supressing conversation types - balling up posts into a single thread

Spacedog

yo.

I wanna talk about the common boards.ie method of gathering new threads on a particular topic, and lashing it into a huge thread to be buried.

this seems to be the case in AH where anything about the economy and how **** it is that were all getting ripped by bankers and builders gets put into that thread. - while this restores AH to it's former glorious copy of 4chan that we all know and love, it doesn't really reflect what people have on their minds there days 'outside working hours' so to speak.

Also on the Christian board I have seen this method used to a more sinister effect. Some time ago a decision was made to move all posts/threads relating to the Churches coverup of child sexual abuse to one thread, during the release of the Murphy report I looked at the end of the thread after my comments were moved there, where I found the thread dragged off topic by two people talking about which priest gives the best mass in Dublin. I thought it showed contempt for the victims of the abuse, and furthered it's criticisms of people in power ignoring the truth.

Wikileaks is another example, there are so many twists and turns, tangents, dead-ends, revelations, misinformation, conspiracy theories related to this one topic, there is no way a group of more than a few people can doscuss it in a single thread.

I guess my point is that I don't like this practise as there is usually a reason why the fourms get temporarly blasted with what looks like spam on a particular topic. it's because people are passionate, upset or intrested in the topic and want to discuss it in detail. balling it into a single in-comprehensable thread doesn't seem right to me.

Prehaps making temporary foums for a hot topic where we can rant, rave and blow off steam might be a better way to go about this?

LoLth

the gathering of new threads into one related thread actually makes the forum as a whole run better while keeping all discussion of a "hot" topic in one place. If multiple threads were allowed to continue on the same topic, users would have a harder time keeping up to date on opinions as they would have to read through multiple threads, possibly all relateing the same facts and opinions multiple times and they run the risk of missing the one relevant post that could make the difference for the reader one way or the other. That is not to say that this cant happen in the megathreads. it can, but its less likely. (repetition would be reduced thus increasing the signal to noise ratio)

It also stops the front page of th eforum filling with the same topic meaning there's less chance of someone finding a different thread to read.

Christianity forum: I doubt there was any sinister motive in the conglomeration of threads into a megathread. If you say a post that was off topic, you should hit the report button and explain why you think it is inappropriate.

temproary fora: while a good idea on the face of it, how long should such fora exist? its not going to stop "off topic" posting as in your example on the Christianity forum. Would users not be more annoyed if a topic they were following had its forum closed before they considered the issue fully explored/discussed/ranted ?

Think f it this way, if you walk into a room and there are knots of people talking about different topics and you want to talk about say, red apples. Do you:
a: recon the room to see if someone else is discussing apples , specifically red or otherwise
b: stand by yourself announcing your views on apples hopign someone else will join you even though an almost identical conversation is happening two feet away
c: join a random group and start talking about apples whether or not they are already talking about that or a related topic already?

what the mods are essentially doing is hoovering up all those people standing alone and guiding them to a group of likeminded individuals so the next person to enter the room can more easily identify where to go to join in.

johnnyskeleton

Spacedog wrote: »

yo.

I wanna talk about the common boards.ie method of gathering new threads on a particular topic, and lashing it into a huge thread to be buried.

this seems to be the case in AH where anything about the economy and how **** it is that were all getting ripped by bankers and builders gets put into that thread. - while this restores AH to it's former glorious copy of 4chan that we all know and love, it doesn't really reflect what people have on their minds there days 'outside working hours' so to speak.

Also on the Christian board I have seen this method used to a more sinister effect. Some time ago a decision was made to move all posts/threads relating to the Churches coverup of child sexual abuse to one thread, during the release of the Murphy report I looked at the end of the thread after my comments were moved there, where I found the thread dragged off topic by two people talking about which priest gives the best mass in Dublin. I thought it showed contempt for the victims of the abuse, and furthered it's criticisms of people in power ignoring the truth.

Wikileaks is another example, there are so many twists and turns, tangents, dead-ends, revelations, misinformation, conspiracy theories related to this one topic, there is no way a group of more than a few people can doscuss it in a single thread.

I guess my point is that I don't like this practise as there is usually a reason why the fourms get temporarly blasted with what looks like spam on a particular topic. it's because people are passionate, upset or intrested in the topic and want to discuss it in detail. balling it into a single in-comprehensable thread doesn't seem right to me.

Prehaps making temporary foums for a hot topic where we can rant, rave and blow off steam might be a better way to go about this?

Have you considered talking about the economy in the Irish Economy forum, child sex abuse in the legal discussion or emergency services or politics fora, and ranting in the ranting and raving forum?

Not everything has to go into After Hours.

bonkey

Spacedog wrote: »

yo.

I wanna talk about the common boards.ie method of gathering new threads on a particular topic, and lashing it into a huge thread to be buried.

I disagree that its a common method to combine seperate threads to be buried.

I'd say, in fact, that its quite the opposite...its a practice used to prevent everything else from getting buried, when a topic threatens to dominate the front-page of a forum.

Not only that, but by forming a single thread, activity on that single thread is (virtually by definition) increased, which means the thread should remain at or close to the top of the forum's front page for longer...hardly an effective way of burying things.

ArmaniJeanss

On the same theme.

When Thread X is merged into thread Y is it possible to mark the threadX posts in some way. There are times when it can be a bit strange reading the 'new thread' as the conversation can be a bit confused.

Its probably most obvious when both threads where active at the same time.

I'm thinking maybe the software could be altered to place an M in the bottom right of the post where the 'Thumbs Up' and 'Quote' button are. (Then an M2 if another thread gets merged in etc).