No hand wringing from me. Just adding my preference, FWIW, to the mix.
Carry on with the overwrought emoting as you will.
I am going to pit you for misusing literally. Or for putting it four words too early in your sentence, anyway. I’m worried there might be a Omnibus English Usage Pit Thread though.
I’m the person who started the omnibus thread about the use of police force against civilians. In the OP of that thread, i made very clear that i didn’t want to discourage people from starting separate threads on incidents of particular importance or interest. I understand that omnibus threads can seem like an overcrowded minefield, and that they can sometimes also devolve into pissing matches among a relatively small group of contributors, with everyone else feeling as if there is not point in contributing.
Still, it seems to me that the threads serve a purpose, and that they can still provide an interesting forum for discussion for large numbers of Dopers. My thread has over 200 contributors in total, and of that number, about 60 people have made 20 or more posts. Of the most recent 50 posts in that thread, i count 19 separate contributors.
Yes, as these threads get longer it can sometimes seem like too much trouble to keep up with them, but that drawback can also be a benefit. I find that i can stay out of the omnibus threads for a few days or even a couple of weeks, and then just jump back in whenever i feel like it and there will be something new to talk about. The nature of these threads is such that you don’t have to “keep up” with them; you can dip in and out, treating each new engagement almost like a new thread, because new topics are being raised all the time.
Because it seems to me that those who don’t like them feel pressured or otherwise affected somehow by the very existence of those threads, and I don’t get it. I’d understand if the omnibus threads were made by mods, and you were officially instructed to post concerning threads there on threat of closure, but neither of those things is true.
You don’t like omnibus threads. That’s fine. But how does their presence affect posting here in the slightest when anyone and everyone is free to post outside them at will? I truly do not get the level of umbrage.
I have no umbrage at all, nor have I posted in a single one of those threads to bitch about them. Instead, I saw them mentioned in ATMB and then here. Thought I’d throw in my two cents about why at least one more person passes them by. And the same has held true for me in longer single-topic threads that I’ve vigorously participated in. The more they go on and on, page after page, the less interesting it all becomes as points get lost, fewer folks stay involved and latecomers join in with things that’ve already been posted long ago, just to be ignored.
So, I think they (as a group) are slightly detrimental to the board, but not kore so than the general decline it’s seeing as a whole, undoubtedly due to a host of reasons. But like I said, some like them and others don’t and all should act accordingly. Too-MAY-toe, too-MAH-toe, yes?