I don't start threads in here too often, but I have a question for you old farts.
Last edited Tue Jan 30, 2018, 03:05 PM - Edit history (1)
I've been around for a long time, and I know some of you DU veterans have seen me post over the years. So I have a question regarding what it entails and why do you open and read a thread?
Is it always the thread title you look for or the author or both? Or crosscheck?
And when you open a long thread, do you always hit the "view all" or do you just scan the response title lines and go from there?
I think it is an interesting question, frankly.
How and why do you sort your decisions to look and and or interact with a thread?
Edited the thread title because it was bothering me!
= new reply since forum marked as read
1. I can only hold a few usernames in my mind, so, poster isn't a consideration for me.
2. If the topic has already been beaten to a pulp, I let it lie.
3. Some ops are obviously inflamatory click bait: I'm not here to argue. I'm interested in learning. So, if a statement is obviously uninformed or overly biased, I don't care what's under there.
4. Number of replies is never a concern for me. I go with substance.
5. View all makes it an easier scan.
6. When you find a funny, stick with reply lines: The punch lines are better revealed one at a time in order.
Keep on hereticing!
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I read everything he posts and I’ve actually MET HIM 
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I remember long threads with lots of moving gifs or images taking forever to load at 28K. The Opera browser made it easy to turn images off.
New posters are likely to catch my attention too, not always in a positive way.
I ignore most TV threads because I don't watch TV news or TV news-like swill, ever. Our television plays movies, that's all it does, I never see television commercials. I don't think there's a single television news personality I could identify in a police lineup. I think most I knew from the golden age of television news, Walter Cronkite, etc., are dead or long retired. I'm much happier not knowing what goes on with TV news.
It used to be I wouldn't put anyone on ignore here, but life's to short to argue with single issue posters who never change their opinions and never talk about anything else but their single issue. I don't know which would be worse, that they are paid to post here, or that their interests are so astonishingly narrow.
Obviously you are not on my ignore list and I do read your posts.
Poster isn't important, although I have my favorites and conversely a few not on my top 10 list. But generally I'll read anyone who present a cohesive, rational commentary on something I find interesting. Of course except in the Lounge. No cohesive, rational thoughts required.
I read those first, then Latest Threads. I look at the title first, I guess. Author doesn't matter very much to me. Then I go to The Lounge. 
If it's too long, I usually skip it. Since getting hooked on Twitter, my attention span is much shorter these days.
I hardly ever open posts that seem like videos or song titles. Those annoy the heck out of me. I have been railing about that since I joined... why can't they just put the word "video" in the title????
I couldn't agree more. Of course, it isn't the mods or the MIRT folks who shut threads all the time, but rather some who seem a bit too quick to send an alert.
As you mentioned, there was a time when folks were free to bat those freeper types around a bit, like a cat with a mouse, before the thread was locked.
I too am tired of the fighting, and the fact is, I see the same old, tired arguments both in GD and in the Religion group where I used to post somewhat regularly.
Anyway, glad you thought this was interesting enough to answer!
Joined in 02, can’t believe it’s been 16 years. Select by title only, always hit view all. Look at Latest, then General, then Lounge.