Please Change Your Ways Dallas-Mavs.com

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by JamesVE

For example, the Barea thread

I believe you stated in there that a thread wasn't "warranted" for Barea, etc.

It just seems like here there's 4 or 5 people who are sort of the unspoken "owners" of certain thread types/categories, and if you aren't said "owner" then your thread-making-prowess gets questioned and/or you get bashed. Beyond that, it seems there's also a small group of people who are sort of unofficially forum police who determine how "worthy" a thread is, etc. It just seems a little hypocritical and kind of clique-ish, I guess.

But the latter happens in all forums to an extent, I suppose. It just seems inordinately prevalent here.

Funny, because that Barea thread was in response to what people were talking about in another thread altogether - it's the perfect example of a needless thread.

Not only that, but it was a confusing thread title since all the other "appreciation" threads going up were for recently-traded players - that's why there's about a dozen posts in that thread where people thought Barea was being traded.

And really - why the hell were we talking about JJB in the middle of giant trade that had nothing to do with him? Oh, I know - because the original poster wanted to create a "look at me" moment to declare his love for a player who has become completely irrelevant on this squad...

Yeah, thanks for wasting my time.

[JamesVE]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Funny, because that Barea thread was in response to what people were talking about in another thread altogether - it's the perfect example of a needless thread.

Not only that, but it was a confusing thread title since all the other "appreciation" threads going up were for recently-traded players - that's why there's about a dozen posts in that thread where people thought Barea was being traded.

And really - why the hell were we talking about JJB in the middle of giant trade that had nothing to do with him? Oh, I know - because the original poster wanted to create a "look at me" moment to declare his love for a player who has become completely irrelevant on this squad...

Yeah, thanks for wasting my time.

No doubt, I definitely see your point, and I don't necessarily disagree. But I mean, it's a discussion board.. for discussion. I guess my opinion is kind of - what's it matter if a new thread is started about something that just happened to be mentioned in another? I mean, nobody HAS to reply to a/the thread, and if nobody replies, then it dies. But replying to the thread just to "rate" its worthiness (or whatever) is counterproductive and gives the aura of internet-police/clique type deal. If a dozen people didn't reply stating things like "this thread should be deleted", then the thread would VERY quickly die on its own.. quicker than having everybody comment on thread's worthiness and teaming up to call for its deletion.

I think the problem here with new threads being created where such and such has already been discussed in X thread, is that X thread is usually 15 pages long. So, unless somebody comes on and spends half a day reading EVERY thread here FIRST, then the new thread is likely to be redundant to something that happened to be discussed in X thread. And, like the OP said, unless you have no life you just don't have the time to come here and spend half a day reading EVERY long thread just to ensure you won't be creating a potentially redundant thread.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by JamesVE

I think the problem here with new threads being created where such and such has already been discussed in X thread, is that X thread is usually 15 pages long. So, unless somebody comes on and spends half a day reading EVERY thread here FIRST, then the new thread is likely to be redundant to something that happened to be discussed in X thread. And, like the OP said, unless you have no life you just don't have the time to come here and spend half a day reading EVERY long thread just to ensure you won't be creating a potentially redundant thread.

So what's the solution - have the mods split a thread in half whenever "people with a life" deem it to be too long?

Nobody is stopping a new thread from being posted, but if the content of the thread is irrelevant, then you're going to hear about it from other posters. Don't waste my time with a stupid thread and I won't waste yours with a stupid response...

[JamesVE]

Originally Posted by Underdog

So what's the solution - have the mods split a thread in half whenever "people with a life" deem it to be too long?

Nobody is stopping a new thread from being posted, but if the content of the thread is irrelevant, then you're going to hear about it from other posters. Don't waste my time with a stupid thread and I won't waste yours with a stupid response...

Well, if you think a thread is pointless/irrelevant, then don't respond to it. It'll die on its own very quickly..

Seems much easier than having 10 people rate every thread or bash ones they deem un-worthy or irrelevant. If a thread is irrelevant, then just don't respond

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by JamesVE

Well, if you think a thread is pointless/irrelevant, then don't respond to it. It'll die on its own very quickly..

Seems much easier than having 10 people rate every thread or bash ones they deem un-worthy or irrelevant. If a thread is irrelevant, then just don't respond

I don't want useless threads to die on their own - I want to be the Hand of God that buries them myself (after much gnashing and many tears).

Never underestimate the wrath of boredom...



fun fact: users who suffer the public outcry of posting a needless thread rarely make the same mistake twice.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Originally Posted by JamesVE

Well, if you think a thread is pointless/irrelevant, then don't respond to it. It'll die on its own very quickly..

Seems much easier than having 10 people rate every thread or bash ones they deem un-worthy or irrelevant. If a thread is irrelevant, then just don't respond

"Look at me" threads suck. Instead of ignoring them, I will tell the thread starter that I think they suck. What's wrong with that?

Sometimes, Flaco goes overboard with this and declares just about every new thread a "look at me" thread. But that's his right.

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

"Look at me" threads suck. Instead of ignoring them, I will tell the thread starter that I think they suck. What's wrong with that?

Sometimes, Flaco goes overboard with this and declares just about every new thread a "look at me" thread. But that's his right.

Yes, it is.

Come on, folks. It's not hard.

Are there people already talking about what you want to post? Have you looked? Are you starting a thread because of laziness? (I don't have time to look)

No? Good.

Do you have an article/video/picture/blog posting that is newsworthy and generally interesting enough to include in your new thread to substantiate your supposedly-thread-worthy-thought, or be the subject of it?

Yes? Good.

Can you punctuate your sentences, find the shift key, and conjugate verbs?

Yeah? Awesome.

Then start the damn thread. I don't care.

[dalger]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Funny, because that Barea thread was in response to what people were talking about in another thread altogether - it's the perfect example of a needless thread.

Not only that, but it was a confusing thread title since all the other "appreciation" threads going up were for recently-traded players - that's why there's about a dozen posts in that thread where people thought Barea was being traded.

And really - why the hell were we talking about JJB in the middle of giant trade that had nothing to do with him? Oh, I know - because the original poster wanted to create a "look at me" moment to declare his love for a player who has become completely irrelevant on this squad...

Yeah, thanks for wasting my time.

You can do better than that. I think we should let this community decide whether or not it's the way to go to discuss (or even, God forbid, appreciate) JJB instead of immediately declaring this or any other thread as not worthy of being existent at all and thus discourage users from starting new threads in general. If the community wants to discuss something, it will discuss it and thereby justify the new thread. If the community doesn't want to, the thread will go down pretty soon.

Again, I pretty much love the fact that this forum's discussions are structured the way they are. However, I don't have a problem with new threads as long as they make sense and lead to an interesting debate. That's why we should all be interested in not creating an environment that keeps readers and potential contributors from starting new threads simply because of being afraid of some sort of backlash from other (established) users.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by dalger

You can do better than that. I think we should let this community decide whether or not it's the way to go to discuss (or even, God forbid, appreciate) JJB instead of immediately declaring this or any other thread as not worthy of being existent at all and thus discourage users from starting new threads in general. If the community wants to discuss something, it will discuss it and thereby justify the new thread. If the community doesn't want to, the thread will go down pretty soon.

Again, I pretty much love the fact that this forum's discussions are structured the way they are. However, I don't have a problem with new threads as long as they make sense and lead to an interesting debate. That's why we should all be interested in not creating an environment that keeps readers and potential contributors from starting new threads simply because of being afraid of some sort of backlash from other (established) users.

Thats the problem - the JJB thread only existed in the first place because original poster wanted to make a whole new thread in response to a single post in another thread. He didn't want to start a fresh discussion on a new topic - he wanted to be SEEN, otherwise his post would have been buried in the original thread because it was irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Some people treat starting a new thread the same as typing in all caps, as if stating an opinion LOUDER makes it more relevant...

[tcat075]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Thats the problem - the JJB thread only existed in the first place because original poster wanted to make a whole new thread in response to a single post in another thread. He didn't want to start a fresh discussion on a new topic - he wanted to be SEEN, otherwise his post would have been buried in the original thread because it was irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Some people treat starting a new thread the same as typing in all caps, as if stating an opinion LOUDER makes it more relevant...

DON'T BE RIDICULOUS...NOBODY HERE TYPES IN ALL CAPS.

[dalger]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Thats the problem - the JJB thread only existed in the first place because original poster wanted to make a whole new thread in response to a single post in another thread. He didn't want to start a fresh discussion on a new topic - he wanted to be SEEN, otherwise his post would have been buried in the original thread because it was irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

Some people treat starting a new thread the same as typing in all caps, as if stating an opinion LOUDER makes it more relevant...

Agree with the your second paragraph. There's no need for a new thread only to talk about something that's already being discussed in another thread.

In regards to the JJB thread, despite its questionable, overused and maybe even irritating title, do you really think he opened it only to be seen? Asking for someone to "come out and disagree with what I am saying" could be the words of a user who wants "to start a fresh discussion on a new topic". Even if he did it only to make his opinion as visible as possible and without any interest in discussing the whole thing any further, there are still reasonable arguments in the opening post to introduce a debate about our beloved scapegoat. In addition, if one knows that a specific point of view either doesn't fit the flow of an existing thread or won't be seen by those who don't follow it, then doesn't it actually make sense to open a new thread on a new topic and have it seen by other users who might be interested in discussing it?

The first replies in the JJB thread basically just questioned its existence without even trying to refer to the contents of the original post that wasn't all that bad to begin with. That might just be a little discouraging and perhaps even unnecessary at times.

This isn't meant to be an excuse for crappy threads, but I think it's possible to still have a decent message board while not being to harsh to new guys as soon as they dare opening a new thread.