It’s interesting to observe behavior on the boards, from an anthropological study point of view. One of the facts of board life is that on every board there are a few popular posters that people like to interact with the most (I guess, just like IRL)
A somewhat funny thing about this phenomenon is that no matter what thread they start, it gets more responses and goes on for longer than similar threads by “lesser” posters.
I have actually seen cases of the exact same topic started in two threads, and the latter one started by the popular poster got many more responses and lived on for longer than the earlier one started by someone else (disclaimer: I was neither of those two posters)
What I recently noticed, and what prompted me to start this thread, is that even if they start a thread with an inane title and non-promising OP, e.g. a thread titled “I like pie” in GD, where it surely would have died a silent death at the hands of someone else, it thrives at the hands of these posters.
Anyway that was just something mundane and pointless I thought I’d share.
Any other things you guys observed about board behavior that you find funny/interesting from an anthropological point of view?
[Of course, it will be funny if this thread dies a silent death ]
I have had a few threads I started sink like a stone. Many times I have replied to a thread, and then later wondered if I should tap on my monitor and say “Is this thing on?”
But then again, I am not part of the cool crowd.
I don’t recall reading the pie thread but I would assume it invited some double-entendres.
I posted one with a bizarre video, called it “Your moment of zen” and got 100 views/zero replies. But that seemed appropriate somehow as the video left me speechless as well.
@chicken wire? “Those lights are off on purpose, man!”
Damn, I was hoping this was going to be an actual pie thread, though I suppose it’s not in Cafe Society. I’ve observed regional pie differences across the eastern half of the US, and haven’t yet found the proper time/place/thread to discuss them.
Anyway, I’ve kinda noticed the same thing as the OP, but it hasn’t happened to me 100% of the time. Like, I’m a relative newcomer, pretty unknown, and in general my thread contributions are like another raindrop in the bucket. On the rare occasion I’ve started a thread, on the other hand, it’s lived a respectable life. I guess I’m not at the bottom of the totem pole.
On other message boards, though, I’ve noticed that I’m usually invisible. I’ve chalked it up to the fact that I’ll typically think a post through fairly thoroughly, defusing potential counterarguments in my OP, leaving nothing available for people to really reply to.
Wait, Student Driver, I want to hear more about the regional pie differences. I make blackberry pies a lot, and I live in California. I even still have berries left in the freezer from last year, because I picked so many.
Are you talking about things like sugar in the pie crust (shudder! abomination!) vs. sugar on the pie crust? (mmmmmmm!)
Somehow I felt that I should reply to this thread…
Also, I beg to differ, **Rick ** is definitely part of the cool crowd in my book. The only thing that could possibly make him cooler is if he posted in the MMP.
(Editing to add: my travels are mostly limited to states east of the Mississippi, so this covers only the eastern portions of the country.)
Beyond the OP’s thread title, I love pie. Fruit pie, to be precise. I always ask for fruit pie when eating out at American-style restaurants. My sworn enemies are cream and meringue pies. My regional pie experiences:
Fruit pies dominate in the northern half of the eastern US, cream/meringue pies in the southern half; fruit cobblers, which are hardly the same thing at all, are routinely offered in cream/meringue pie territory for diners who ask for fruit pie. “Apple pie, hon? Sorry sweetie, we got apple cobbler, blackberry cobbler, cherry cobbler. Want some cobbler?” NO! At best, cobbler is like getting a badly mangled piece of pie where the server not only couldn’t cut a wedge of pie without destroying it, but they also forgot to give you the bottom crust; at worst, it’s warm preserves with a lump of baked biscuit dough or a matzoh ball. The last cobbler I had, in Louisville KY about 6 months ago, was like bread pudding with blackberry jam mixed in.
In Indiana, where I live, the cobbler/pie dividing line is about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, around Seymour. North of Seymour, your pie list at dessert lists mostly fruit pies, with a few meringue pies. South of Seymour, the pie list is cream, meringue, and pecan only, with fruit baked only into heathen cobblers. I swear to God that fruit pie has never existed in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and other states farther south.
Fruit pie crusts become more traditional, and therefore more tasty, the farther north or northeast you go. North = flaky, probably lard-filled crusts, usually traditional or lattice top. (In some old atlas probably lies a geographical line exclaiming “thar be lard in ye crusts” that cuts off New England, Michigan, etc., from the rest of the country, and this vegetarian hopes no one ever lets him know. Lard = great pie crust.) Occasionally, there is the odd cheddar-fortified crust mutation. As you go south, pie crusts become bizarre, and unlike real pie crust-- some are like the crunchy stuff on coffee cakes, some thick and chewy like dumplings. I think this is like that sugar-in-crust heresy you mention. Sugar on the crust I do see, but it seems to be mostly on pre-baked pies restaurants source from vendors, as opposed to pies made locally.
(This of course neglects to mention the travesties called “pie crusts” used in cream/meringue pies… crushed Oreos, crushed graham crackers, crushed pork rinds…)
Cheese as a topping for fruit pie seems to be in retreat to the northernmost parts of the country. As I was growing up, I recall seeing it regularly in Indy-area restaurant menus, which is where I got the idea of trying it myself. Now, I get a funny look whenever I order it around here. I did see “cheddar cheese” listed as pie options on menus when last traveling in Wisconsin and Vermont, but I’m not sure if that’s a vestige of old cheese-and-pie customs, or a side-effect of the cheese industries in those states.
Fruit fillings also vary by region-- large chunks of fruit with the merest hint of fruit goo filler in the northeast, with higher proportions of goo, less of fruit, as you go south and west (unless it’s a local fruit). Spices and sweetening also seem to vary-- sweeter, more likely to be doped up with caramel or cinnamon or whatever, as you go south and west.
Based on my recent travels:
Great pie states: Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin.
Decent pie states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania.
Evil pie states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida.
Simple way to tell if you’re traveling in pie territory: stop at a country antique mart, ask if they have pie birds. The more pie birds they have, the better the fruit pie in the area.
One pie thing I’ve never really tracked: rhubarb. I’ve had good rhubarb pie (always mixed with strawberries for some reason), but I have no idea what regions it’s prominent in.
Wow. (Reading above). It’s not like I’m crazy or anything…
[/hijack]
So, I wonder how the OP will think of this thread-- it’s not dying that silent death, but… is it progressing like he imagined?
Yeah, I do this too. People probably read, shrug their shoulders, and move on.
But perhaps it’s sometimes a simple matter of timing.
Of course, serendipitous timing is yet another quality of the super posters.
Joe Cool will likely make his move at just the right time of day (whenever this may happen to be), whipping up a “perfect storm” of replies, plenty of them “me toos.” Lesser poster Joe Dingleberry begins his lame thread at the wrong time (two hours or days earlier/later, doesn’t matter) and watches it stumble, then fade out.
I beg to differ with Student Driver about Florida being an evil pie state.
I do love a tart Key Lime Pie.
And the rhubarb pie here is excellent, as well.
Being not a member of the cool crowd, and thread killer… I have thought of the phenomena you mention in the OP. I have come to a few conclusions.
A> The popular people post a heck of a lot more than I do. So, just by odds they have a greater thread/response success rate. Counter to my style of writing responses, and then deciding my opinion is not really noteworthy, deleting the whole thing and moving on. A side bonus of this: name recognition, being as their name is all over the place.
B> Others that don’t fall into category A… are just much more articulate and skillful in their posting than I usually am, with my “fly by the seat of my pants” style. While A is much more common… B is certainly the case with a number of people.
I’ll respectfully bow to your knowledge on Key Lime Pie. I can’t stand the stuff, personally, but it doesn’t fit into my geographical breakdown well. (What is it, anyway-- lime-juice-flavored goo?) The last few times I was in FL, it was the only non-cream/meringue/pecan pie available, though… and I’m of the opinion that apple pie, at bare minimum, should be made available in all states for fruit-pie mavens.
A pie bird is a now-archaic piece of baking hardware, a hollow metal or ceramic steam vent for pies (to keep steam from building up, causing the crust to split, rupture, or become soggy), and was usually shaped like a bird. A stem under the bird poked through into the pie, the body of the bird sat atop the pie. The steam was vented through the bird’s open beak. My mom used to have a bird that she’d just jam through the top crust of an unbaked pie before sticking it in the oven, while I’ve been told that the pie should properly be constructed around the bird. (I use my pie bird still when baking a pie, but that’s not been a common experience since becoming single again.)
My idea with checking for their availability at antique markets is that regional cuisine is still heavily influenced by the legacy of pioneers/immigrants/forefathers; if they’re common enough to be in profusion at the antique mart, then good pies are probably still available in the area.
I have nothing to contribute except to say that my chocolate chip pie is so good that it would make you blow up a convent to get a slice. Yep, it is the best pie ever in the entire world.
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