I've read the messages of those who announce their joy over posted message, star milestones.

And, I have looked at those pretty star combinations -- red and blue and the rest.

Furthermore, I admit I enjoy watching little icons appear on my profile (I only learned about the hatching egg after mine disappeared ;-( )

H o w e v e r, I wondered . . . could I really have 10,000, or even 1000+ thoughts worth posting? Ever? I doubt that.

Then I read Ryan's "Best Practices" page . . .

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Include actual content in your post

This one may seem obvious, but even the most experienced posters are guilty of this on occasion. Whenever you create a post, make sure you are bringing something new into the conversation.
The classic example of this folly are the 'me too' posts. Someone posts a question or statement—for example, "I really enjoyed the mystery gathering!" Then three other people reply, "Yeah, me too!" Of course you had a great time at the gathering—everyone always has a great time at a gathering—so elaborate. Tell us about the people you met, mishaps that occurred, and other anecdotes that will give your posts depth and feeling that are fun to read about.
So before you hit that Submit button, read your post and ask yourself if you are bringing something new to the table. If the answer is no, do not waste other people's time by making them sift through your post.

Well, that's got me thinking! I am content with little yellow stars until I have something to offer.

~MC

<<<<<I've read the messages of those who announce their joy over posted message, star milestones.

And, I have looked at those pretty star combinations -- red and blue and the rest.

Furthermore, I admit I enjoy watching little icons appear on my profile (I only learned about the hatching egg after mine disappeared ;-( )

H o w e v e r, I wondered . . . could I really have 10,000, or even 1000+ thoughts worth posting? Ever? I doubt that.

Then I read Ryan's "Best Practices" page . . . >>>>>>


To that comment, I reply.........AMEN!!!!!!!!!

This is why I find Wassamattau's column so helpful. I gave up a long time ago trying to keep up with all the posts. He at least helps me cut through the babble and find good topics. I am sure once Ryan finds/designs a good chat program, a good chunk of the board babble will cease. In the meantime, I highly recommend WMU's column. You can find it under NEWS which is found on MY PAGE.

Highly entertaining.

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"

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To that comment, I reply.........AMEN!!!!!!!!!

I know I shouldn't be laughing, but am I the only person to see the irony here? =) Irony's not dead--it's alive and well on Atlas Quest! =) The suggestion I wrote in the help pages was to be sure to include actual content in the post, and someone who agrees whole-heartedly has nothing to say except, "AMEN!!!!!!!"? Not much content brought to the table with that post.

I'm not picking on the poster--just an observation that it's sometimes easier said than done. I think all posters are guilty of that at some point. And, notice, what I wrote wasn't to post less, but rather post information that brings something new to everyone. It doesn't mean you can't post how great you thought a gathering was, but to post something about WHY it was such a great gathering. Tell us funny or scary stories about the event. Make us JEALOUS we weren't at the gathering. =)

See the difference? Two posts about the same subject (an event)--one is interesting and full of new information, while a second can be boring with nothing interesting to say. Any post that's devoid of content can be fixed to be interesting and full of insights.

-- Ryan

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am I the only person to see the irony here? =) Irony's not dead--it's alive and well on Atlas Quest! =)

Awww, Ryan! Ya spoiled it for me! :)
Yes, I was going to tie the two threads together ("Irony isn't dead") as well... I guess great minds think alike, and so do we!

On the other side of the coin, if it weren't for all the somewhat extraneous posts, there would be no need for my blog, and I would be out of a job... forced to find some other way of spending my time, perhaps thrust out into the cold dark world looking for plastic and rubber...
-wassamatta_u

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On the other side of the coin, if it weren't for all the somewhat extraneous posts, there would be no need for my blog, and I would be out of a job...

Oh, that's not true. You'd just have to move your operations "overseas" and post about the most interesting posts on the Yahoo Groups dedicated to letterboxing. =)

Another example of irony from my pre-AQ days, there was a really busy message board about Qualcomm I was following for a while. Dumb board probably got hundreds of posts a day, and most of them went something like "This stock is going to the moon!" or "Shorts are going to eat their shorts!" Occasionally, one brave soul might make a post like "You guys are idiots! Can't you see this stock is so overvalued you're going to lose the shirt off your back." Then all those people who were so excited about the stock would pounce on him, "No, YOU'RE the idiot!" "You're going to miss the boat!"

Basically, stupid posts that had absolutely no educative purposes. (For the record, I wanted to learn more about the company because one of my former co-workers went to work there, and I wanted to find out what sorts of things the company did--I had absolutely NO intention of buying such a hyped up stock.)

However, the message boards had an interesting feature where you could click to "recommend" a post that you think is especially good, and I grew to love this feature to help sort through all the junk. I'd skip over the posts that weren't highly recommended and go straight for the meaty posts with dozens of recommendations.

Except a strange thing started happening. People started "voting" on posts that they agreed with--not necessarily posts that were insightful. Idiotic posts like "This stock is going to the moon!" would get dozens of recommendations. A post with a thoughtful evaluation of how much the stock was worth would get no recommendations--IF it concluded that the stock was overvalued. If it concluded the stock was cheap ("The company should grow earnings 50% annually for the next 10 years, and even if the PE contracted to half its current value, it would still make the stock worth one billion dollars per share in just FIVE YEARS!"), it got lots of recommendations.

Frankly, my system for weeding out the stupid posts was no longer working, and in a fit of anger I posted a message to stop recommending posts JUST because you agree with the post, and to recommend it because it had good, solid information. Encourage people to post substance, not trash.

A few days later, I logged in to check the message boards, and MY post had something like 40 recommendations on it. *rolling eyes* I wrote absolutely NOTHING about Qualcomm, absolutely nothing related to the topic of the board, and yet--40 people recommended my post. Why? Because they AGREED WITH IT! The very people who agreed with me went off and did exactly what I asked them not to.

I quit following the board after that. It was a waste of my time. =)

-- Ryan

PS. Gotta feel a little sorry for those idiots, though. That stock dropped from nearly $100/share to under $20/share after the dot com implosion. They might be idiots, but that's gotta be rough.

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am I the only person to see the irony here? =)

Nope,I got it.Wait, does this post have any value?

I miss the days of rescues from CQ's dungeon.

Shiloh

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Nope,I got it.Wait, does this post have any value?

I miss the days of rescues from CQ's dungeon.

Well, that could be easily fixed... :D

CQ

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I miss the days of rescues from CQ's dungeon.

Me too. I haven't been on a rescue mission in a while now...
and it seems unfortunate that we don't feel as at ease making those posts and having all that fun as we did then.
too many complaints that there are too many posts??
:(

once again I will say...
what some folks say is needless is what makes or made AQ seem like a community to me.
how else would I ever know that Shiloh likes classic rock and fried trout...
and that MountainScorpia's fire flies put on a spectacular show one night while the wolf cubs played...
unless of course I had been there.
how else would I know about Ryan's sandals and Amanda's stories about them?
how else would I know that lisascenic is queen of posting links ;)
without the posts here I would have never known Cam's evil laugh...
the list goes on...
is it needed to survive?? no but neither is your manicures, facials, football games, big screen tvs, ice cream on that piece of pie, AC in the car, power windows or even hot water to wash our hineys...but people find pleasure in certain things. I find pleasure getting to know folks at AQ and not having to feel like I shouldn't.

I miss those days too shiloh...

*starts up an old scratchy album of Kansas and grabs shiloh and CQ and starts dancing in the corner*

dixie

I sometimes wonder if I should outwardly babble more often. I try really hard to avoid it, and it seems some others don't and end up with a lot of stars for it...

And they're also popular!

Everybody says I'm quite, here and at work and everywhere, because I don't contribute unless I feel I have something "useful" to say. But I think useful is in the mind of the reader...you never know...

I might just start talking more, and then won't you guys be sorry......hahahaha....

I'm always amazed that Lisascenic can post a link on just about any subject. I may not be interested in the subject but I'm impressed that she can find a link to it. :)

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grabs shiloh and CQ and starts dancing in the corner

Me dancing? Now that's a scarry site. :)

Shiloh

BTW well said Dixie.

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I might just start talking more, and then won't you guys be sorry......

I dare ya.....:)

Shiloh

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grabs shiloh and CQ and starts dancing in the corner

Me dancing? Now that's a scarry site. :)

Trust me, me dancing is SCARIER.

*sighs, and heads down into his dungeon alone to dance*

CQ

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sighs, and heads down into his dungeon alone to dance

What about KWM?

Shiloh

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What about KWM?

Ooh, not tonight. She's got work she's gotta get done...four days left before a major deadline.
I made her stay home and work tonight so she could get it done. Her school stuff's way more important than i am right now. *nod*

CQ

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and it seems unfortunate that we don't feel as at ease making those posts and having all that fun as we did then.

I'm not sure why you don't feel at ease posting. There's a place for every post! =) Just make sure it's in the right place. ;o)

-- Ryan

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without the posts here I would have never known Cam's evil laugh...

<cue evil laugh>

MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAH..... er.. ok,ok.... it's not so evil once people have met me in person....

cam <---cream puff in every sense of the phrase!

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I might just start talking more, and then won't you guys be sorry......hahahaha....

or maybe not.... ;-D

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cream puff in every sense of the phrase

*Nelson from the Simpsons*

pointing and HA HA

Shiloh

I think that everybody has something to say whether it is 1 word or 200 words and a small saying can completely change the mood of the board

of course if you post :P after every topic that does get old

Puppy :P AKA Josh

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*sighs, and heads down into his dungeon alone to dance*

*Knock, knock*, you still down there CQ? I'm here, late as usual, trailing in at the end of the party - someone mention dancing?

I'm good at dancing, want a partner? It'll have to be the slow waltz, us Tortoises are not much good at the Quick Step :-)

YT

P.s. I hope everyone still posts silly messages on this board when GT gets his new fandangled chat room going, otherwise I am going to be sitting in a corner talking to myself and I too enjoy getting to know everyone.

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*Knock, knock*, you still down there CQ? I'm here, late as usual, trailing in at the end of the party - someone mention dancing?

I'm good at dancing, want a partner? It'll have to be the slow waltz, us Tortoises are not much good at the Quick Step :-)

Oooh, no way! no GOOD dancing partners for me. Only people who suck as bad or worse :D

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P.s. I hope everyone still posts silly messages on this board when GT gets his new fandangled chat room going, otherwise I am going to be sitting in a corner talking to myself and I too enjoy getting to know everyone.

That sounds like more incentive to get more UK boxers on AQ! :D

CQ

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P.s. I hope everyone still posts silly messages on this board when GT gets his new fandangled chat room going, otherwise I am going to be sitting in a corner talking to myself and I too enjoy getting to know everyone.

I agree. I think a lot of valuable input (and a lot of fun) would be lost by only using the chat room. At least the boards allow someone to contribute something hours (or even days) later.

TG

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That sounds like more incentive to get more UK boxers on AQ! :D

Well I'm trying hard, I have a success occasionally but they tend to be lurkers rather than chatters.

Sadly one of the keenest British AQ members have just lost their hard drive and are having to get it sorted out, so they are feeling the pinch AQ wise at the moment.

YT

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At least the boards allow someone to contribute something hours (or even days) later.

Yes, I love when things run on for days. Great when it is a 'party', not so great when you are stuck down CQ's dungeon. LOL

YT

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I hope everyone still posts silly messages on this board when GT gets his new fandangled chat room going,

For what it's worth, I'll still be here. Heck, I just figured out how to use the board, no way I'm up to chatting speed yet!

Sheba

Hey Celtic Quinn and YT, can we have a ceili?
I love those! Fiddle music and enough beer so all the other dancers don't notice that I can't do the steps right ;)

Mariette
(dbltall of Team Garlic)

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Hey Celtic Quinn and YT, can we have a ceili?

Ooh, a ceili, we need a bit of Craic.

First of all we need to look for An Bosca Litreacha Eireannach, then we can all gather back for the ceili. I'll bring my Bodhran, anyone got some Uilleann pipes?

YT

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I'll bring my Bodhran, anyone got some Uilleann pipes?

My husband (The Mild Mannered Piper) plays tin whistle. He also plays the Great Highland Bagpipes, but they're not suitable for indoor use or dancing.

He can wear his kilt, and I'll put on my green skirt and dancing shoes.
Just the thing to cheer us up on a rainy day.

Mariette
(dbltall of Team Garlic)

I have a bowed psaltery.... and star writer plays flute

night writer