…and what I mean is, you’ve just typed up a reply and then you decide, “naaaah” and click onto the next link/thread/whatever?
What makes you stop?
This includes all threads, flames, the Pit, etc.
I found myself going to reply in a thread in IMHO and I decided “naaah”. I had deleted a sentence and then just decided not to post the entire thing. Why? Probably because what I typed would get some negative reaction. Or maybe not.
There probably wasn’t a 100% PC way to say what I wanted to say and it would probably have put a bee in someone’s bonnet.
I’ll never know now, because I deleted it and moved on.
999 times. This was almost the 1000th time I stopped myself from posting a stupid response to something, but I went against my gut and submitted it anyway.
I think of at least 5 questions a day (for GQ) and thankfully for the general public I censor them. In other forums (I don’t touch GD since that is a battleground for ITG’s) I care far less, I still try not to be an asshole, and try not to sound ignorant. If petty joking has been established in a thread, I’ll join in if I have a good one.
I guess I’m a GQ snob. I consider the rest of the forums to be useless, and a distraction at best. I still like 'em though.
I most frequently edit my posts, or delete them entirely, when I realize that I’ve gotten too emotionally involved with a statement. There are a couple posters here that make me (somewhat) aprehensive of calling them out on the carpet, but I like to think that I choose my battles wisely.
First off, I now realize that I have to be more discriminating when it comes to simply reading threads, because I’ll end up spending more time online than I already do - and never get any sleep.
As for making posts, I usually opt not to comment if I don’t really have much to say, or nothing very witty or enlightening. How strict I am with this depends on the forum and the subject of the thread.
A good base rule for me, however, is that my post shouldn’t be shorter than my signature.
I stop myself from posting quite often, as you can tell from my massive post count.
It’s usually because I nitpick my posts too much. After rereading a couple times to check for errors, they start sounding weird. Then I’ll start editing them, which always makes it worse. In the end, I just ditch the whole idea of posting.
I actually can’t beleive that I’m making it through this post. I guess I should hurry up and submit this so I can get back to my lurking.
Many times, I will spend an hour or so composing a long reply to something and at some point, I just come to the conclusion that I am not expressing myself well. Sometimes, like someone else said, I will feel like I am too emotionally attached and decide it is better to let others with cooler heads handle the situation.
Quite often, actually. I try to think a lot about what I am posting and do a lot of self-censorship.
[ul]
[li] Am I writing clearly enough so my point is understood?[/li]
[li] Am I contributing something meaningful? Or are people gonna think “dammit, another lame joke that makes no sense from screech-owl”?[/li]
[li] Am I going to write what I think is a great response, pun, counter-argument, etc. and again be very disappointed that no one seems to have noticed?[/li]
[li] Am I going to piss someone off if I don’t say it in the right words?[/li]
[li] Am I giving the correct information about what I know? Or am I repeating another wive’s tale/ gossip/ something that was proven wrong about 30 years/seconds ago? Or do I just seem to be blowing smoke out of an orifice?[/li]
[li] Am I going to kill this thread and have my name last on the list for all eternity (or until the next “Winter of Our Missed Content”?[/li][/ul]
I’ve been away for awhile, and am still trying to get into board dynamics. I notice lots of new people, a few folk still seem to remember me, and I see some "banned"s that surprise me. I’m still trying to figure out some of the jokes and what to avoid without stepping on toes. I just wish I knew what has happened over the last several months. Would someone contact me and let me know (off-board, of course)?
I was going to Pit my wisdom tooh.
Wrote a whole long, agony/anger filled post about it.
Then the pain killers kicked in and then I didn’t care so much.
I probably abort anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of my potential posts. Most of the time it’ll be something lame and meaningless, adding little to the value of the thread. If I did post everything I originally intended to post my count would be over 2,000.
I do that all the time. I just lurk mostly and then when I have composed a reply and am about to post something I think “What, it’s been weeks since my last post and now I’m just going to submit this one paragraph that doesn’t say much? Nah…”
I think the correct mathematical term for the number of my posts that end up deleted is shitloads.
A fair number get canned for reasons similar to those mentioned by SpasmicChaos. I’ll write, re-write and then re-write again. Then I get pissed off and think ‘fuck it’. It doesn’t help if, in one of my many previews, I see that someone has responded to the thread in such a way as to make my post obselete or mean that I’ll have to re-write my post again to address issues they’ve raised.
I often decide not to post in GQ when I have a gut instinct about the answer, or think I heard or read something somewhere but lack the inclination to research it first. I often decide not to post in other threads when I realize that by the time I remove too revealing details it is questionable whether the story still works. I often don’t decide to make posts until hours after reading threads. many times the post never gets typed because in re-reading the thread, someone else has made my point or my anecdote now sounds even more off-topic than it started out.
