# How do you read a long thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-read-a-long-thread/140171 "2002-12-03T06:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-read-a-long-thread/140171/1 "2002-12-03T06:44:41Z")
When you’re tooling around the message board and you see an interesting question but it has _a lot_ of posts already posted, do you read each one carefully, skim, or skip? Is hitting on an already posted idea in a thread some sort of _faux pas_? Do you say “fifty-five posts, x% probably boneheads, not worth the trouble” and move on? Give me a good strategy to work with, please. -jsh ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-read-a-long-thread/140171/2 "2002-12-03T06:51:27Z")
I just read each query as fast as I can sometimes, making sure that if I add something it hasn’t already been suggested. But I _do_ try to read everything. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-read-a-long-thread/140171/3 "2002-12-03T06:52:53Z")
Ahhhh…it’s late…I meant post.