I have the impression that it might have. Correlation does not equal causation and all that, but certainly this particular Poetry Sweatshop has already garnered more votes than we’ve had since April of 2010. Also, there has been more commentary and discussion than in many of the previous ones. All this is a subjective impression but overall I think the effect of keeping the thread ‘free-floating’ has been positive.
[Logicians - avert your eyes! What follows is pure Wild Ass Guesswork in its worst form. I haven’t even proved the existence of an effect, and now I’m about to speculate on the reasons for the existence of something still hypothetical! Run! Run for your lives!!]
I think it may be possible that sticky threads don’t get noticed as readily - like the pre-flight safety announcement, it’s something we’re accustomed to ignoring. Also, because so many of the stickies are locked, there may be a feeling of reluctance to try to comment on a stickied thread. Couple that with a general reluctance to comment on someone else’s creative efforts and you have a lot of constraint against making comments.
All that aside, I’m really pleased at how respectful everyone’s comments are, and how they were well thought out and encouraging. I think that people may have wanted to comment if only to bump the thread and keep the discussion going, and yet the discussion has been very fruitful.
And for those who haven’t voted yet, there are still more than 48 hours remaining…
Y’all have made my day!