I'm not actually making any complaints about the quality of topics, since the term "general" pretty much gives carte blanche to make topics about anything. I think the journal-type stuff needs to be thinned, but that's not even particularly major.

What I'm talking about is the lack of actual discussion.

I know what you mean, but I think they're the same problem, or at least related.

Make a low-content thread with bullet points at the end, and all people will do is come in, answer the bullet points, and leave.

Although to be fair, as you've said, many people (newbies, older members, and even moderators alike) do seem to be doing exactly the same in topics with a good, strong discussion potential, too.

I would have to agree with all of you.

I know I am a slow reader so it pushes my patients to the extreme when I have to read a 9 page thread to even catch up on what people are talking about.

However, you do see blogs, notes, and even journals out there every where. I can see if people want to get help on something going wrong in their life (post in the life issues). I know I don't want to read what someone does throughout their day. I would much rather discuss health issues, environmental arguments, or rights.

honestly, i do that quite a bit. S:
however, before posting, i always read the first post so i don't sound like an idiot. then i reply and simply go on my way. i may check up on the thread every now and then to see if anyone replied to what i said, but that's about it. if i am looking for a place to stay and chat, i often go to the hang out threads.

which is why i'm going to leave now. o 3o

<3

I think some may be that way but not all. And I did post in the "Pregnant Man" thread. And I am one of the ones that actually read the whole article. Some people do not take time to read and just end up blurting out "How can a man have a baby?" with out reading. But that is going to happen no matter where you are. You can not force people to read the stuff before they post. It does not make the tread a bad thread it is just some users do not care.

90% of the things in GD are things that you can discuss and voice your opinions on the subjects. So I thing GD is still GD it just has a few people that do not take the time to read...like you said I am sure they are just in a hurry to make gold.

I agree. June 07, it wasn't a bunch of non-topic-readers. People would read and then post. But now there's a loooooooooot of pointless topics that are just "What if" topics and people don't even bother to read anything. That's why I don't make topics anymore.

If the thread is massive, like 10+ pages, I'll read the first post and a few pages, like 7,8,9, and then post. It helps.

I do that, too, Scribble.

If it's a very long thread, reading the whole thing would just take all day, but skimming over a few pages only takes a few minutes and then I feel like I can make a more relevant reply.

Originally Posted by LazyKat

If I got a PM of new replies when I watched a topic, I might use the link, but emails are pretty useless... Beh, I'm not checking my emails 10 times an hour to see if some weirdo replied 'i know, lol' to a post.

I agree with you here, but your inbox might fill up fairly fast! What about a 'your watched topics' section in your profile with links to the threads you have chosen to watch, like Gaia does. As much as that site irritated me, I have to admit that function made it really handy to see where you had been!

I kind of noticed that. I'm new here and I noticed that right away. I posted something in the books section, and people seemed to respond to posts there, but here there is no responding.


I guess I'm just used to the rude come backs of the GD on Gaia Online.

If I had to guess, I'd say it's likely that a more robust subscription system is on the way with the new software.

All in all, phpBB is a decent piece of software for small forums with <5k users who don't post at a rapid rate. However, this forum has most definitely outgrown it and any upgrade should address these smaller issues by default.

It does seem that people only post their reply to a thread to get the gold. At least it's not spam, though!

I've found myself doing a similar thing, moving from thread to thread but occasionally I will stop and discuss the topic with a few users. It's definitely a problem of the slow movement on the boards and people not working together to keep a topic running.

I'm not sure what could be done. I fear that if you take away the gold earning in this forum you may just stop people from discussing all together. >.< It is a lack of people in the threads that is the problem. Most give an answer and don't wait around for a reply as they feel that they won't get a reply.

What we need is to work together and try and reply to each others posts. Maybe that will be incentive enough for people to carry on a discussion rather than voicing their opinion and moving on.

Oh, eliminating gold earning entirely would not be the solution. (but you already know that)

There needs to be some kind of shift in thought in order for there to really be any improvement anyways, and obviously a handful of people can't really accomplish that so this is really just impotent whining. :(

edit: But at least I've done my part by creating a topic in GD with discussion. :)

For me, it's because it's on multiple pages. I have slow internet, and it takes a long time for everything to load. Once I have read the first page, I usually respond to it without reading all of the pages. It saves a lot of time, and all responses are usually the same.

I read the entire first page, but some threads are hundreds of pages long. I'm not going to read all that...

On the internet, I usually have a couple hundred tabs open and flip randomly through them. While something's loading, I'll go to another site. With multiple pages, not only will it take a few hours just to read one thing, but I'll have probably forgotten what it's about.

Well I know that I almost always come back to the threads I've posted in to check for responses, sometimes even a few days later. It always disappoints me if I come back and nothing new has been said, or if the person I was talking with has disappeared off the face of the Earth.

I am guilty of not reading entire topics before posting, but I usually skim over the first 1 - 2 pages of the thread before saying anything. Or if it's something like the male pregnancy thread, I will have read articles online and seen it in the news, so I already know how and why he's pregnant.

Usually I'm only posting if I'm interested in the topic to begin with and I rarely post just so that I can get the gold from posting, so that's probably the reason why I come back to topics looking to see what others have said.

I generally won't read a whole thread if it's long. I'll read the first page, so I know what the thread is about, and then the last page or two, to see what the current discussion is.

I am a fly-by commenter. ^^' I've been a lurker so long that it's hard to break that habit, and I've gotten so used to being ignored in threads I don't often see the point of going back to them. Plus, there usually aren't that many users on during the times I can usually get on. Not to mention that I'm a horrible conversationalist even when I'm not online. I tend to say most, if not all, that I want to on a subject in my first post, so I'm not really sure how to keep discussing it.

I also agree that I don't think a spam forum would do much good. Gaia has one of those, and there are still spammers everywhere. I think spam would eventually leak out of that forum.

Originally Posted by Kinmotsu

Oh, eliminating gold earning entirely would not be the solution. (but you already know that)

There needs to be some kind of shift in thought in order for there to really be any improvement anyways, and obviously a handful of people can't really accomplish that so this is really just impotent whining. :(

edit: But at least I've done my part by creating a topic in GD with discussion. :)

A few people can change something! Let's take a stand! =D If you can get people to discuss in this thread then why not in other threads? Start asking for other people's input on your opinions in other threads. Comment on other peoples replies. Do things to spur on a discussion with someone. Little things can make a big difference. ^^ If we can get a few people in this thread to start doing this, hopefully others will follow suit.

It was even like that on Gaia, and you don't earn anything for posting with the way they have their gold system set up.

I don't think it's a big problem, just ignore it?

It is exactly this phenomenon of post-and-run and discussion-less topics which has left me feeling very disconnected from Menewsha lately. Often, I'll enter a thread, read through it, think my response, and then leave without actually posting it, because I see no point in doing so. Either I find the topic too boring, or that my opinion has already been well stated by others, or that no one would respond to my attempts at discussion anyway.

For a while, I tried some of the tactics that Beff mentioned in an attempt to stir up some discussion, but my efforts have largely been in vain in the GD. I don't know what it is, but somehow people latch onto the general part and mostly ignore the discussion part, which makes me feel like the only place to have an actual designated discussion on any level is in the Debates forum. In a way, I feel like drawing a line between debate and general discussion might be part of the problem. (I'm not suggesting we close the debates forum though!)

I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of suggestions, except to lead by example, as Beff said.

I can honestly say I've never given the debate forum an honest chance, since debate forums are historically intense arguments rather than discussions and I've already done enough internet fighting to last me a lifetime when I was younger. Ergo, I prefer the more laid back atmosphere of the GD, but it's not really about discussion anymore so I feel like an orphan.

Debate forums are not a fun place to be at all. All you ever end up doing is arguing something that people have been arguing about for ages, and if they didn't ever come to an agreement about it neither will you. Trying to get people from the internet to see things your way is just a waste of time and energy in the end.

I've generally always enjoyed the debate forum here. I've had some good dialogs with people about interesting topics, but in a more engaging, informative way than I usually find in the GD. There is much more back and forth between people, more eloquence, more effort. I haven't really seen much in the way of argument or drama there either, although admittedly, I don't spend the majority of my time there.

Personally, I don't see the point of the debate forum as being to convince other people of my opinions, but rather to express mine, hear others, learn, reevaluate, and come to a personal decision again. Usually, I come to the same decision as I had before, but it's from a more informed mindset, because I understand the situation better. Other people can bring up points and show me new sides of an issue that I never would have know about otherwise.

I might give the debate forum a look over. >.>

Chexala, I find myself posting 'in my head' rather than actually giving the thread a reply sometimes too. I guess all topics can't interest you enough to deem a reply. xD

Kinmotsu, I'll adopt you. ;D We can discuss together!

I'm more irritated by the people who make a thread with absolutely no discussion >.< they just... it's a waste of my reading time >.> (not referring to this xP)

Originally Posted by Kaze-bear

I'm more irritated by the people who make a thread with absolutely no discussion >.< they just... it's a waste of my reading time >.> (not referring to this xP)

I agree. I prefer the thread that list things that are open to discussion in that thread. It shows the thread started has thought about the topic a little bit before hand. xD

Discussion prompts (spons, sporks, etc.) are an interesting thing. On the one hand, it's good to define the scope of a discussion to keep people on track, but on the other hand they lend themselves so well to post-and-run replies. I'm not sure where I stand on them anymore.