# How Do You Use Your Thread Subscriptions? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395 "2010-02-17T21:22:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/1 "2010-02-17T21:22:26Z")
I’ve been curious about this – how the hoi polloi utilizes their thread subscriptions. Until recently I never bothered subscribing to threads. I’m too much of a channel surfer. But now that I’m invested, it rules my SDMB time. Me, I generally don’t subscribe to any threads I haven’t posted in - I let the system sbscribe me. In fact, sometimes I’m interested in keeping up with a thread, but instead of just subscribing to it, I post in it … even if it means posting something inane – a shocker coming from me, I know. After that, my Subscriptions page is my default SDMB home page. BUT … I only keep threads that are less than two days old. Any thread in my subscription list that doesn’t have either “Today” or “Yesterday” underneath it goes bye-bye … (except “Death Pool” and “Stupid Republicans” … those have legs). I’m constantly refreshing my subscription list to keep up. And then of course, I hit “New Posts” every once in a while to see what I’m missing. I barely ever just browse actual fora anymore. So, right now, including this thread which will soon populate my list, I have 23 threads in my Subscribed list and, barring any new posts, about 10 of them will be culled by tomorrow. And that should keep me occupied. How about y’all? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/2 "2010-02-17T21:32:50Z")
I use it to monitor threads I’ve posted in. I kinda figure if I’ve posted, I should go back and see what responses there were/weren’t. So I look at my subscribed threads when I log in, then I do a New Posts search. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/3 "2010-02-18T16:19:26Z")
I will just presume that sandra and I are the only ones who subscribe. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/4 "2010-02-18T16:28:51Z")
I don’t use it here. On another forum I use them just to keep track of games I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/5 "2010-02-18T16:37:09Z")
I subscribe to a lot of threads - all the ones I find interesting. When I visit the site, those are the threads I read over first, then I do a search for New Posts. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/6 "2010-02-18T16:43:58Z")
I subscribe, too. Mostly to threads I’ve posted in but also to threads I find interesting but where I don’t have anything to say. And I visit subscribed threads first, too. I don’t bother to take anything out of subscribed threads all that often, though. So I have a few thousand in my user CP…obviously they don’t all come up because most of t hem are old. But they are all there technically. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/7 "2010-02-18T17:25:37Z")
I subscribe to threads if they have a useful link or two inside them that I may want for future reference. An alternative to bookmarking them within my browser. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/8 "2010-02-18T17:41:50Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I don’t bother to take anything out of subscribed threads all that often, though. So I have a few thousand in my user CP…obviously they don’t all come up because most of t hem are old. But they are all there technically. Holy schnikes … see that’s what I was wondering about. I’ve 25 threads in my subscribed list and that seems unweildy to me. And I’m about the most unorganized person you’ll meet. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/9 "2010-02-18T17:43:11Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Holy schnikes … see that’s what I was wondering about. I’ve 25 threads in my subscribed list and that seems unweildy to me. And I’m about the most unorganized person you’ll meet. I never bother to clean them out and then they keep accumulating. If there were a way to just automatically get rid of them after about a month I’d be happy. And I’m one of those who NEVER has unread mail in her gmail and HATES the spam folder to be even a little full! ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/10 "2010-02-18T18:48:18Z")
I used to keep my list cleaned out, but I stopped bothering a while back, so there are several hundred subscribed threads in my list now. But when I click on the User CP link then I only see those that have been updated since I was last online, and that’s mostly what I care about. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/11 "2010-02-18T18:54:35Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I used to keep my list cleaned out, but I stopped bothering a while back, so there are several hundred subscribed threads in my list now. But when I click on the User CP link then I only see those that have been updated since I was last online, and that’s mostly what I care about. Yeah, that’s my situation, too. When it tells me how many I have when I go to add a new one, it’s sort of a “WHOA BABY” moment but since I never see the rest (only recently updated), I don’t really deal with them. **Jack** , do you delete each thread as you lose interest? It never occurs to me to do so, if it drops off the recently updated radar I forget about it. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/12 "2010-02-18T19:05:22Z")
Each morning I look for the ones at the bottom of the list that are older than yesterday … and {poof} … off they go. In fact, I was getting all nervy about having a thread in my list that was a week old, like I was going to be busted by the Obsolete Thread Police or something. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/13 "2010-02-18T20:19:32Z")
But sometimes a thread will be idle for several days, or even a few weeks, and then pick back up. If you’re deleting subscriptions after only a couple of days, you may be missing some late posts. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/14 "2010-02-18T20:31:40Z")
There’s where my mind like a steel … um … something comes in. I just – remember. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-use-your-thread-subscriptions/529395/15 "2010-02-18T20:39:57Z")
I figure it’s really easy for me to find current threads that I’ve posted to, so there isn’t a reason to keep track of those. I use subscriptions to keep track of threads I might want to reference back to later. Occasionally I take a look at the list, see if there is anything that doesn’t seem interesting any more, and delete the subscription. Let’s see what’s there. Such classics as: I stuck my wedding ring up my nose If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else!? Testicle Waxing Do they make PVC big enough to launch a goat out of? Woman behold thy daughter, daughter thy mother, & BOTH OF YOU LOSE MY NUMBER! and Which reference websites are indispensable?