Wouldn’t it be fun if we could construct a thread tree that showed how threads came to be? By this I mean that the threads I have started must come into existence in much the same way that yours do or did. If we could each identify which thread and post prompted us to launch a new thread, we might be able to link all the threads at SDMB together sort of like a Family Tree or some other graphical representation that would let us see the relationships between them.
Here are some things that will prompt me to start a new thread:
– Something relatively trivial for which I don’t want to respond in hijack fashion (don’t get me wrong: I’ve hijacked many a thread, sometimes to the point of killing it)
– Something in the news or at another website or on TV
– A “fresh” idea that, upon reflection or a little backtracking over recent threads, suddenly comes to mind
– As a counter-point to some other thread’s theme
– Genuine curiosity over something I either don’t know as a fact or something I’d like to know how others think and feel about it
There must be other reasons threads get started. That’s where your own motivations and reasons come in.
If we can make a reasonable list of such things, maybe somebody can come up with a scheme to classify threads in such a way that they might be indexed.
Imagine something like the Dewey Decimal System used in libraries to permit books to be organized. Something like that. And I know we have a rough guide to that in the way the various fora are organized and maintained. But I’m talking something way more detailed and specific.
Wanna take a stab at such a thing?
