(March 18, 2014 at 12:19 pm)Fromper Wrote: I read the first couple of pages of this thread. I'm not going to bother reading the whole thing. Instead, I'm just going to give Discipulus some advice, which applies not only to this thread, but also to at least one other that I've seen him start. I may be relatively new to AF, but I've been engaging in internet conversations for over 20 years (anyone here remember Usenet), so this advice is based on all that experience.
Don't start a thread with leading questions and then wait around for people to give the specific response you want so you can ask the next leading question in a series, until you eventually get to your point 10 pages later. You'll lose your intended audience along the way. This isn't the first thread where I might be willing to discuss your chosen topic if you told me what it is up front, but this whole leading Q&A thing in order to find out where you're going is just annoying.
Just put the point of the thread in the first post. If you want to use the Q&A format, then do it as a theoretical "conversation" with the questions and answers you want to discuss all in one post up front, instead of waiting around for people to stumble into the answer you're fishing for, so you can give them the next leading question.
Most posts are completely off topic to be fair. Which is highly illuminating and hopefully useful to some. You shouldn't try to put someone in a box just because they don't fit your ideal model. If you find it interesting, join in. of not, don't. The thread will survive on its merits.
