I was recently talking to someone who is interested in political science, sociology, and so forth, and I was describing the SDMB to him, and commenting on what a great place it is.
What threads to you think I should send him links to, if I want to convey both the wide variety of serious and trivial things that are discussed here, and the extent to which a community of people is built (and extends into RL)?
(Note that I’m not necessarily asking for threads that are particularly funny, well written, etc, but threads that really demonstrate the character and society of the SDMB)
I guess the innumerable <shudder> “-gry” threads should be there too. For the full spectrum, you’ll probably want one of the extreme “TMI” threads at one extreme, vs. an all out “Chronos vs. Ultrafilter vs. Achernar vs. Bad Astronomer” (and lots of others) intellectual heavyweight slugfest.
How about suggesting some threads that show how the posters are capable of intelligent discourse?
e.g. a recent “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” thread: The Four-Color Map Problem
The one that leaps to mind for me is the GQ thread in which a bunch of engineers tried to work out the structural changes that would be necessary to make a giant insect biologically viable. I can’t find it now, though.