Discussion?

[Ballom Nom Nom]

And eww, those hyphenated structures are ungainly, but I suppose political correctness must come first. ~B~

:???:Sorry for offending your sensibilities. I acted in ignorance.Edit: And sorry for losing the color tags.

No, you misunderstand. I meant my use of the word his/her. I didn't mean you offended me in any way. It was just some rambling on my part referencing my own word choice.~B~ Edited April 18, 2012 by Ballom

[GSR]

The quote notifications are a pretty useful feature, but I try not to rely on them too much for this very reason - it's easy to slip into the habit of ignoring discussions you haven't been directly quoted in.Also, I doubt I'd be able to get used to quoting a person who posted just before me. It feels redundant, like people are saying, and on some forums it's even frowned upon.

Edited April 18, 2012 by GSR

[The Swimming Beard]

The quote notifications are a pretty useful feature, but I try not to rely on them too much for this very reason - it's easy to slip into the habit of ignoring discussions you haven't been directly quoted in.Also, I doubt I'd be able to get used to quoting a person who posted just before me. It feels redundant, like people are saying, and on some forums it's even frowned upon.

I think the quote notifications are very useful. I wish I had found out about them sooner. Edited April 21, 2012 by Toa of Smooth Jazz

[Ektris]

I don't think the number of "discussion worthy" topics has declined, but what they discuss has changed. The ones that would truly involve a discussion are all rather negative and relate to the same thing (typically this site "dying"), which can be a big deterrent in wanting to participate. They also seem dominated by the same people, so if one of them is already going to say what you think, why say it too?If anything I think there's a problem with people returning to a topic. They may initiate a point in a real discussion, but then forget about the topic and never go back to continue it. I've probably done this too in the past few months, but couldn't cite an example as I've forgotten. The discussion's there, it's just not being carried on as long as it could be.~|ET|~EDIT: I had no idea there were quote notifications! Turning those on would help tremendously in my opinion, and in fact I did just that.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Electric Turahk

[Taka Nuvia]

I don't think the number of "discussion worthy" topics has declined, but what they discuss has changed. The ones that would truly involve a discussion are all rather negative and relate to the same thing (typically this site "dying"), which can be a big deterrent in wanting to participate. They also seem dominated by the same people, so if one of them is already going to say what you think, why say it too?If anything I think there's a problem with people returning to a topic. They may initiate a point in a real discussion, but then forget about the topic and never go back to continue it. I've probably done this too in the past few months, but couldn't cite an example as I've forgotten. The discussion's there, it's just not being carried on as long as it could be.~|ET|~EDIT: I had no idea there were quote notifications! Turning those on would help tremendously in my opinion, and in fact I did just that.

... now you make me want to go ahead and come up with a positive, discussion-worthy topic just to change the overall tone. xDWhy say it again? Because 'I agree' is a bit too short of a post, maybe. Or, if I feel that one argument has not been discussed to its full potential, I might want to bring it up again. I don't think repetition, if used wisely, is a bad thing. Not at last because some members only look at the last page of a several-pages topic instead of reading through the whole discussion (which I am sometimes guilty of, too...)Yes, as stated before several times, the quote notification feature is pretty neat.You know what else is helpful? If the topic does not seem overly active, you might as well follow it, too. Because that's what I do with this one, so that I get notified if there are new replies.

[Ektris]

... now you make me want to go ahead and come up with a positive, discussion-worthy topic just to change the overall tone. xDWhy say it again? Because 'I agree' is a bit too short of a post, maybe. Or, if I feel that one argument has not been discussed to its full potential, I might want to bring it up again. I don't think repetition, if used wisely, is a bad thing. Not at last because some members only look at the last page of a several-pages topic instead of reading through the whole discussion (which I am sometimes guilty of, too...)Yes, as stated before several times, the quote notification feature is pretty neat.You know what else is helpful? If the topic does not seem overly active, you might as well follow it, too. Because that's what I do with this one, so that I get notified if there are new replies.

And as awesome as these notifications are, I still ended up ignoring the topic. XPI understand your point about repetition and think that it's a good one. My belief that people might not want to be repetitive comes from a person who usually does try to read every post or at least skim every page for the major points. When I don't do that, i even usually make that clear. For the vast majority of people that's probably not the case, though, so it could be a good thing to just state your opinion regardless.Returning to my point about dominance - I still do find stumbling upon a big topic, only to find it filled with short essays rather intimidating. I have nothing against the people willing to take the time to write that much, but I can see how it might leave the impression that if you aren't willing to do that maybe you shouldn't provide input.And I've taken to now following all of the topics I make just as an extra notification.~|ET|~