I see that my efforts to head off the yo mama jokes were in vain. Very well, I might as well tell all of you that it’s possible I am your father, although of course it’s impossible to know for certain. Now come here and give your daddy a hug, you little bastards.
20 pages ain’t a sandbox. That’s a desert.
I searched for threads that included the words “initiation” and “goat”. There were 59 hits (one being the thread you’re reading). I looked at threads from the 12-month period April 2004 – April 2005. (I didn’t include the 20-page monstrosity that’s being pitted here.)
Two threads were “What’s this initiation/goat stuff?” Twenty-five threads were “Introduction” threads, ranging from “I’m new and have a question” to “Welcome me with open arms – I demand it”.
Of the 25 subjects of the introduction threads:[ul]
[li]15 are active members (subscribed, recently active)[/li][li]3 have “member” status but haven’t been active for months[/li][li]6 disappeared[/li][li]1 didn’t subscribe but appears to be lurking[/ul][/li]
The theory that everyone who opens a self-introduction thread is an attention whore is not supported by the evidence. Of the 15 active members included in my survey, 7 have a daily posting average of less than one, 4 have a 1-2 daily average, 3 have a 4-5 daily average, and one (Kythereia) has a daily posting average of 12.63.
The number of posts to the introduction threads ran from 5 to 82. Only six of the 25 threads went to a second page. The 82-post thread was Kythereia’s self-introduction; 14 of the posts were made by Kythereia herself.
The same people tend to show up in these threads, time after time. By far, the most prolific poster in introduction threads is Kythereia
The following list shows the top posters to introduction threads. The first number is the number of the 25 introduction threads the person posted in, and the second number is the number of times they were the first to mention a goat:[ol]
[li]** twickster** – 19, 4[/li][li]** Kythereia** – 16, 3 (note: she joined the Board after the first 3 threads included in the survey)[/li][li]** Keapon Laffin** – 14,0[/li][li]** Sunspace** – 14,0[/li][li]** Hal Briston** – 12,2[/li][/ol]
Others who appear frequently are Anaamika, AngelicGemma, Bosda, norinew, Ponder Stibbons, Regallag_The_Axe, Rufus Xavier, ShibbOleth, and silenus.
Introductory threads that iampunha ran nekkid through: 4 (3 joined).
Introductory threads in which iampunha appeared but did not get nekkid: 2 (both joined).
For those who hadn’t noticed, iampunha did not renew. Would anyone be willing to run through this thread nekkid as a tribute to iampunha?
If Kythereia does a vanity search, this thread should give her an orgasm.
::runs nekkid through thread::
Also, I wanted to point out that, as is borne out by the above statistics, Sunspace never mentions the goat. There is a very good reason for this. His job is to mention the squid/calamari/tentacles.
That does indeed appear to be the case. Interesting.
Only on the Straight Dope do we expect to see statistical analyses on the occurence of initiation goats.
Charming. Why, pray tell, are you so fixated on my presence in those kinds of threads?
How do you get that? I read it as just running the numbers and noticing that you are the most prolific in those types of threads. I did not see a “fixation” (other than the one that you yourself cause by being the name that happens to be at the top of the stats).
Why do you care so much if I post in those threads a lot? Unless I’ve directly pissed you off or insulted you in some way, why does it matter?
Huh? are you reacting to something that only you can see?
Forget it. I’m being cranky and bitchy and twee right now, and I should probably go home and rest before I say something truly stupid. 
For the best, Kythereia.
You know I love ya, but I’m pretty certain Binarydrone was just making a statistical observation, not a personal attack.
I chose to research the initiation threads because I was interested in:[list=1
[li]Whether or not it 's true, as suggested, that those who start self-introduction threads are attention whores (generally no). [/li][li]Whether or not the goat/initiation posts discourage newbies from paying up (apparently not).[/li][li]Whether or not it’s true that only 3-4 people do all the posting in these threads (it’s more like a group of 15-20).[/list][/li]
Believe it or not, you are not the center of anyone’s universe except your own. I think of you as infrequently as I can manage.
I wish to apologize to Kythereia for my snarky remarks in the previous post. I was reacting when there was no need to. Also, it was not my intention to embarrass or insult Kythereia in my earlier “statistics” post. I started looking at the initiation threads because I was concerned that they might be alienating newcomers; I became fascinated with the subculture of those threads and thought others might be interested also. If Kythereia wishes, I will see if a Mod can delete the post or edit it out.
Ok, so am I now labelled an idiot, moron halfwit etc. for contributing to that thread? I think not. MPSIMS is there for a reason. Its mundane and pointless and it gives us all a place to be silly. And no, there is not likely to be another 20 page thread happening anytime soon. So maybe we all wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible. And it was due to be closed anyway.
Anywho, how has this thread damaged you so greatly? Why must it be pitted? No-one is forcing you to read it. How hard is for you to scroll past it? Would you like me define the word ‘ignore’ for you?
Oh, and for the matter of lame, resource consuming threads, why not pit all the thread labelled “blah blah sequential thread” or “sequential thread blah blah blah”. There are tons. At least the new-ness thread wasn’t a weekly occurance with a new name.
Lib, I just wanted you to know someone got this. Gold, pure gold.
Hey, no need to apologize, I overreacted, too. 
If you forgive me, I’ll forgive you, and we’ll get back to the really important question:
Was Kevin Costner really in front of Liberal?
Aw, man!
Can’t y’all keep this fluffy shit outta the pit? :dubious:
Agreed. They are equally inane and pitworthy.