I’ve really enjoyed following that super-long, daily thread about Ken Jennings-the guy with winning streak on Jeopardy.
It got me thinking about bizarre daily threads that would be interesting to follow (and might be the basis of a cool book or movie)
For example:
Suicidal person decides to kill oneself but, instead of leaving a letter, posts it as a thread to a forum board (perhaps as a plea for help). Subsequent posts try to talk the person out of it. As the suicidal person posts reponses, we gradually learn the bizarre chain of events that have brought the person to this point. The daily tension mounts as the person apparently loses hope to live and plans in detail how he or she will do it. Other posters desperately make attempts to talk the person out of it or get clues as to where this person lives. Day by day, the question becomes: can they save this person?
Strange person starts a thread in a forum board claiming that a certain major event that could not have been predicted will occur in a week or so. The event occurs, drawing curiousity from other posters. The person makes another prediction that also comes true. The thread is then on going, as more predictions are made and little clues dropped about this strange person. Eventually, something bizarre is revealed about the person and where he, she, or it comes from…
Not to mention that it would be completely base and tasteless if it were a joke, and apalling that anyone would “like to see” and be entertained by it as a spectator if it were real.
People talk about genuine stuff on here that really and truly affects them, Certainly if you Please, and they trust the other posters with that info. That kind of personal stuff is not for anyone else’s entertainment.
Oh, puh-leeze!! First of all, I never mentioned the word “entertained”. Secondly, if someone suicidal where to post to these threads, then it’s irrelevant how we readers see it. It would definitely matter to the poster, because they would obviously be looking for help and not finding it from their personal contacts. If a suicidal person could be saved in such a fashion, then it’s well worth the taint of entertainment. By posting here, it would not longer be a “personal” matter.
Third, Real-life drama, as viewed in the arena of public media, IS entertainment, whether or not we wish to admit it. Webster’s defines entertainment as “something diverting or engaging”. Daily drama such as that would definitely be “diverting”. Even “informational” shows, like Oprah (with Dr. Phil), or talk radio are, bottom line, entertainment. It doesn’t matter how dramatic or tragic the topic, what matters is that we viewers follow or watch it with interest.
Now maybe we can back to the original topic: bizarre threads you’d like to see
#1 has happened on the Something Awful forums. Some guy posted that he was going to OD on drugs (in FYAD, which is basically the BBQ Pit minus about 100 IQ points), and the mods ended up calling the police and saving the guy’s life.
I would hope that if #1 were to occur here, the mods would quickly trace the guy’s location through his IP address, and call the cops. So I don’t think the thread would last for days. The mods here know better than that.