Apart from threads, mostly in GQ, asking for a specific piece of information, I think we all love it when a thread we start starts piling up the replies. The flip side, is that when we get no or few replies we are often disappointed. How many replies do you think subconsciously you like to see to a thread before you can say, “OK, good thread.” (I know that it can depend on the topic.)
I think for me I like to see about 15 replies, of course witha caveat.
Of course, now I will start wondering, “How many replies will this thread get?”
I look at it in terms of pages. If you go over, say, 3 pages, usually the thread has been hijacked or there’s some sorta flame war going on (unless it’s a popular poll, they sometimes have staying power).
Past 25 or so, I know I hit a topic worthy of a little discussion. Or one that a number of people have an opinion on. Anything I have started that went 3 pages was going off on any number of tangents, which is ok with me.
Honestly it depends. If I’m asking a question in GQ, I’m not satisfied until I get a good answer. If i’m posting in MPSIMS, I’m really not satisfied until I make it to threadspotting :-P.
(It’s happend twice, by the way. Not that I’m bragging or anything. Why? How many times have YOU made it to threadspotting?)
Any replies are good enough for me. I tend to post OPs in MPSIMS, and they’re often meandering, barely coherent ramblings. I should be so lucky as to get very many replies. Heck, there’s one on the front page right now, sinking like concrete battleship. Most of the replies are from the same two people, and I’m one of those people. Plus Kyth. But that’s what usually happens - a handful of views, some replies, mostly my own, and then… plummet. However, they are often referred to down the road by people who say they enjoyed it, so I’m thinking that my style of writing isn’t very inviting of replies.
Or, I’m just plain old boring. Always a possibility, I suppose. I imagine reading my posts can easily lead some to feel they are listening to their drunken great-aunt buying underwear at a penny sale.
Y’know, I never count replies. I count views. Since December of last year, I literally bat for a thousand views in most threads I make, especially in the Pit and Cafe Society.
I’m pretty happy when a topic I start goes past three pages of replies or 5,000 views.
It’s like sleeping pills with me, I’m afraid (I don’t take them - just going by what I’ve heard, so don’t send me emails of concern!) I’m a very ambitious kind of individual (what you Americans call a “winner”), and when I first blessed the SDMB with my presence I was not satisfied if I got fewer than 50 replies. If it didn’t go to two pages, it was a write-off as far as I was concerned.
Now, at least three pages (i.e. 100+ replies). But quality is as important as quantity to me, so if the cream of the posters, like Campion, AndyPolley, Starving Artist and Zoe, and even some of the compulsive night owls, such as Tomndebb, Excalibre, Miller and Marley, don’t chip in, I’m like Tiger Woods when he lips out from 60 feet. Not pumping my fist, but asking myself why?, what was wrong with my preparation?, do I need to get rid of Steve Williams?, would Fluff have read that better?, what type of grass seed are they using?, should I have had fried chicken for lunch again?, what would Fuzzy have done?
But, then I’m not like your average poster: my first two posts garnered around 350 replies between them, if I remember correctly. (I don’t re-read old posts - that’s living in the past; like a shark, or a tiger, I move forward, on to the next kill.)
[hijack]
Are you me? Have I been sleep-posting while on Ambien? I feel certain I’m on ignore lists, but am baffled. Once in awhile someone other than I will see a thread and help. Usually I’m earnestly looking for answers and advice. If I’m in the Pit, I’m venting and it is cathartic.
Since you’re not me, clearly, because here I am, then I’ll just say I completely empathize with all of your points. [/end hijack]
I like to get my valid questions answered, in a manner I can understand and without any assholes tromping on it who don’t give a shit about the question. I guess that I need 6 to feel okay with it; enough for a small sampling of opinions or definitions.
I feel real and utter disappointment when my OPs sink. And they do. I’ll bump once if it’s important, but that’s just pathetic. The “ignored” feeling comes into play when I’ve asked what I feel is an intelligent question and nobody replies. Or cares enough about me as a person sob to give me the time of day to explain “what happens to TV programming @ 2 ayem during Daylight Saving Time; you know, when they fall back do they show the same program that was already played when 2 became 1?”. Anybody?
I don’t look at the boards in this way. It is more of a hobby than anything else. Mostly I post things like “Sending warm thoughts your way.” I was a little disappointed when I asked about quote a few months back and got no answers, but hey, if no one knows, no one knows.
If a GQ, I just want an answer. Any extra info is also always appreciated. I think personal anecdotes and humour (after a real answer is given) makes for a more enjoyable read.
In Cafe, MPShitIMS, Pit, I like to see it turn the page. With forum default, that means at least 50 replies. In looking at the 392 threads I’ve started, 70 of them have at least turned the page. Does it really mean anything? No. It just satifies my OCBD for the SDMB.
As for hijacks, pile ons, flame wars, etc… in the Pit, I think that sometimes those threads make the price of staying here well worth it. I often feel like Data at the reception for Wyatt and Deanna’s engagement when he asks the parties involved in a squabble (with a silly grin on his android face) to, “Please continue the petty bickering.”
A lot of the threads I start get an amazing # of views, regardless of the replies. I figure it like this:
Some people really like to see what I posted.
Some people just hate me and will look at the OP to reinforce that opinion.
Manny peoples simply are thinking, “I wonder what that idiot wrote this time?”
People will read anything.
What’s funny is how some of the threads I really expected to take off didn’t, and some others that I almost didn’t even bother typing out explode into Dope-ousness. Weird.
I imagine reading my posts can easily lead some to feel they are listening to their drunken great-aunt buying underwear at a penny sale.