In light of recent forum events...

codemonkey

Shared on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 19:05
Ive noticed a pattern in forum posts/flames/discussions.  When a topic gets heated everyone finds an opinion and everyone involved must post. Those that respond to them require a retort.  That is natural, thats how debating works.

But, the pattern that occurs over and over is the same: After the first page of responses to a given post - no matter how heated - will tell the whole story. Pages 2 through 55 are all rehashes of the same posts in different words by different members.

So, a good reason to lock down a thread is when the conversation goes in circles. Its like the Lion King -  the circle of life - I tell my side, you tell your side, joe agrees with me, betty disagrees with me, bob agrees with joe, mark flames betty, sam yells at bob, sharon tells mark to go to hell, etc. But, in the end, its really just two posts: Opinion & Counter-Opinion.  When its obvious that everything that can possibly be said has been said its time to all shut down and find something more constructive to do.

Also, note, that usually after page two the same arguments are applied with either CAPSLOCK or swears.  A few pages later the personal insults begin to fly. So, it seems best to wrap up your remarks after page 2 because its all down hill from there.

Look at how the US political debates happen. Each person gets a timed response and then they move on.  There is a good reason for this: It will never end otherwise. Think of the thread lock as that bell going "ding! time up"

CodeMonkey

Comments

codemonkey's picture
Submitted by codemonkey on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 19:06
And NONE of you can compete with Cuda and I. Weve had arguments go on for 8+ pages and its just us two! So your all n00bs compared to us godz of pwn. -CM
webmonkee's picture
Submitted by webmonkee on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 20:23
I dont think 8 pages of, "oh yeah?" "Yeah!" "oh Yeah?" "yeah!" counts as godlike pwning. Although, I will admit that when you throw a, "Says you" in there, I really am taken aback. :) :) :) :)
Lonewolf's picture
Submitted by Lonewolf on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 22:42
Yeah its true, it does seem to go that way and its to bad. Good blog code.
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 23:06
Everyones entitled to my opinion, this wouldnt happen if everyone just opted to use it :)
FadeIntoBlack's picture
Submitted by FadeIntoBlack on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 23:19
Sadly I get to troll far less than most, so when I get to a good one, it is already at 5 pages....I throw in a zinger, but no one notices since its in the middle. :( Careers FTL.
codemonkey's picture
Submitted by codemonkey on Wed, 07/19/2006 - 23:55
Yeah, now this only goes for those that become obvious flame wars. We do, on most occasions, have actual intellectual debates and such for multiple pages. But if the first three posts are "oh oh" material, then you know how the rest is going to go. -CM

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