# Why are Great Debates threads so seldom featured in Threadspotting? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 7, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703 "2002-11-07T13:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/1 "2002-11-07T13:35:43Z")
Actually, I can’t remember one since “Witness”. Is it that they don’t lend themselves to popular appeal? Is it that they are perceived as poor quality? Is it that they are seldom nominated? (I have nominated a couple.) Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/2 "2002-11-07T13:47:07Z")
I think people naturally gravitate toward nominating the amusing stuff for Threadspotting. While I feel pretty good about my abilities as a debater, I’m kinda reluctant to nominate a debate thread I’ve been in, because I’m uncomfortable with looking like I’m going _that_ far out of my way to toot my own horn. And since I rarely read a GD thread without participating, I have little opportunity to nominate GD threads I haven’t been in. I did nominate one GD thread a long time ago - the “Why Pray?” thread from the fall of 1999 that principally involved Gaudere, Polycarp, and me, with substantial contributions from Triskadecamus, Jodi, StrTrkr777 (remember him?) and others. But that one got chewed up by the server somewhere along the line, so it’s no longer listed in Threadspotting… I need to check to see if BoardReader has it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/3 "2002-11-07T14:25:37Z")
That makes sense, RT. Most Great Debates threads aren’t yuk-fests, and maybe the purpose of Threadspotting is to provide some comic relief from the fight against ignorance. And by the way, the “Why Pray” thread was among the greatest ever. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/4 "2002-11-07T16:34:43Z")
Why thanks, **Lib**. 🙂 BTW, my Boardreader search this morning didn’t turn it up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/5 "2002-11-08T03:10:35Z")
The [How long to Restart Civilization](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64275) thread started out in IMHO, but it was nominated for Threadspotting after it got moved to GD. Dunno if that counts or not - but Lib’s right; very few GD threads make threadspotting. I would guess that part of the answer is that Threadspotting is supposed to be at least partly an advertisment for the boards, to those who wouldn’t otherwise read them; a **lot** of GD threads, even very good ones, are simply not very good as introductory material. ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/6 "2002-11-08T04:10:09Z")
**Libertarian** …I would be grateful if you would email me at [Scotticher@aol.com](mailto:Scotticher@aol.com) I have something I would like to discuss with you. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-great-debates-threads-so-seldom-featured-in-threadspotting/135703/7 "2002-11-08T05:49:12Z")
Just to echo what has been said… I got hooked onto the boards because of a threadspotting thread that featured a teddy bear called Evil Bitch that was going to go around the world. So named because the guy had broken up and she had given him the teddy. The thread was hilarious… and the humour is what got me trapped… Without threadspotting, I wouldn’t have known that such a board existed. Yes, I did see the “Message Boards” link on previous visits to the home page, but my idea of “Message Boards” was vastly different then. It’s like when I thought “Massage Parlours” were just that. And I doubt a GD thread would have got me that hooked to the boards, atleast initially. Now I’ll spend hours reading Mundane Pointless Stuff (and I mean _really_ mundane pointless stuff) and I’ll still be grinning my ass off… as though I’m on dope or something…