I do it all the damned time. I begin typing a response, but at some point I say to myself, “Meh. Who the hell cares?” And I ditch it.
I’d estimate that my ratio of ditched responses to posted responses is about 5:1.
When I consider threads I’ve thought about starting but then have ditched, it’s more like 10:1.
What about you? (I can’t believe I actually posted this instead of ditching it.)
Nev
I’d estimate about 3:1. There aren’t very many threads I read before someone’s already posted the same point I’d have made.
Heh. I often start really long, rambling replies to threads, but then lose momentum, copy the reply to an unfinished replies folder and never touch it again. Sometimes I have to stop for a while, and when I come back and read my post over I decide I sound a leeetle out there and I should probably just keep the whole thing to myself. Repeatedly rewriting and re-editing the posts until they make sense just takes too long.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I ditch responses all the time. Before I hit ‘submit’ I always sit back and read over everything I’ve written, and ask myself, “Does this add anything to the thread?” Half the time, the answer is no, and I just leave the page.
I’ve also got a nice collection of OPs I’ve ditched at the last minute and have instead saved on my hard drive.
Seriously, if it’s short and sweet I usually post it, but if it’s a long and rambling missive I’ll go ahead and do a quick check to see if somebody has already said the same thing, only better. If so, I dump it.
I don’t know an exact ratio, but it’s far, far more than I actually post.
Same here; I often start long, ramblig replies to threads, but then realize that I’ve spent the last three paragraphs talking about stuff that’s of no interest to the OP, so I go back and try to shorten, then realize it’s better to let it go. If I had a main point, it’s probably obvious anyway, so let someone else say it.
Not that often. Most of the time, it happens like this: I spend a half hour or so on a long post, only to realize that I’ve covered only about 1/3 or so of the salient points I need to hit to make a coherent argument. Sometimes, I read any points posted since I started, only to realize there are additional arguments to make, thus extending my post still further. Then I figure, ah, fuck it, I’ll be here all night if I continue…
I’d say I dump 8 out of 10 responses I type. For a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s because it adds nothing to the thread. Other times, because I’m not entirely sure of the information I’m posting, and I’d rather dump the response than actually research.
I ditch mine most of the time. Someone else has usually said it better, faster. Or I’ve rambled on too long, revealed too much, or decided I was being too argumentative, and didn’t feel up to the ensuing argument. (Even when I *knew *I was right.) I usually edit and censor my posts right out of existence.
(I edited this post a bunch, too, but I’m going to post it anyway.)
Somewhere between 1out of 2 and one out of 3.
Never. For the reasons mentioned above I don’t reply very often, but if I do decide to reply I go ahead and do it. If a preview shows something relevant has been added in between I just edit the post, but still submit it.
Heh. Look at my join date and my post count. And then consider that I come to the Dope 'most every day of the week. I think my ditch ratio is about a gazillion to one.
A lot of what** The Blue-Sighted Shadow** said, too.
About half. Of those, a quarter because it’s a "me, too’ variation, and the other quarter because emotions or insults are running high in the thread and I don’t care enough about the topic to put myself in the path of that.
The only time I bail on posting is when my computer times out on me. I’ve got this weird thing about increasing my post total. I just see my low total and for some reason I think I’m not keeping up. True, a lot of my posts are trivial, but that’s true for a lot of posts.
Less than 1/5. If I start to type up a response, I’ve normally passed the point at which I would give up due to repetition or dullness; I also post primarily in GQ, where if I have an answer that no-one else has brought up and I’ve started to type it, I’m going to post it.
For thread starting, It’s more like the other way around. I start to type, add in information for context, decide it’s too long and boring and edit it down, then realize I didn’t search properly for my new edited question, wait through the lame board search timeouts, find a good enough answer on Google, consider posting it for everyone else’s benefit, start to re-word my post for MPSIMS, then give up.
From time to time. The little voice will say, “Oh, hey, that’s beyond pointless, isn’t it?” And I will agree, and hit the back button.
About 50%. And that’s only responses that I actually started typing. There is also huge number of these that I started to compose (or even composed) in my head before realizing “Aww, hell with this”.
My ratio would be very high… both on replies and threads potentially started that never were. (I am also counting times when I read the OP- consider my own answer- and then find somebody else posting my answer somewhere down in the thread. This happens a lot in Cafe Society and IMHO)
But more than anything, just like the OP stated… I usually start to post and lose my steam halfway through, thinking “Ahh, who the hell cares anyway.”