I’ve gone absolutely bugnuts with my posting habits lately.
I’m in a sort of downtime period at work and when I’m not there I’m mostly home alone. Consequently, I’m spending a lot more time on the SDMB. As recently as February I had something like 400 posts, which has obviously changed drastically. I’m not really happy about that.
Out of the 1000+ posts I’ve made here less that 100 have any real merit. It’s almost all inane blather and one-line drivebys. I actually spend most of my time in GQ, but I usually just read without contributing anything useful. When I do bother to post it tends to be worthless. Most recently I asked a question in a CFC/ozone layer thread which seemed argumentative when I re-read it. Before that I “answered” a question about phone codes and call routing in the UK with some useless junk about the North American PSTN.
I don’t even want to think about what I’ve been doing in MPSIMS.
I’m not sure what my problem is, but my “think before you post” circuit seems to have failed and I have an uncontrollable urge to click the “submit” button. In any case, I think I have to reevaluate what I’m doing and probably just quit posting altogether until I regain my judgement.
I probably shouldn’t even post this since I’ll be taking off for Boston in a hour or so and I won’t see any responses fo a while.
My question for you guys is: what should I do?
Should I commit myself to lurking only and try to make it stick, or should I take a break from the board altogether?
If you enjoy posting, go for it. Don’t get your undies all in a twist over the validity and merit of your posts. Jeez, considering the recent posts by the Grapist and the one that stole all the E’s, your posts are downright profound.
Just remember The SDMB Prime Directive (Don’t be a jerk) and you should be fine. I’ve never noticed any of your posts to be out of line.
I have the same problem. I’m too ignorant to have any answers,so I just do inane pseudo-humorous drive-bys.
But,Jesus, not at the rate YOU do! You are truly sick. You should get off this site and leave that stuff to me. I’ve been here longer than you, after all, and it’s my bailiwick. I’m going to search your posts now, and they better be worse than mine. If I find they’re funnier or have more solid content,I’m going to stamp my lovely feet and hold my breath until one of us is dead.
On the other hand,why worry about it. It’s only a message board, with probably the smartest people on the planet looking at your execrable posts and thinking,“This
board needs some serious culling”. Or as Squiggy once said,“Don’t put yourself down; you’re not worth it”.
Wow! And, I thought some of your other posts were bizarrely obscure.
Ex, I don’t know that my opinion carries any weight, with you. But, FWIW, I’d say keep on doing what makes you feel good. If it stops making you feel good, stop doing it. But, I wouldn’t feel badly about it, either way. You’ve made some good contributions. If you don’t always have something profound to say, so what? There are plenty of people around to post the deadly serious, and often deadly dull, responses. We all need a little entertainment, now and then.
Ex, I mostly agree with ivylas. But if you really want to be an upstanding person and not wear out your welcome, you could change your attention to the religious discussions on Great Debates - it’s not like you could tire anybody there.
PS - I notice your posts occasionally and hadn’t come to recognize them as a waste of time. Very much to your credit, you seem to use mainstream spelling, grammar and punctuation - and you don’t have a witty saying automatically stamped onto the bottom of every goddamn post.
I managed to resist making a drive-by post here all afternoon, but the thread is still on the front page, so I had to throw out that I enjoy your posts Exineer (like the user name too, by the way). I think if it makes you happy, you should just keep doing what you’re doing.
(I like yours too Guin, just because your posts are short doesn’t mean they’re fluff…you’re just succinct)
.
Drive-by posts are often the best part of otherwise boring threads. I’m not the best at connecting usernames to posts, but I seem to recall that your posts are usually quite amusing! And let’s face it, not all of us are experts at what we’re talking about, but the board consists of more than GQ and GD. Giving advice, opinions, and support in the other forums doesn’t usually require much expertise.
Then again, if you don’t want to post, you don’t have to, so just do whatever feels right for you.
I have come to enjoy a recent increased dose of Exgineer. It would definitely be a loss to these boards to have less of you posting. Merit comes in many shapes and sizes, from finding an answer to a GQ to making a point in GD that makes others think to greeting newbies (yes, I remember that very kindly thread).
I suggest you post just as you please (within bounds, of course, but I have yet to see a post by you that was outside those bounds) and enjoy Boston!
PS: My last two posts were drive-bys of no merit. Also, if you ever need an ear, my email is in my profile.
What constitutes a “drive-by” post anyway? To me, I consider a DBP to be anything that doesn’t really contribute much to the thread, particularly a GQ thread. I generally don’t post to a thread if my post doesn’t have any significance to the OP, so I tend to refrain from making smart-ass remarks without at least having something of substance to add to the thread (I admit there are times I just can’t resist, though).
Some people may think a drive-by poster is someone who just posts once in a thread. A lot of threads don’t require more than one post. In such threads I only post once, but I continue to follow the thread to see what others will say and to see if anyone responds to my posts or asks me any questions.
I’ve developed a sort of sixth sense when it comes to deciding what to post and whether or not to do so. A few times a week I’ll start to compose a post only to have second thoughts and think, “nahhh, too lame” or have other reservations and then abort it. My post count would be at least 100-200 posts higher if I actually posted everything that came to mind. If you post fairly frequently and regularly you’ll likely learn to use discretion and decide what’s worth posting and what isn’t.
Argh! Your posting philosophy of “post whatever you want to say whether you think anyone cares or not” is what got me to start posting more over in the lurker thread a few months ago. Now you want to change your philosophy?! You are going to drive all of us former lurkers back into the shadows where we came from. You’re not setting a good example, you know.
Most of us don’t really contribute anything particularly “useful.” Unless you’ve been pitted for being a fucknut, you’re probably just like the rest of us here - you sometimes post something useful, but most of the time it’s a little quip, or just another post that blends with everyone else’s. Not every post is a gem.
If you really think you’re posting too much, I guess I’d suggest something as simple as asking yourself before you post “Do I really want to say this, or has it already been said in the thread.” That’s what I generally do, and I just hit 3000 after about 2 and a half years here. My posting habits go in dribs and drabs - I average about 3 a day, but there have been a couple of times when I’ve deliberately taken a break of a couple of weeks due to some personal reasons.
As far as drive-bys, I haven’t noticed you doing that. I think of drive-by’s not as one-line jokes, but as someone who makes a statement or controversial point w/out backing it up, but then never returns to the thread when people counter the arguement. I’m sure I’ve done it on occasoin, but I try not make it a habit. I know I did it in a pit thread recently in one of the “fat bashing” threads - I made a dumb post when I wasn’t thinking too clearly, and by the time I got back to it, everyone else had made the points and clarified what I was really trying to say, so I didn’t post again. But enough about me.
If you feel it’s been too much of a time suck for you, then by all means take a break. If you do, my suggestion would be to just take it, not to start a thread to announce, it, though. But I doubt anyone here thinks you’ve been a jerk - people have been getting pitted for all sorts of dumb-ass reasons, including their screen names, so if you’ve been annoying people, someone probably would have spoken up by now.
