# How much of a thread do you read before and after posting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118 "2011-12-14T01:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/1 "2011-12-14T01:55:05Z")
I’ve been thinking lately about my own behavior with regard to reading message board threads (both here and elsewhere) and it’s made me curious regarding the behavior of others. I think the poll options are pretty self-explanatory, but feel free to ask if anything needs clarifying. I’ve never made a poll before, so bear with me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/2 "2011-12-14T05:44:26Z")
Depends on the length. (In this case, I read the whole thing.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/3 "2011-12-14T06:02:32Z")
Depends on the length. (This one is long, so I stopped reading after the 1st post.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/4 "2011-12-14T06:23:18Z")
Scanned for my name, didn’t see it, left. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/5 "2011-12-14T06:50:20Z")
I almost always read the whole thread before posting. If it’s just too long or loses my interest before the end I won’t post. I often use the **User CP** to see what threads I’ve posted in are updated. If I know it’s devolved into a pissing contest unrelated to the main issue I write it off, but if I’m still interested I’ll keep up to date on it for at least a few days. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/6 "2011-12-14T07:00:29Z")
I always read before posting with the exception of certain polls. “How old are you” does not need me to read everyone’s age before posting my own. ---
**Author:** ![slm2955](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/7 "2011-12-14T16:42:42Z")
It really depends on the topic of the thread, I usually reply w/o reading but then later have to go back and edit my posts… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/8 "2011-12-14T17:46:08Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I almost always read the whole thread before posting. If it’s just too long or loses my interest before the end I won’t post. > > I often use the **User CP** to see what threads I’ve posted in are updated. > If I know it’s devolved into a pissing contest unrelated to the main issue I write it off, but if I’m still interested I’ll keep up to date on it for at least a few days. This. But I’ve been using search to find my recently-posted-to threads; I didn’t know user CP had that feature. Thanks for the tip. ETA: It appears user CP only lets you track threads you’ve subscribed to, not ones you merely posted to. That’s not nearly as useful, at least to me. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/9 "2011-12-14T18:18:55Z")
If a thread is very long, and I have something to say relevant to the OP, I will usually read the first few responses (more if the discussion is interesting), then use the browser search-in-page feature to check whether what I want to say has already been raised. If not (or if I think I can show that what has been said about it is wrong) I will post. If someone else already made my point, I will usually shut up (occasionally I will post to explicitly agree with and reinforce their point). I usually return to threads where I have posted to see whether anyone has responded to me (often using an in-page-search on my own username), but I am not systematic about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/10 "2011-12-14T19:46:22Z")
I tend to read the whole thread unless it’s a poll or one I’ve already read before. I do occasionally just read the last post when the software has taken me there, and I have a pressing reply. Otherwise, when I see a post in a thread that I want to respond to, I open a reply box in another window and type what I want to say, then read on to see if it’s already been said in such a way that I don’t think my post will add anything. And I hardly ever check back after I’m finished, unless the thread has new content the next time I’m on. I refuse to subscribe to more than one active thread at a time, and even that’s only if the topic is amazingly interesting or I actually need an answer. I do try to make a point to come back to threads I start, however. But that’s pretty rare. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-of-a-thread-do-you-read-before-and-after-posting/606118/11 "2011-12-14T20:17:02Z")
None of it!