I’m relatively new to the Straightdope… but I appear to be killing threads at un unnerving rate! Anyone have any suggestions of how not to kill threads? I’m friendly, so I don’t know why it happens. :eek:
I’m having to fight my evil-bastard sense of humor, which tells me, “Let it sink! That would be hilarious!”
Don’t sweat it. It happens a lot. Every thread will have a last post (though that one about “if so-and-so wrote Lord of the Rings” appears to be asymptotically approaching infinity), and sometimes it’s yours.
Don’t post to 'em? But I suppose that ain’t really the best option, is it?
I still kill threads… quite often… I blame it on the weather.
Dude, it’s, like, you can’t step into the same thread twice, man. Would the thread have died if you hadn’t posted?
Hell, I don’t post to them, and they still die. Personally, I think I may be the Thread Angel of Death so wrapped up in a clever human disguise that I don’t even recognize myself.
Or, better, I’m just bored at work and am making this up. 
Do you answer the questions asked so definativley there’s nothing else to say?
If not, I’d check out the time stamps - if a few posters are discussing something, and then go to bed, and then you have something to add, it’s entirely possible no-one is watching the thread much any more.
Don’t sweat it. When I first started posting here, I thought that I was reaching serial murderer status. But it was just because I was new, and I wanted to know that I was (a) contributing and (b) not being ignored. Just because your postcount is low doesn’t mean that people notice it and decide not to respond. Could be a vast number of things - you’ve said something someone else has, the conversation has ended or the people involved went to bed, you gave the final piece of needed information and nothing else is needed, bad timing, etc.
Also, as a newbie, I realized that I tended to post a lot near the end of threads, after I had gotten a good feel for what was going on in that particular conversation. At that point, the thread is already winding down to a close. As the months progress, you may find yourself starting, or posting closer to the beginning of threads, which will decrease the times you’re killing a thread.
You’re doing fine. Don’t worry too much about pleasing us, worry about pleasing yourself. We don’t want you to be your perception of what we want you to be, we want you to be your perception of what you want to be*.
[sub][sup]*[/sup]Flowchart and pictorial of this paragraph available upon request.[/sub]
I know I’ve been killing my share of threads since I started here. I attribute it to the stunning awe I inspire in my fellow Doper when I follow every post with an interpretive dance of the current US budget crisis and its effects on my cat.
It’s either that or I never seem to realize that my fly is down. Roommate must be putting DDT in my Dr Pepper again.
I am a thread-killer too.
In fact, I will probably even kill this one…
crickets
You guys are great… I try to post at the beginning of threads, and maybe it is just my imagination. I’m considering your suggestion, oh dear Moderator. But I have such funny and cute ideas, I can’t imagine letting the Straightdope not have access to them.
Neither can we! 
There’s a joke in your username here somewhere…
Can I get a copy of that flowchart? 
As a Veteran Threadkiller ™, the best way to stab one in the heart is to hijack the OP and blather on about yourself as if it had *deep * and personal relevance, of which, it does not. It never will.
But it’s ok, threadkilling is not illegal. It’s a form of community service for some of us.
There are some threads that need to be put out of their misery anyway… you know the type, destined to become trainwrecks from the start and leave nobody’s reputation unscathed. (Not that that’s always a bad thing – hell, look at the TMI thread!)
Porous cow !!! :eek: 4841 posts!!! :o you must be joking, noone can live at that speed. (you must be quite a dope)
I have killed threads.
Too many to count.
Don’t let it get to you, it happens.
[sub]goldurned newbies!![/sub]
I’ve killed a lot of threads in my day. Sometime, when the board isn’t performing so poorly, run a search on my name and go back to the beginning of my posting history… you’ll see my name as the last poster to a quite large amount of threads.