Sometimes, especially in Cafe Society, we have threads that are nothing but “List some examples of x”.
As many of you know, The Game Room is full of thread games, which serve little purpose as far as I can tell, except to get in the way of threads where people actually want to talk about things. But at least in those game threads you might get a minute or two of entertainment coming up with a word you can make by changing a letter (or something), even if no one else is really going to appreciate your genius (does anyone actually read those threads?)
But we also have threads which are just “List some things that meet these criteria”. Again, there’s no discussion here, but there’s not even a game.
I know, I know. “Stop liking things I don’t like”, “it does no harm”, etc. Right now it doesn’t do any harm, but in my opinion, thread games do harm discussion in The Game Room, and I don’t want to see that happen in other places too.
That said, honestly, this isn’t about stopping those threads. I don’t see them as a real problem right now, just an irritation.
So, I suppose I want to know what the actual purpose of these threads is. Are they just to increase post counts? Does anyone actually enjoy them, and feel they’re worth having around even if they knock an actual discussion off the page and likely consign it to death?
And does anyone else wish all these threads would just die, never to return?
I’m somewhat ambivalent in that I don’t have any great fondness for “List Threads”, but I don’t regard them as a nuisance either.
I have found found them to be entertaining on occasion, particularly when I’m conversant with the topic in question. I tend to immediately strain the brain to come up with something to add, scan what’s listed already, then almost invariably find it’s listed already. That does grate somewhat.
I guess, in short, I do find some value in them, and wouldn’t wish them away.
The Game Room forum rules have a pretty loose definition of “game.”
And there’s nothing in the rules that mandate the forum be used only for “discussion” or that participants “actually want to talk about things.” So I don’t see the harm in them. It’s not like I’m required to open up every thread in the forum.
I don’t think a rule allowing games disproves the claim that the implied purpose of this message board is for discussion.
No, I don’t wish to see all games disappear from the forum, or to have any criteria on which are allowed.
This thread isn’t really aimed at games threads (there has been a thread on the subject recently), I just don’t mind if they get hit in the crossfire.
All I really want to get out of this thread is to see what others’ opinions are. I’ve largely tried to avoid any kind of offence, which is why I haven’t included any examples.
The irritating thing about those threads, imho, is when a ListBot™ comes in and, instead of naming one or two items that match the topic, runs off a list of 20-30 items.
The purpose of the message board as a whole, and the purpose of any particular sub forum within this message board, are not necessarily the same thing. The Marketplace, for example, is a part of this board, but clearly not intended as a place to furnish debate.
I think of those as write-only threads. Maybe the title is “songs that contain the word ‘the’”, and you think “oh oh I have one” – post post post – then go away and never open the thread again. Maybe open it again to see if anybody has congratulated me on my great post, but of course nobody has, because nobody reads those threads, they just post to them.
I was talking about the message board as a whole. On re-reading, it seems likely that kunilou was only referring to The Game Room, in which case I wouldn’t argue that discussion is not required in that particular forum. But this thread wasn’t about The Game Room specifically, which is probably why I misunderstood in the first place (that and sloppy reading).
