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enok
Aug 02 2003
09:44 pm

so, i have this theory. it’s that well, i kill conversation. it’s a theory. or rather most descriptively (spelled wrong) a hypotesis, still waiting to be a theory. it’s only here on cino, i post, no one responds. the funny thing is when i was on this other rockin’ message board called thinkwonder (rip) it happened too. not always but it worked it self out, so that when i’d post on something, no one would reply.

so, i guess this is my question, what is it that i do? is it that you don’t know who i am, so you don’t take me seriously? is it that i suck? is it that it just happens to be when a topic is dying that i post, and coincidene occurs?

i’ve been told i think about somethings to much, this maybe one of those things. in fact, i’m considering not putting this online…but i think i will for a while.

sub-question (high fidelity anyone?)
does anyone else here visit any other and participate in discussion boards besides cino? i know everyone and their brother silly simon has one, but i’m curious if there are others that you like or whatever.

i apologize for making look to me, i write in crazy circles, and i think i may be a selfish person…..

ta

(jimbo bam-bo says the blind banana.)

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kristinmarie
Aug 03 2003
06:55 am

enok,

I know how you feel…you put all this work and time into a post and then it fades into oblivian. I wouldn’t take it personally; I for one think you make good contributions to the discussions. Look at it this way—maybe you sum everything up so perfectly that there’s nothing more to say.

It’s nice to have a variety of styles and opinions on the discussion board, anyway.

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grant
Aug 03 2003
07:35 am

I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. The board members of *cino were talking the other day about how sometimes we’ll write articles, hoping to raise “holy hell” about one issue or another, then no one responds, NOT ONE PERSON. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. The dream topic is a great example. I love that topic and would expect it to be very popular, but maybe a topic like that just slides off the “top 5” discussions list and people forget about it and it dies before its prime.

Or maybe it comes back unexpectedly. Sometimes, if I really believe in a topic that has been forgotten, I’ll just respond to myself again and then maybe someone will happen to be interested in it at the same time as me and the topic gets new life. Thanks for your honesty, though. I’m sure you’re not the only person who’s felt this way at one time or another on this or any other site. For what it’s worth, I assure you I’ve never seen the name “enok” attached to a topic and thought, “Oh, THAT person again? He’s the harbinger of discussion-death!” But I can only speak for myself.

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laryn
Aug 03 2003
06:49 pm

i’ve had that happen to me to a number of times.

i think it’s the top five thing—at least there’s probably a bunch more discussions i would have continued if they’d stayed in the top five a little longer. it’s so much more work to go through and search for it. (like i had to do for this one) a lot of times if i have time to quick read the top five (or a few of them) i don’t have time to reply, and then if they’re gone when i come back i think i forget about them. :)

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Adam
Aug 04 2003
10:35 pm

Something I’ve noticed, enok, is that often the posts that kill the conversation are the ones that are the most objective. When you think about your post for a long time (overthinking it perhaps), and it ends up saying something like, “Yeah, but shouldn’t we all look at the broader picture? Aren’t there about 18 more variables here?” you’re probably right, but it doesn’t leave anything more to talk about. I’ve noticed that I’m most likely to kill a thread when I ask a lot of tough (though keenly isightful, of course) questions in one paragraph. I’ve noticed that a certain senior member (whose name gets mentioned all the time and therefore I refuse) likes to take an angle and stick with it for the sake of discussion, even if at times he isn’t even crystal clear on his actual position. And I have to admit that, even when I disagree with him, his insistence on adopting and defending a definite position most often keep the conversation going—mainly because it gives people a hook. They go, “Ahh, but that’s not ENTIRELY true,” and the conversation blazes on. It’s sort of like the Socratic method, right?

In other words, the way to kill a thread is to be blandly correct in what you post. If you’re a thread killer, enok, then heck; it could be because you think so much about every possible position before posting that most of the time your posts are unassailable—they don’t incite anyone to respond. Ooo, incite. INCITE! Great word.

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dan
Aug 05 2003
09:35 am

Rock on Adam. One of the best posts in recent memory right above me here.

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Jasonvb
Aug 06 2003
03:17 am

I agree. Excellent observation! But shouldn’t we really be looking at the broader picture?

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grant
Aug 06 2003
07:06 am

I don’t like that “senior” member. He thinks he’s so conversational with those freakishly high post numbers. I think he should get a life!

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BBC
Aug 06 2003
11:50 am

To answer your subquestion, cino is the only place I post (except for very occasional forays onto a Daniel Pinkwater message board — like once every two years). I don’t have enough time to keep up with cino — I can’t imagine having time for something else besides. This wretched computer has me shackled here and I can’t escape.

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dan
Aug 06 2003
04:55 pm

Computers are both shackling and liberating, and sometimes neither. Don’t you think?

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Dave
Aug 06 2003
08:19 pm

Any evidence enok’s been back to see what a great thread she started? Did he lose interest?

And Dan, I think you’re right. For the most part.