If you were to start an Ask the Thread, what do you think would garner the most replies? In other words, what accomplishment/lifestyle choice/life/event/quality tends to garner the most interest from other people? (Looking for true things here. I’m sure you could make up something wildly interesting, but that’s not my question.)
For me, there are two things about me that garner a lot of interest from other people. One is my upbringing in Christian Science; I basically spent my entire childhood without the benefit of doctors or modern medicine, and that intrigues people in a rather horrified way.
The other is the fact that I’m an EMT. This seems to fascinate people in a more positive way.
For me, they’re rather mundane; but in casual conversation the two topics people seem to find most fascinating is about sports officiating and I was an NCAA Umpire. The other is that I come from an insanely small town (about 1000 people).
Well, I have to see the doctor tomorrow for something that’s probably nothing, but could of course turn ominous.
If I were diagnosed with something sufficiently uncommon, then an “Ask the person with (insert disease/condition here)” thread.
Ask the person who built their own house in the woods.
Ask the Luddite.
Ask the former novelist. (Actually, please don’t)
Ask the convert from Buddhism to Catholicism.
Ask the sheepdog trainer.
Ask the goatherd.
Ask the xeriscaper.
Ask the vintage fountain pen enthusiast.
There’s probably more, I’m a font of odd little specialities. I’m not sure any of them are interesting to others though.
The tricky part is that most of the things that I think others would most want to ask me questions about are either things I don’t particularly want to discuss (e.g. medical problems) or things other Dopers would be better qualified to discuss. I’m an American who used to teach English in Japan, but I know there are several other Dopers who have done this too and at least a few who lived in Japan longer than I did or are still living there.
Of things I’d want to talk about that I think would be interesting and helpful to others, my top pick would probably be “Ask the woman who lost weight [through calorie counting alone]”. My title there gives away my big weight-loss secret, but I could talk about the calorie-counting app I used*, what changes I made in terms of food selection and eating habits, what was easy and hard about this, and so on. But weight loss and food are touchy issues and the strategies that worked for me presumably won’t work for everyone, so I’d be kind of afraid that such a thread would turn into a big trainwreck.
I do taxes, bookkeeping and QuickBooks for a living. There’s no shortage of questions people have about those. What I really need is a “Please, for the love of God, STOP asking me…” thread.
