Maybe, Perhaps, READ Before You Post?!

Iron Flatline · Mar 25, 2008

LOL, yeah LaFoto, I do that too...

Harmony, you've hit on an interesting topic - Web-forum based communications. It's odd, that's for sure... but I love that many of us have gotten used to it. It's less these days, but you can still spot the newcomers who have only recently become an active member of their first forum. They are often befuddled, and sometimes (rightly) offended... but you get used to it. Thank god for emoticons, they help. Some readers have a really hard time parsing sarcasm from comment.

LaFoto · Mar 25, 2008

I tend to see some difference between spoken conversation, mostly so in banter among friends, and written conversation, like here, in the Photographic Discussions, for example. I always find you can (or should be able to) stick to a topic when it is all still there in front of you in written form, and has started under a very specific theme. A clear subject matter given by the OP. Why would you need to diverse and meander into all sorts of side-topics when it is all there for you to read?

In spoken conversation, you might as well forget what has been said before, but when you are in a discussion group, you're not supposed to talk about this and that and more, as it springs to mind, you are supposed to stay on topic even there. Isn't it so?

Battou · Mar 25, 2008

LaFoto said:
...

In spoken conversation, you might as well forget what has been said before, but when you are in a discussion group, you're not supposed to talk about this and that and more, as it springs to mind, you are supposed to stay on topic even there. Isn't it so?

lol I am horrible about that. IRL I can't stay on subject to save my life, but on the internet I can see the subject change before it gets the chance to, much like this thread is :lmao:

Tasmaster · Mar 25, 2008

It comes with the internet.

But - there is a but - reading only the OP and replying to that is not necessarily bad forum practice. I't a legitimate and useful way of posting. If a thread has gone on for pages and you have something to say in reply to the OP you don't need to read it all. The best thing to do is to write something like "In reply to the OP:" or just mention that you haven't read all of the thread.

I believe this is the trade-off for doing away with the more accurate but horribly ugly and less functional threaded mode (which doesn't work properly anyway since most people are using linear). That goes for most on the internet, not just this forum. Personally i am happy with the compromise and don't read every post of every thread all the time.

But it's true: if you have something really serious to say and want to sound important, read the whole damn thread.

Battou · Mar 25, 2008

Tasmaster said:
...

But it's true: if you have something really serious to say and want to sound important, read the whole damn thread.

Yeah, this applies particularily in threads where the OP is slightly less descriptive than they should be. This is a prime example of that.

craig · Mar 25, 2008

Does anyone around here do TFP/CD weddings?

Love & Bass

Iron Flatline · Mar 25, 2008

Tasmaster said:
It comes with the internet.

But - there is a but - reading only the OP and replying to that is not necessarily bad forum practice. I't a legitimate and useful way of posting. If a thread has gone on for pages and you have something to say in reply to the OP you don't need to read it all. The best thing to do is to write something like "In reply to the OP:" or just mention that you haven't read all of the thread.

I believe this is the trade-off for doing away with the more accurate but horribly ugly and less functional threaded mode (which doesn't work properly anyway since most people are using linear). That goes for most on the internet, not just this forum.

True dat. In the old days of Newsgroups there was a more distinct thread layout that allowed several branches to sprout. I actually prefer this kind of linear thread layout, it's graphically a lot more pleasing... but certainly a little less flexible.

craig said:
Does anyone around here do TFP/CD weddings?

lol

Village Idiot · Mar 25, 2008

Gotta love community forums on the interweb. You see this all the time on any type of forum. People so eager to post their opinion they don't bother to notice that the same opinion has already been posted.

Fiendish Astronaut · Mar 25, 2008

usayit · Mar 25, 2008

What's wrong with posting your opinion when it has already been expressed?

Just means that you agree and if you really dig into the contents... sometimes there are subtle differences.

In another thread... I expressed the same exact opinion as Helen. She responded stating that I had expressed her feelings a bit more clearly. Nothing wrong with that.... in fact it continued to provide some good details. The OP wouldn't have understood what we were trying to convey unless he reviewed both postings.

Trenton Romulox · Mar 25, 2008

Well, I didn't read all of this thread. But I didn't feel the need, because I'm answering the original post.

I do not read entire threads. It's a waste of time. I mean, what's the worst that'll happen if I say something stupid on an online forum? Nothing. So why should I go out of my way to read a bunch of posts I most likely wouldn't have cared about had I read them?