I do not know what percentage of mine get no replies-- 10? 15? Maybe less. I always feel a little sad for the poor OP no one was interested in. I have learned that this board is not into music from the Caribbean, be it reggae (from the island, not American pop reggae) or Salsa (except for a small window of time when that movie about Cuban Latin jazz artists came out) since question I ask on either of those topics usually get no replies at all.
I’ve also learned that, just because I find something utterly fascinating, doesn’t mean anyone else will. I chalk this up to the fact that I am a special little snowflake.
Now watch this slide on down to page 5 within the hour.
The only OP of mine that got 0 replies (that I can recall) was a question about an obscure Japanese zombie movie I posted in Cafe Society. Apparently it was so obscure I’m the only person on the Dope who’s seen it.
A small amount of mine don’t get any replies. More don’t get answered.
Many people don’t think out the title well. The first lines should get to the point, because people use the hover function to see if they’ll open the thread. Never start a thread you want an answer to on the weekend or at night, because that’s when it’s most likely to fail. You also need to help your thread along by being positive and interacting. Add in please share your own experiences so posters feel they can add in stuff and they won’t be hijacking your thread.
If you click on your name, you can pull up your statistics and see how many threads you’ve started, and how many replies each thread got. I had 3 out of 65 with no response.
Post a link to your reggae threads. I may not have an answer for you, but I love reggae (roots), and will definitely check it out.
As to the question in your OP, I don’t recall if I have any threads that bombed, so I guess either I don’t, or I didn’t really care that much. I would chalk it up to experience, and I think the advice given by Harmonious Discord is great. I do often post at night and on weekends, so I’m not surprised that I don’t get too many comments, or that the thread fizzles shortly after I finally get around to putting in my 2¢.
Search all threads started by this poster only displays threads I started from Sept of 2001 and I know I’ve started threads before then. Still, that’s enough info to figure.
You know that old saw that you tend remember the bad-- my estimate of 10 to 15% was way off. Only 1.46% of my OPs have 0 replies.
P.S. It was pretty hard not to click links so that I could find out what the hell was I writing about in that post?
Two of the zero reply threads were questions about movies (The Constant Gardener and No Country for Old Men), one asked for a good George Gershwin bio (where’s Eve!). A couple didn’t deserve any response – they were links to articles that I thought were interesting. Posting links without asking questions or making some kind of comment – hell, I don’t respond to those either.
A thread from 2000 was about our dog Boomer, who died in December. He was fearful of loud noises (fireworks, thunderstorms) and I got lots of good advice about calming him. He never did get over his fear and we’re going about this differently with Sadie the pup. Apparently if you try to soothe a dog, you’re telling him he needs to be soothed – that there’s something to be afraid of. With Sadie, we ignore thunderstorms and booms from the gravel pit down the road. She’s exhibited no nervousness, so far.
I had no idea I’d started that many threads. (25) My two most recent starts have no replies, so that’s 8%. Two other threads have only 1 reply, including the one where the reply was by me, so I guess that bumps my fail rating up even higher. My highest response/viewed threads are about farting and costumes. Generally pretty popular subjects with the online crowd.
Reasons I fail massively in solicitation of online reaction:
I google a lot before I ask a question where there’s an actual answer. Posting here is pretty much my last resort because I really dislike JFGI threads. I just hope that somebody who knows the answer will come along and help me out. Sometimes one reply is all you need, and I’m continually surprised at all the brains that fall out on the internet. It really is a very stupid place with some very smart people in it. Or at least, with unexpected fields of expertise and passions.
I have the dullest titles for my posts. Even I got bored looking at them. But I also dislike the deliberately provocative or disingenuous post titles. I’m really thankful for the mouseover preview, that cuts down on it a bit, but I think it’s a bit of a dick move, really.
I also have a tendency to be a little snappy if someone’s response makes it clear they have poor reading comprehension and/or are talking out of their ass, and if you combine limited scope of experience/knowledge questions with a cranky OP, that kills a thread pretty quick.
And how do I feel about it? Meh. I’d like an answer to my questions, but I’ll get them somewhere else.
I’d like to know the answer to that chemical question though, because that is random and weird. We use hippie products so I don’t know what the hell JustThinkin’ is writing about but I’m not surprised. I’ve had to leave the gym and social gatherings early to get away from the overpowering reek of products that people use, and I don’t think I’m a particularly chemical sensitive person, just not used to it.
Some people (myself when bored) search out the 0 reply threads so they can pity post with a boost.
Not exactly endearing if it fails, just prolongs the agony. But if it then takes off, it’s reflected success for the booster.
Well, the problem with that theory is that it presumes that you have few enough posts to do the math by hand. I have, unfortunately, a lot of posts, and not enough time to run the statistics.
Ok, mixed the two together. I have 21 OPs that drew nary a peep, out of a total 548 OPs. I don’t know how many threads I killed by being the last one to post, but let’s assume, statistically, that it would be more than 21.
When my OPs don’t get a response, it only bothers me in GQ (which is where most didn’t get ANY response), because I thought the SDMB could have answered a few of those.
Not only that, but she gotta 'kill ‘im wit da low’. Translation, she gotta have bomb pussy that makes a man not want a blow job.
To hijack for a minute, there seems to be a theme throughout dancehall music that a woman doesn’t have to give head if her vagina is tight and right. Don’t they see that oral sex is an entirely different experience?? Why can’t she just be a trooper and do both? And him, likewise? I know the Rastamen frown upon it, but come on…they gotta know that plenty of them do it.
Also, Biggirl, by ‘American pop reggae’ do you mean dancehall? Or do you mean the crap they play on the radio. I do love roots and culture reggae, but I have never considered dancehall in general to be ‘American pop’.
The last thread I started with 0 responses was a cafe society thread about Cindy Lauper and Lil’ Kim singing and rapping together. I thought Cindy did a great job rapping. No one else here thought it was worth commenting on. Made me feel strangely…lonely?..I can’t explain it. I think I wanted someone to also dig it the way I did.
