Thoughtful Posts?

[snafupants]

Often we look at the post count to see/infer if someone is a maven, newb, inveterate bomb thrower, etc. This may be misleading. Not going to name names, but some forum goers have 3000+ posts with little or no substance and other forum goers have -500 posts of consistently stimulating and, well, thoughtful material.

So, lets turn some friends into enemies and enemies into friends and rank the forum goer above you - one to ten style, without those pesky decimals or half numbers - on how intellectually redeeming their posts are. Note that this is not necessarily related to length of post; put another way, size only sometimes matters. Tremendously insightful posts can be done with as little as four words - short questions, quick rebuttals, witticisms, caveats, etc.

For the sake of reliable tallying, excuse posts that are inherently silly - threads on personal style and hygiene are exempt from scrutiny. Before we get started, let me say that my posts would probably be fifteen or twenty percent fluff, but feel free to dissent from this. Okay, I will indeed tell you who I was thinking of at the beginning of this thread. Melkor for the myriad of crap and Philosophyking87 for the low post count belying interesting, well thought out material (if somewhat objectionable at times). Melkor, hapless chap, sorry buddy.

YouTube- Michael Buffer - Lets get ready to Rumble

This attachment no doubt is pissing people off at this point.

 

[Fukyo]

So, you're saying you read all of Melkor's 4,588 posts?

 

[snafupants]

So, you're saying you read all of Melkor's 4,588 posts?

So, you're saying you actually verified that number? To directly address the question, tenderly were all of them read. With great care and precision. In approximately half, he is either rambling about destroying the planet or eviscerating another member - pardon the pun. If by read you mean thought that most were mildly amusing for unintended reasons, then yes.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Eh not every post has to be a thoroughly researched essay or a soulful diatribe of one's inner most miseries. It's good to shake it up a bit, don't you think? Variety is the spice of life.

Of course I am very guilty of fluff, but fluff can be entertaining and almost everyone succumbs to and enjoys it at some point. *references lolcats*

 

[snafupants]

Eh not every post has to be a thoroughly researched essay, or a soulful diatribe of one's inner most miseries. It's good to shake it up a bit, don't you think? Variety is the spice of life.

Of course I am very guilty of fluff, but fluff can be entertaining and almost everyone succumbs to and enjoys it at some point. *references lolcats*

Agreed, but with Melkor, none of his posts seem even remotely on topic. He waltzes in and starts purporting to know more than he should about your mother or about electronically beheading someone or some damned thing. His posts could be removed and grafted into another thread and no one would be the wiser.

 

[Anthile]

Agreed, but with Melkor, none of his posts seem even remotely on topic. He waltzes in and starts purporting to know more than he should about your mother or about electronically beheading someone or some damned thing. His posts could be removed and grafted into another thread and no one would be the wiser.

But that's why we hate love constantly try to kill him.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Melkor has mommy issues.......Or maybe it's with your mommy.

So what stuff makes fluff, fluff?

 

[Cavallier]

^ I have the same question. Length has been pointed out as an important part of a thoughtful post but some of the most eye opening posts (for me at least) have been no more than a sentence or two.

(By the by IB gets a 10 and my belly button lint. The 10 is for having thoroughly hilarious and often to the point posts that send the conversation in an interesting and novel direction. The lint is your prize for getting a 10. Have fun you disgusting pig.)

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

?

Novel or did you mean navel? Your belly button lint is distacting me! It looks like it's been woven into a bolt of lime green polyester.

You supply the factory that makes this shit don't you!?

Spoiler

 

[snafupants]

Good question. Fluff includes, but is not limited to: being verbose, committing ad hominem attacks, needlessly parsing meaning, permitting runaway emotions, purposefully derailing threads, assuming teleology inherently trumps rationality, and providing unsolicited advice. The first and last items are probably my chief offenses on the forum. Melkor is rather a special case outside of the purview of the items listed.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Agreed, but with Melkor, none of his posts seem even remotely on topic. He waltzes in and starts purporting to know more than he should about your mother or about electronically beheading someone or some damned thing. His posts could be removed and grafted into another thread and no one would be the wiser.

Ah but Melkor is amusing. A lot can be forgiven for that. (although I'm also of the opinion he's made quite a few valuable contributions to the forum)

There are however some who part who post irreverently and are not funny to anyone but themselves. These posters should be taken out back and shot. Unfortunately, given the variety of temperament, there will always be someone who finds the noisome person funny.

You just can't win.