I love the SDMB. I used to visit only occasionally back when I registered, but in the past month have come more regularly. I’ve contributed to a few discussions, but I’ve had some trouble following up on the discussions I’ve contributed to, and many times I find a thread I’d like to contribute to that’s already practically dead. I wouldn’t dare “resurrect” it lest I be chastised by the regular dopers. I’ve seen enough mad rants about this to know better.
How do you regulars keep up with the traffic? What percentage of threads do you read? Do you subscribe to forums or to threads, use buddy lists, search by usernames or keywords? How long do you really spend each day on the Straight Dope Website, and do you actually have any time left over to visit other websites?
I usually start by clicking on the little “view new posts” text. This generally brings me about 15 pages of new posts, from all of the forums, which takes me quite some time to get through. I still haven’t bothered to find out what it means by new. New that day, or new since my last visit? Then sometimes I’ll search my username to check on whether there are any new posts in the threads that I’ve posted to.
Since I don’t debate, I almost never go to GD. I don’t generally read either of the column/staff report areas, and I rarely open ATMB. As for the rest, I skim titles for the ones that seem appealing. There are some I know I won’t be interested in (sports/certain TV shows/politics) as well as some posters who I always look for.
And I will do a vanity search first thing just to see if someone said something to or about me. Mainly, I skim - I can usually tell after the first post or two if I’m interested in a thread. And if I’m really really bored, like home alone at night, I may read more.
hmmm…so if i randomly start inserting your name in my posts…heh heh heh…
i tend to frequent only three of the boards:
GQ - where chances are i’ll look at any thread relating to my “areas of expertise”:
Web Development
History
Glass & Glazing.
I’ve also got a minor in theology & philosophy - but the doper discussions on these are way to in-depth for my short attention span
IMHO - i’ll scan through it looking for any thread titles that catch my eye.
MPSIMS - where i spend most of my time. i have a phoenix window-tab open on MPSIMS all day, and whenever i pause from working i’ll pop across and refresh it.
In MPSIMS i scan for thread titles AND look for threads contributed too or started by dopers i respect/enjoy (e.g Fairychatmom, XJETGIRLX, Tir Tinuvel, Angua, JJimm, Everton, lately Mr Excellent and many, many more )
Don’t sweat it, guava. The main thing is to begin organizing your life in such a fashion that all you have to do is sit around and watch the board all day. Then you’ll be like the rest of us.
I usually start with IMHO and then MPSIMS. These two forums are the ones I am most likely to participate in. Next I move to the Pit and occasionally post to a thread (I’ve only started two Pit threads myself and they were relatively minor rants). Next I go to Cafe Society and then General Questions. I sometimes visit ATMB and the Comments forums. GD is the only place I hardly ever go, if ever. Like most people I just check the threads with interesting titles and follow them if they’re interesting enough. I also check in on the threads I started.
When I first signed up I used to try to read everything, but after a while realized that this was only possible if I gave up doing anything else with my life.
Now I first take a quick look at ATMB, COCC and COSR to see if anything interesting’s been posted. Then I go to the Pit, mostly to check for any weird news items that some people post and to read any rants that may catch my eye. Sometimes I’ll follow a rant, and occasionally post a comment of my own, but when they turn into a battle of egos and accusations of idiocy I stop following them unless I get bored later.
MPSIMS, IMHO and CS usually get a more careful reading, and I tend to post more in those. I tend to follow the more humorous threads more often, or in the case of CS posts on SF topics.
Time permitting, I skim GQ for topics that I might have an answer for, or something I may want to know myself. I hardly ever go into GD anymore; I used to follow some of the discussions but now I don’t have the time (or energy) for philosophical debate.
And that is how, after a little over a year, I accumulated 1000 posts.
Back when I first signed up, you * could * read it all, but it grew at an exponential rate. (I’ve theorized that this board had just recently been put up, and that a lot of the “traffic” was still on the old AOL site.)
Young whippersnappers! Back in the “old days” we didn’t have no fancy-pants “Cafe Society,” neither, and we made do! “Great Debates” IIRC, was also one which wasn’t around yet. We didn’t have no smiley buttons, either! Back then, you had to bang rocks together in Morse code into a soup-can on a string to post your message. You young 'uns got it easy.
