BS: Posts About Ending Threads

Subject: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:03 PM

Have you ever noticed some people's key function on Mudcat is to post messages that say things like:

"People have said all there is to be said on this matter: it's about time this thread was closed."

or:

"Isn't it time this thread was put to bed?"

or:

"If you're going to post, at least say something that hasn't been said before. Personally I think you've all said enough."

or:

"Elf! Elf! Please close this thread. we had this discussion in 1904."

What gives? Frankly I find it bizarre. Who are these people? We need to be told...

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:04 PM

By the way...




Isn't it time this thread was put to bed?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:09 PM

Yup.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:11 PM

It hasn't had its glass of milk and a bedtime story yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Lox
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:14 PM

Or biscuits ... don't forget biscuits ...

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:19 PM

... with macaroni and cheese? The real stuff, made with good pasta and a fine, sharp old cheddar. And some pork sausages, and blackstrap molasses, and cold butter for the biscuits.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:23 PM

Oh... you mean cookies? Like, maple leaf cookies with a pot of King Cole Orange Pekoe Tea and a good old Cracker Barrel cheddar... I feel weak in the teas at the thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:29 PM

Good mature Canadian Cheddar g.

XG

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:31 PM

All joking aside (I know, I know, that's beyond the pale of belief) and taking the founding post at its word, it seems to me that if a Catter thinks a thread is overlong and/or has worked out its possibilities, (s)he need only quit reading it and go elsewhere. Others may carry it on, forward, or down the tubes (as the case may be) if they like.

It's rude, methinks, to say, in effect, "I'm bored; everybody else ought to quit discussing this."

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:33 PM

I must confess, I quit reading The Mother of All BS Threads on about May 6, 2003.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:35 PM

I posted to that once... I think.... long ago....

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:36 PM

So did everyone else except for about 5 totally misguided individuals with way too much time on their hands. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:37 PM

Sometimes it's like a vote being cast to close a thread-- a suggestion the poster hopes a site mod will see and agree with.

Free speech cuts both ways. :~) In fact it's more than 2-dimensional. If it's free, then it's sorta all-dimensional.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:41 PM

It's usually people who are overdue for colonoscopies. If they'd had one recently, the doctors would have found those huge bugs up their asses and removed them.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 06:50 PM

"...colonoscopies..."

I had my ending thread last January. Ah, better times than all this politics crap eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 07:02 PM

Heck, there are only 15 political threads of the roughly 60 threads in the BS section today. That's only 25%. It has been running 50% or more. That's a 50% reduction in one day! At that rate, they'll all be gone in just a few days!

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Lox
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 07:08 PM

Cookies and milk is enough for me.

Or hot chocolate.

Anyway, haven't we covered this issue now?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 02:55 AM

So if a thread has outlived its usefulness... we should just carry it on for the stragglers????... It is down to the Intellegence quotient of the reader/poster surely to suggest closure. It maybe, surely, the more understanding catter that realises it needs closing!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:14 AM

The Colonoscopist called.











He found your head.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: akenaton
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:16 AM

What I have noticed, is that on some controversial threads, members will often start personal abuse to get the tread closed.

The latest being the "Same sex marriage" thread, IMO one of the best on this forum, which had to be closed by Joe because of "combative conduct by members"

This combative conduct was the fault of long standing members who became abusive to a new member who was obviously trying to wind them up.
The thread could have been saved if members had shown a bit of common sense, but I think most were glad to see it closed as it did not fit easily with their opinions......Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:38 AM

Bee-dubya-ell, why did you have to remind me I'm due for a colonoscopy? I had polyps last time, so I'm on a 3-year schedule.
Damn.
As for the messages about ending threads, they annoy me. They feel like a call for censorship. I do my best to ignore them.
But sometimes I do close a thread if it's gotten out of hand. Most of the time, my reason for closing or combining threads is that they're duplicates.
I pay more attention to personal messages about problems. If there's something wrong, send me a personal message or e-mail and give me specific information about what's wrong, including the thread title, name of the problem poster, and date and time of the problem post. Public complaints generally serve to exacerbate problems, and oftentimes public complaints are far more of a problem, than the problem itself.
-Joe-
[e-mail]

By the way, we generally don't allow threads about Mudcat editing policy, and this one comes pretty close to that. If you want to ask about our editing practices, contact me privately.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:47 AM

50% reduction?

Oh dear, do you think the Federal Government could step in and lend us a few billion?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 04:59 AM

Joe - puzzled I am, as to on what planet this is a thread about editing policy?

It's a mildly whimsical query about why some individual Mudcatters (not Mudcat Editors) regularly seem to want to stop people talking about stuff they're personally not interested in or feel was covered in previous discussions (it's not like Mudcat has a stable membership).

Parallel: a bunch of people are having a discussion in a pub. Whilst its fine if the landlord says "take it elsewhere, ladies and gents" (c/f an intervention by a Mudcat editor) it's a different kettle of fish if random customers try to break up conversations their fellow drinkers are having.

So its not so much about Mudcat per se as weird on line tics and foibles. It's not at all important either.

Can I have my tea at Gnu's house, by the way?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Michael
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:01 AM

We know a song about that, don't we children?


Oh do you know her or do you not
This new doffing mistress we have got.
Elsie Thompson it is her name
And she helps us doffers at every frame.

Chorus (after each verse):
Ra de ri fol ra
Ra de ri fol ray
And every morning when she comes in
She hangs her coat on the highest pin.
Turns around for to view her friends,
Saying, "Damn you, doffers, tie up your ends!"

And then our boss he come in at last,
His legs are bowed like an old jackass.
Sticks his head all around the door,
"Tie your ends up, doffers," he loudly roar.

Tie our ends up we surely do,
For Elsie Thompson but not for you.
We'll tie up our ends and we'll leave our frames,
Wait for Elsie Thompson to return again.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:08 AM

Unfair point Splaeen Cringe,

I think it's pretty obvious how this thread and editing policy are related.

The thread isn't specifically about editing policy, but it is the same area as the comments you refer to are about editing policy so the whole can of worms is ripe for the opening.

I've made public calls for threads to be edited or closed before when I've felt that they needed it, but my view has changed over time as I've come to realize that we're all big enough to fight our own battles - or ignore them if we so choose.

There's always plenty of other things to talk about on other threads.


Did someone say there was a party at Gnu's house?

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:23 AM

gnus to me

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:18 AM

G.... the "mature" here is called "old". WE got mild, medium and old cheddars. Cracker Barrel Old is my fav for mac & cheese and for a go-along with pie and such. Now, if I am gonna just have a piece of cheese with a cup of tea, it's Cracker Barrel mozzerella... seriously, the CB mozz is excellent alone as it has a "sharp" to it. I bought another brand of mozz last week as it was $5 as opposed to $8 and I thought it was worth a try... uhuh, no "sharp". CB all the way for me from now on.

Party? Sure, but I gotta go get some cheese first. Oh, and bring yer mittens... quite a frost this morn.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: MartinRyan
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:24 AM

If "old" really did mean "mature" - would we need this thread?

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: TheSnail
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:46 AM

Spleen Cringe

(it's not like Mudcat has a stable membership).

How true. How true.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 09:52 AM

What is this "Spleen (or splaen" cringe"? Did I miss something?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: gnu
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 04:49 PM

Cracker Barrel... 540g... $4.99 at Sobeys this week! And, I got LOTS of freezer space.

Parrrrtaaayyyy!!! Youse bring the wine... I'll cut the cheese. Um... no Maple Leaf cold cuts, eh? Read my list. (Sorry, Canuck joke... in VERY poor taste.)

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:10 PM

Why hasn't this offensive thread been shut down yet? I demand a recall!

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:17 PM

I hate to disillusion you, but Canucks have no monopoly on either that joke OR general poor taste.

I've been avoiding similar items since...oh...way last century some time.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:59 PM

When threads get too long, I don't open them.

For those in which I haven't participated at all, it obviously takes too long to catch up. Why bother? And even in the case of discussions with which I'm already familiar, there comes a time when it takes too long to scroll down to find where I left off last time, and to read the most recent additions. So when the message count approaches four figures, I take it as a "Do Not Enter" sign.

I even quit the very enjoyable "You Must Leave Now!" thread (where we simply added favorite lines from lyrics ~ great stream-of-consciousness fun) when it became unwieldy. And "Mother of All..."? Never peeked in at it, not even once. It was already too bloated by the time I first noticed it. (I think it was born while I was absent for a year or so in the wake of Katrina.)

So, there is a reason to wish a given thread would be allowed to die a natural death. However, I agree that it's a little rude to log in just to say so ~ and, counterproductive. If you want a thread to drop off the page and be forgotten, the very worst thing you can do is add your inane comment and thereby refresh it, sending it to the top of the list to live for another day (a full 24 hours), and so to pique the curiosity of who-knows-how-many other members and lurkers.

*****************************************

Milk and cookies is indeed traditional, and appropriate, bedtime fare, especially for little kids. For those of us who are "old," and who may or may not be "mature," a shot of whiskey or rum or whatever, perhaps in a hot toddy, isn't a bad idea.

But a big heavy meal of baked macaroni, pork sausages, biscuits with molassses? At bedtime? Do you enjoy heartburn? Nightmares?

That sounds like something you might want to eat after a good night's sleep, as a "full English/Irish breakfast" ~ not before attempting to slip into unconsciousness.

Subject: RE: BS: Posts About Ending Threads
From: Ed T
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:05 PM

I was always curious as to how long a thread from someone considering leaving Guam stayed active?

Personally, If I was leaving and keep it at that.