Your most successful threads

In My Humble Opinion
1

Over the past few weeks I have started or participated in several threads where thread history and thread oddities have been the main topics of conversation. Some of those threads have pointed to the negative aspects of threads like which ones were the puniest, weakest, most unnecessary and so on.

This thread is for bragging and success stories.

Using for “most successful” the criterion that the thread had to have gotten at least 100 replies, and the thread was started by you, give us a sample of your crowning achievements. Links are nice but unnecessary.

Here are my top threads, in descending order of Number of Replies:

Malapropagation (Thread 3 of game – #1 with New Name) ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 … Last Page)
Zeldar 04-30-2008 09:38 PM
by kunilou 394 2,836 The Game Room

This thread is just about this thread ( 1 2 3 4 5 6)
Zeldar 09-23-2003 12:03 PM
by Zeldar 290 3,814 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Botticelli – Round 3 ( 1 2 3 4 5 6)
Zeldar 03-19-2007 12:16 PM
by Johnny L.A. 277 1,706 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Non-USA Dopers: Stand and be counted. Please. ( 1 2 3 4 5 6)
Zeldar 10-25-2006 03:50 AM
by ScareyFaerie 256 5,313 In My Humble Opinion

I thought that was a _________ ( 1 2 3 4 5)
Zeldar 04-09-2008 06:46 PM
by twickster 249 2,259 The Game Room

The Cossack Game – Thread #2 ( 1 2 3 4 5)
Zeldar 04-16-2008 02:18 PM
by Sternvogel 238 1,650 The Game Room

Put a face on a Doper you’ve never seen – Round 2 ( 1 2 3 4 5)
Zeldar 03-31-2007 05:01 PM
by Quartz 237 4,968 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Southern USA Dopers: Stand and be counted, please ( 1 2 3 4 5)
Zeldar 08-15-2006 11:37 AM
by Zeldar 201 2,720 In My Humble Opinion

Name the actor by surnames of roles played ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 03-06-2009 08:56 AM
by Zeldar 194 1,202 The Game Room

Guess the famous person, then add another ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 04-13-2008 01:28 PM
by 5-4-Fighting 187 1,371 The Game Room

Pronunciations that make your skin crawl ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 03-30-2007 04:53 PM
by DanBlather 177 3,719 In My Humble Opinion

Wanna play Botticelli? ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 03-14-2007 10:23 AM
by Enginerd 165 1,569 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Non Sequiturs ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 08-23-2003 09:24 PM
by Zeldar 160 1,791 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Help me identify an actor, please ( 1 2 3 4)
Zeldar 05-16-2007 03:40 PM
by Zeldar 160 3,237 Cafe Society

A Game with no Name ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-18-2007 08:07 PM
by Scruloose 149 1,403 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Your surname: 3 non-specific questions (maybe more) ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 08-09-2006 03:58 AM
by Zeldar 148 2,142 In My Humble Opinion

Quaint expressions you heard once or twice but use yourself regularly ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 04-21-2008 06:56 PM
by Faruiza 145 3,441 In My Humble Opinion

What movie(s) do you wish you had your time back for having seen? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-20-2007 09:22 PM
by Wile E 140 4,643 Cafe Society

Put a face on a Doper you’ve never seen ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-07-2006 01:55 AM
by sjc 140 4,286 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Notable celebrity closest to your age ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 02-22-2009 12:39 AM
by pulykamell 137 1,481 Cafe Society

Those annoying cliches in movies and TV shows ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 04-29-2006 11:40 PM
by chrisk 132 4,840 Cafe Society

Stuff in movies that bugs me. How about you? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 07-24-2007 11:12 PM
by Johnny Hildo 130 5,397 Cafe Society

Botticelli – Thread #4 ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-23-2007 01:06 PM
by Zeldar 129 788 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

A Poll: The Most Famous _______ ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-25-2007 08:06 AM
by Zeldar 128 1,936 In My Humble Opinion

Lurkers Anonymous: Roll Call ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 02-11-2006 09:03 AM
by Zeldar 126 2,470 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

The news of whose death shocked you most? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 04-09-2007 05:31 PM
by Martha Medea 125 3,369 In My Humble Opinion

Which cancelled or defunct TV series do you miss most? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 04-08-2008 01:36 PM
by Pollux Oil 125 2,764 Cafe Society

Your Biggest Surprise in a Movie [Open Spoilers] ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 04-21-2008 11:29 PM
by Nzinga, Seated 122 4,915 Cafe Society

What’s your most esoteric or arcane hobby or interest? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 09-14-2006 10:53 AM
by Lobelia Overhill 121 3,194 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Favorite “Far Side” Memories (MAD, too) ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 07-06-2003 12:01 PM
by danceswithcats 111 3,102 Cafe Society

Change one letter in one word and wreck an entire sentence ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 03-11-2009 02:54 PM
by Sternvogel 111 1,315 The Game Room

Where’s the one place all of us have been? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 10-24-2003 07:08 AM
by brainfizz 108 1,253 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Which SDMB minority are you in? ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 08-16-2006 11:23 AM
by BiblioCat 104 1,820 In My Humble Opinion

US States Capitals Superlatives: Help build a list ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 05-01-2006 08:46 PM
by HubZilla 102 1,817 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

How close do you live to Franklin? (USA Dopers primarily) ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 08-19-2006 08:23 AM
by Zeldar 101 962 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

Family Feud Survey Says: ( 1 2 3)
Zeldar 02-07-2006 01:51 AM
by C K Dexter Haven 100 1,688 Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)

2

I sincerely hope this isn’t threadshitting but I’d rather celebrate failure if it’s OK with you.

Out of 178 threads started by me in the past 8 years, precisely one has attracted more than 100 replies. Furthermore, only ten of the others drew in excess of fifty responses. My tour de force was Are You A Poster Nobody Wants To Get To Know Better? (172 replies) which I submitted as an antidote to Martini Enfield’s OP entitled ‘Are there posters you’d like to get to know better?’

Does anyone out there have a worse record than this?

3

Uniquely Distinct Americanisms, a thread in GQ with 509 replies. Only “Are Scalar Weapons Real?” has more replies in that forum, and that’s due to it being the birthplace of 1920’s style death rays.

As a fellow Tennessean, is the Franklin you’re asking about in your next to last thread the one in Tennessee, by the way?

4

Yo, Chez Guevara, welcome again to some thread discussion. And I mentioned one measure of “success” but didn’t intend to exclude other measures. Yours works just as well. And, no, I don’t see your comments as threadshitting at all.

I should point out that in many of my threads, not just those above, I have contributed at least half the posts. So at least some of my “successes” minus my contributions might be seen as dismal failures.

Let anybody’s definition of “success” prevail in the citing of their own choices.

5

Indeed so! So is it Go Vols or Go Vandy or what?

And that thread went in some crazy directions I wouldn’t have predicted. A common theme to many of mine.

6

“What?”. I’m not a sports fan, and though I’m Tennessean, I’m practically in the center of Nashville, Knoxville, Huntsville, and Atlanta, and prefer the last city to the other three.

7

There are several measures of what constitutes a successful thread, and your criterion ( # of responses) is only one.

Number of Responses - a pretty good indicator of a thread’s health
Free Will is an illusion - 221 Responses. One of my first threads here, and still the one with the most responses.
(I’m kind of hobbled in this category because I don’t do game threads or poll threads.)

Ratio of views to replies (minimum 20 posts) - a measure of how many people thought the topic was interesting enough to follow (I’d consider a higher ratio to be better. A standard ratio is around 20.)
Mild objection to a Dex thread closing - 3066 : 78 (39.3 ratio)
How do I get my hands on some gov’t subsidized food? - 1112 : 23 (48.3 ratio)
Cool trick with dry ice 1536 : 29 (52.9 ratio)
Do any “historical” events predate Genesis? 2953 : 50 (59.1 ratio)

Threads that actually effect something
I propose that thread-moving mods note thread origins - Led to a (now spottily-followed) new mod policy
Bricker misstated the current law of dual citizenship - Led to an alteration of the staff report and a personal credit (and with a “ratio” of 84.1, it’s also one of my most popular threads)

8

Okay, on the sports thing. I assume from your description you’re not too far from Nooga. Pretty country.

===================================

I’ve been looking back over the threads I’ve started and I see that this issue is not all that new to me. I know I have participated in other threads on the topic, but at least these of mine are available for other ideas from other posters:

Threads you started: Success vs. Failure started 07-04-2003, 08:11 AM in Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS) – within my first month here – and running through 08-24-2003 06:10 AM with 50 Replies and 753 Views.

Threadspotting: Your most successful thread started 02-13-2006, 01:05 and running through PM 02-24-2006 03:11 AM with 42 Replies and 912 Views – In My Humble Opinion

Just how many “successful” threads have you helped make that way? started 08-07-2006, 08:02 AM and running through 08-11-2006 09:20 PM with just 9 Replies and 143 Views – In My Humble Opinion

9

Well, it’s your OP so I was reluctant to comment on what constitutes success.

In GQ, for example, a successful thread may well comprise three posts - a question, an answer, and a thank you. As you have given us licence to brag, I’m going to offer up Boiled Egg = Less Nutritious? as an example of one such topic.

191 views, 2 responses and no contradictions. :slight_smile:

10

Mine are almost entirely weight-loss-club threads and whatcha-reading threads.

I have a handful or so of other threads with more than 100 replies.

One about the 2008 superbowl (my biggest thread.) Two for bad marketing concepts/commercials, one for bad movies and one for unanswerable questions in song. The biggest recent one was for character nods to an actor’s former character.

11

An excellent example for GQ threads. Luckily someone with just the right answer( you) managed to get there before the quipsters, wags and fun-seekers did. It has been my observation that as soon as the right answer appears in GQ, traffic trails off if it doesn’t stop altogether. And in GQ if you have more than two “correct answers” the odds are good that GD will get the thread. :slight_smile:

And that’s assuming the thread doesn’t get locked or moved to The Pit because the language and disrespect factors reached too high a pitch.

A side point of curiosity: has anybody been BANNED for providing one bad answer in GQ before posting any other post? :smiley:

12

I’ve had a few go over 100 in six years, but not many. One broke 200. The megastar for me was the “Sarah turns opaque” thread which broke 500 and had at least 7,000 hits. My proudest title creation, however, was “Japanese nipples of fury?” back in 2003.

13

They sound intriguing! Any chance for links to them?

BTW, did you get my Odin reference to your vole thing?

14

Cleveland. I work in Chattanooga, though.

I narrowed my location down to highlight the split loyalties that people who actually follow sports have in my area. That said, I think they’re mostly Vols fans around here.

15

After rethinking my “success” criteria, with input from you folks, I’ve decided not to consider the pure game threads I’ve started, even though they have been lots of fun and quite distracting. I’ve also ruled out the threads where only a handful of posters (myself included) made up way more than the lion’s share of the posts.

Using the last two years as a limit, 100 posts minimum still, but dropping those where I was the main contributor, I’m left with:

Notable celebrity closest to your age (last post = 02-22-2009 12:39 AM by pulykamell in Cafe Society)

Which cancelled or defunct TV series do you miss most? (last post = 04-08-2008 01:36 PM by Pollux Oil in Cafe Society)

The news of whose death shocked you most? (last post = 04-09-2007 05:31 PM by Martha Medea in In My Humble Opinion)

Your Biggest Surprise in a Movie [Open Spoilers] (last post = 04-21-2008 11:29 PM by Nzinga, Seated in Cafe Society)

The first one is still open (zombie-wise) but the others would need a kickstart. (Notice how they’re all April threads.)

If anybody would like to start new threads on those topics, please be my guest.

If you have a similar situation where one of yours would be a revived zombie, and you just don’t want to restart it yourself, please point us to it/them.

One of my pet peeves with the way SDMB’s zombie rules work is that some really fascinating topics go to sleep after a flurry of activity, only to be thought of again when somebody starts what (for them) is a “new topic” and is immediately met with links to old threads with such comment as “We already discussed that here.”

And with the 5-minute search timing as a limitation, going back to locate one of those threads to link to is a daunting task. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, sort of thing.

Not a big enough bitch for The Pit or ATMB, but still…

16

  1. The Sarah thread.

  2. Nipples of fury.

  3. Nope.

17

1 & 2, great stuff!

3, check your “hauling out the dead” thread. I explained and LouisB and I are hijacking it with love for The Vikings. (1958) May not be the sort of feedback you wanted, but it’s a numeric improvement over 1 Reply.

18

My most successful threads would be the Interactive Storytelling/Middle-Earth D&D Games.

First Adventure Thread 966 posts.
Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game, the Second Adventure, Scouting Ered Lithui 991
Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game, Third Adventure, Ered Lithui Mystery Creature 1,446
Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game. Fourth Adventure. Journey to Rivendell 1,341
Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game: Fifth Adventure - War in Goblin Gate 1,374 (current One)
D & D on the Straight Dope setup thread. (In Middle Earth FA63) 1,499 posts

I’ve also had about 6 or 7 baseball threads that ran from 100+ to a high of 336.

The one I guess I am most proud of would probably be:
Rosa Parks died today at age 92 I felt like I fought some ignorance in this tribute thread to one of the greatest Americans.

My most humorous ones might be:
You know you’re hardcore Jersey when you get these…
How To Drive In New Jersey.
I had that little talk with my daughter last night; as she is 9, it was a little late

19

There’s at least one other thread on this topic where I contributed that Absence/Emptiness as a theme in art (which was started 01-21-2006, 10:17 AM and went until 02-03-2006 08:37 AM in Cafe Society with 50 Replies and 763 Views) was probably my most successful thread on a more-or-less serious subject. There have been other “serious” threads I’ve started, but I can’t remember one that was more well received.

20

Back in 1999 I thought “A celebrity deathpool. That’d be fun.”