this seems like a smart plan to me! I don’t know what my own ratio is, but usually waiting to post (and then discarding the draft) is often what I do or wish I had done.
I mean, I frequently think “glad I didn’t post and then stopped reading that thread” but almost never think “wish I’d chimed in a long time ago.”
That’s pretty close to me.
I probably fail to post a post I’ve started maybe 1 in 20 to 30 times. So 3-5% don’t post, and 95-97% do get posted.
When I recognize I was just venting, I usually delete it unposted. And usually regret at least a little the venting posts that do get posted. Those would-be ventings are the majority of my non-posts.
As to drafts:
Whenever you’re typing up a post Discourse is continually saving it keystroke-by-keystroke as a developing draft. If your PC or internet crashed mid-word, when you come back and reopen that thread your post will be there right as you left it.
When you’re finished with a a post if you click [Submit], the draft gets converted into your real post and the draft is deleted. If instead you click [Discard], the draft is deleted. Anything else, from PC crash to close the tab to close the browser, results in the pending draft sitting there in your drafts folder to be completed (or deleted) later by you.
So any time it looks like the hamsters ate your homework, just go check your drafts. Good bet it’s right there safe and sound.
I guess a quarter of posts that I write get junked, usually either because I decide the post adds nothing; or because I’m failing to express myself - I’m writing it, but it’s not saying what I’m trying to say. And sometimes because, during the drafting, I realize that I’m being a prick and should really stop.
If it’s going to be a difficult post to write, I’ll usually do the drafting in Word, and then cut-and-paste. Example: there’s a thread in Factual Questions, Insurance For Expensive Drugs. As ex-industry, Non-US I briefly considered posting something comparing drug pricing policy in the US vs Europe. One I never started because it would have been a tangent - but that would have been tough to write - I would have drafted it in Word.
j
I do most editing and rejecting in my head before I ever touch the keyboard, so my writing-to-posting ratio is actually fairly low.
Often, I will consider writing something, but decide against it. Two or three days later, I will think of something pertinent to say. But by then, the discussion has moved on, so my pearls of wisdom would be a hijack. So I never write them at all. So the world is sadly deprived of my brilliance.
Huh I guess this explains why I post so much dumb stuff.
I’d estimate at least half of my drafts get posted. (And after that, maybe 1 in 10 get edited to “nevermind”, so I’m batting about 45% overall).
Probably a similar ratio for creating new threads.
If I decide to hit reply , I’d guess about 95+% of posts get submitted.
I had 1.
We need more posts.
All y’all discarding are contributing to the board going down the toilet.
Post.
Post.
Post.
Make threads come back and post in them.
That crap about post padding is stupid. Nobody is in a contest.
If you say something stupid I’ll forgive you, I promise. And so will most everyone else.
We’re not writing a dissertation or a manifesto. It’s a message board. Not likely to change the world or many peoples minds.
Probably about 3:2 posted to unposted. Usually I don’t post for one of two reasons- one, I realize that what I’m posting is either inflammatory or trolling, or two, because I pause for some external reason, and never actually get back to the post.
I toss out less than most it seems. I guess I think of the interactions here more like conversations than submitting articles for publication? They don’t need to be perfect any more than thoughts expressed in real world conversations do. I like to take the time needed to link to anything appropriate to link to though.
On the extreme side of the spectrum are those who post just to virtually hear themselves talk. But I suspect some of you are throwing out reasonable comments that would add to a conversation.
The other day I wisely edited a post I’d just made in a song lyrics thread in Thread Games, deleting the part about suggesting a real-life person should kill himself and calling him the C-word. Even though those were Tim Minchin’s lyrics, not mine.
I delete most, but clearly not enough.
It’s very rare that I delete a post. If I start typing, then I almost always submit.
Once in a while I type a joke response, then think about it and realize that it isn’t funny and delete it.
Once in a while, I type a serious response, then realize I misunderstood the point and delete it.
The most common reason is that I’m reading a long thread, I begin a reply to a particular message. I type a couple of words as a placeholder, then read the resat of the thread. Then, I see that someone else has made the same point, or the discussion has moved on, so I don’t bother completing it. What I discard is only a couple of words long. And even that is rare.
I’d say I post at least 95% of what I type.
That sounds like my “posted-to-discarded” ratio, although maybe for different reasons. I don’t do a lot of venting per se. But sometimes I write a post and then realize it’s just not going to contribute anything useful to the discussion, so I trash it.