I may be wrong, but I was under impression that the 2+2 method of creating long-running mega-threads was a by-product of being tied to an outdated version of the forum software which ran better if you could decrease the number of active threads.
Is there a good reason for having such threads? Is the problem just that people are reluctant to start new threads? Do people feel like inadequate thread-starters if their thread reaches its conclusion after 20 posts?
That’s the point though, you’re a mega user of the forum so 500 posts is like nothing for you. Other more moderate users are like “aaaargh”. Possibly it’s a me problem though as I hate missing out on reading all the posts by just reading the last 50, so just end up dumping the thread altogether.
I’m not convinced one way or another, but can’t help noticing that we do things very differently than most other forums. In fact we do things differently now than how things were on 2+2 Pol not too many years ago. Mega-threads are pretty rare in general. I have to wonder what benefit we’re getting from them, because it’s not obvious to me.
And the question for me isn’t the impeachment thread and how busy it might be on certain days, it’s the main thread. It’s noisy. Discussions are shallow and brief, because it’s the default dumping ground for everything, including a lot of content that has absolutely nothing to do with Trump but ends up in there because that’s where everybody is posting.
I like mega-threads and mods splitting things off if they get going. New threads on smaller issues fail to thrive unless they are fertilized in a megathread and transplanted.
(Didn’t the gardening thread start out like that?)
The gardening thread is a 3rd generation heirloom varietal from a seed first planted by +rep a couple years ago.
If you have different threads on different issues I can catch up with the revelant thread when I feel like it. I don’t check political threads everyday. My opinion is slanted as a more casual user though.
I like the mega threads. It feels more like everyone hanging out as a community.
If you have separate threads it’s like little groups breaking off at parties to discuss what they’re interested in. The LC thread is the main community cluster anything goes thread.
I guess I just have a very different idea of “too much.” What does the Trump mega thread get in a normal weekday? 100 posts? I know it’s been a lot lately, but it won’t last. People are excited.
It’s also a lot easier to keep up if you have a few people you just skim past.
It’s just my opinion. I’m more than happy to go with what the majority wants.
Breaking the Trump thread up would limit the best feature of this forum, which is the dynamic inline thread updates. When shit is hitting the fan you don’t even need to refresh. It sucks to have to go check multiple threads when I can do nothing and get new posts delivered to me.
I’d like to clarify that my post quoted in OP was not in reference to post/content volume, but rather to Micro’s comment:
And I might as well add that I’m not necessarily agreeing that “it wouldn’t work at all” but that it would be a different forum experience. But that’s a different subject than this thread.
Editing to add: Now I’m looking at the thread again and it seems Micro’s whole point actually was about content volume. So LOL me I guess.
To go ahead and weigh in on the megathread question: I don’t care either way. Whatever works for the most people is fine with me.
Sorry if my tone came off as aggressive. Not my intention, and I’m also happy to go along with what people want.
It’s both though. I was talking about how it’s hard to keep up with posts with this many people, but a stream of posts from people whose screen names I don’t recognize would be twitter responses or reddit and I’m rarely interested enough to read complete randoms. I don’t argue on Facebook either because I don’t want to do that with people I know irl. Semi-randoms is the sweet spot.
Something I’ve seen some subreddits do is break up their megathreads into daily or weekly threads. Maybe the trumpbot thread could be restarted daily? That way it could be the same type/amount of convo, just in smaller chunks for the folks who actually have lives (of which I am not one).
Honestly, this forum is great at keeping the amount of reposts and new threads low, but the trumpbot thread is beastly and really hard to keep up with.
We can’t lock the megathread because dominic hasn’t caught up on it yet
Here are three semi-contradictory thoughts:
I am strongly in favor of mega-threads for their community-nurturing aspect
TrumpBot feeds/needs a Trump mega-thread (agreeing with ggoreo)
I would be thrilled if we turned off the TrumpBot
Thoughts on putting some sort of admin intro in the OP of megathreads to make them a bit more inviting to new users/readers? Something like:
Hi, we’re weird and never start new threads because we’re all lol olds and we hate change. Ignore the thousands of outdated posts here and just skip to the end. You’ll be up to speed in no time
.
I’d phrase it more as in explaining the mega threads “focus more on community and conversation than in-depth discussion, and since the talk tends to follow the daily news you don’t need to start from the beginning (unless you want).”
First draft. Feedback?
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Mega-thread Note
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Mega-threads are ongoing, loosely structured community conversations about daily news with thousands of replies. You should probably skip to the end rather than trying to read them all. Comments are frequent and topical so you can jump right into the conversation without worrying that you missed something important.