying). So oftentimes I'll read through the first few pages, get bored, and go somewhere else. On the bright side, I hardly ever forget anything I read. I know some people who read super fast and they'll read a book several times and say "wow I never noticed that last time I read it!" I hardly ever read books twice, but when I do I almost never notice anything I don't remember from the first time I read it.
"Good" being the key. I'm sick of these "OLOL my pastor said this, I kinda believe it but I think it might be dumb. Also, you can't prove that god doesn't exist kthxbaiiiiii!" bullshit threads. I like religion threads that are kind of a continued narrative from previous good ones, but I think it's been too long since the last interesting one.
...
Uh... I lurked for like, a year. I can't remember what gave me the incentive to post. I think I may have been bored at work and I knew I had something to say that was insightful. Or maybe I'm just prettying it up.
If I'm at a loss for input, but I'm interested in the subject, I'll ask for clarification or elaboration on someone's point. It normally turns out well.
Could you explain further?
On the black screen
I love music, and art, and cool movies and shows. I might post something in those threads.
A lot of people here throw around some serious jargon. It doesn't "intimidate" me like "oh no! these people are smarter than me", but it kind of annoys me along the lines of "Jesus Christ, I'm sure you could've said that in a simpler way. Speak English and maybe we can have a discussion". I'm not stupid. I've done very well in all my schoolwork, enjoy philosophy and science and technology, did very well on my PCAT and am going into Pharmacy.
Yes yes, I'm well aware many of you are debating professionally or writing essays or something, but I guess this atmosphere isn't for me. Someone said earlier that they write out their posts on a notepad first? I'm sorry, but that's too much for me. This forum feels like a job.
But hey, that's my opinion. You asked for it.
i think sometimes (a lot of the time) threads in here become intellectual pissing contests where the goal is to fit in the maximum amount of sarcasm and passive agressive (or hell, overt) insults that you possibly can when replying to someone that you disagree with.
that probably discourages a lot of people from posting, i think.
D&D can be really informative and interesting (which is why i post here), but the whole "you're a fucking moron if you don't agree with me so i'm going to call you that seven more times in my post" gets really tiresome sometimes. some random lurker probably isn't going to want to contribute to a thread where a lot of that is going on. it just seems hostile
So I usually end up aiming for threads where that mindset is still weak for most people, like free will or objectivism or other things which most people still take as given, one way or another.
They're especially fun because I know shitall jargon. :P
This is actually my first post.
see, threads like those generally aren't that successful because not that many different people post in them. it's like the same five dudes who care about football, ovr and over.
i mean, they're cool threads because hell, it's football, but it'd be nice to have more input. i usually go to my other forum where i post constantly, because for five months out of the year it's football city. weekly Ohio State football threads? c'est magnifique!
aaaaaaaawwwwwww snap
edit: but i like soccer too, i just don't follow it that much. i wonder how D&D would react to non-generalized sports threads. like "les miles says something crazy then jim harbaugh says something crazy then colt mccoy looks like he's 12"
Your login times out in a few minutes if you don't at least refresh
Then again, inadvertently I got Drez banned for a little bit, which I kinda felt bad about.
The first forum I ever joined was this australian one that my sister's boyfriend was part of for some reason. It taught me alot about the internet (goatse among other things of course), including a fear of forums because they were elitist assholes.
I've actually been doing this more and more myself.
I've been working on keeping to more useful posting.
Like Hemingway would post, if he was a zombie.
Also I agree with everyone else's reasons. For instance, I have strong opinions on the current Israel thread, but they're the same as most other people's so there's no point in posting them.
And I'd just like to take this opportunity to say 'fuck you' to the other CrimsonKing, the one without the space.
My first DD post was savaged by Salvation122, I was lucky :P
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT I STAYED, SAL
MUAHAHAHHAAHAHA
Oh my god, I didn't realise there were two of you! I apologise profusely for accidentally sending waves of hate your way, because the other guy is a total dick.
Nah dude, that really wasn't your fault. That was my fault. And I wasn't even blaming you at the time, I was blaming Marx. But it's all water under the bridge at this point. What you did was totally fine and appropriate within Phalla standards - I was not upset or angry about anything you did whatsoever. Please don't feel guilty about that. You were as culpable as someone selling me a bus pass and then I guess on the bus and the bus crashes. Sure you were somehow involved in the chain of events, but not guilty in the slightest.