Post-er or Pose-ur?: Make it a Real Debate

[roland.g]

Are you actually saying anything?
I spend a lot of time on MacRumors looking for the lastest info circulating on Apple development. Usually I am on the site about 5-10x per day. I read mostly Rumors. But I spend a fair amount of time looking at forums and reading what people have to say, especially with regards to new product releases. Now I'm not trying to call anybody out, or insinuate that people don't know what they are talking about, but if you look, I don't have that many posts. Why? Because I don't say something unless it adds to the conversations. I see so many posts saying 'this or that would be sweet or awesome, I'd go buy it tomorrow,' and a lot of things of the like. Gee, that's good for you, but it isn't telling me anything about the software or hardware or likelihood or performance, etc. It isn't telling me anything. If you are just trying to get you post count higher, come on, don't be like that, it's quality not quantity that we want. When I see 200-400 posts in reply to a thread and 75% of them don't offer any sort of insight, useful speculation, or anything remotely based on engaging the topic with data or expertise, then it is way too many pages and useless posts to sift through to find the bits of commentary from those who can speak knowledgably on the subject at hand. When someone asks for buying advice on a Dell or a Mac, go off all you want. But when there are rumors or announcements of a new Mac, save the space for the real debate.

 

[eva01]

holy no paragraphs batman.

and what is the point of this, people can post their thoughts all they want.

I don't have a problem with it. Find the members that make insightful posts and just look for their posts in threads.

That is what i do, i mostly watch only 10-20 posters and ignore all the rest.

 

[Salasm]

this is macrumors.com, not arstechnica.com (mac.ars). adjust your expectations, accordingly.

 

[0098386]

Do what you want so long as you don't kill anyone.

Have a banana.

 

[nbs2]

Is it me, or do we revisit this issue on a regular basis? I think generally (some posts really are useless - I'm sure I have my share), the "I think that's a great idea" posts have their purposes. One, it can demonstrate to the skeptics that there may just be a market out there that is interested in what you think is crap. For example, see the ipod (and each new family). I was in the camp that thought the mini would do well, but never exceed the flagship model. I was also in the camp that figured the Shuffle would only be good for those who wanted an iPod but couldn't afford the real thing - I never considered the gym market. But for a lot of "That's Great!" posts, I'd think the shuffle segment was only gym-rats.

The second is that as rumor sites become more powerful (inline with their crazy brother the blog) and influential, they are the voice of the people clamoring for X, but not Y. I do believe that companies do pay heed to what people ask for (and use discretion in what they do and don't implement).

Third, they do augment the original argument in the minds of others. Look at invisible shield or scratch removal threads (I was just reading one, so it was the first to come to mind). The usefulness of Brasso was questioned, but there were enough "I agree it works" comments that I couldn't help but think that it probably does work. The quality of the invisible shild is nice to hear from one, but when 30 posts all agree, you know you have hit upon something good.

Besides, anything that Lacero says is gospel and renders all other opinions moot - so just wait for that one opinion and skip everything else.

 

[wordmunger]

I agree. posts should be more thoughtful

 

[mdavey]

this is macrumors.com, not arstechnica.com (mac.ars). adjust your expectations, accordingly.

While I do agree with your statement, I can sympathise with the OPs comments. It would be nice to have a technical solution to the problem - a forum with both slashdot-style comment moderation and digg-style thread moderation.

It would also be nice to have the ability for the community to be able to merge and split threads on a lazy-consensus or majority-of-votes basis.

However, I guess these are things that most will agree with but no-one will be able and willing to implement

 

[nbs2]

Also, I believe that we require 6637 posts before you are allowed to complain about anything - that means 6625 more. Happy posting.

 

[mkaake]

Can you imagine how interesting coversations would be (in real life) if we only stuck to the OP's guidelines?

Yowsa.

This is a community - which involves conversation, fun. If you're only interested in the rumors / news, don't bother reading the discussion following...

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The reality of it is that few, if any of us know anything of substance about future Apple products. Do you think we are all holding back and not telling you about the dual Opteron 30th Anniversary Mac with quad SLI GPUs, LN2 cooling and a vibrating massage chair?

This site is a web community with a focus topic, but we aren't restricted to mac rumors alone. If all you want is rumors than go to Think Secret.

 

[yellow]

Do you think we are all holding back and not telling you about the dual Opteron 30th Anniversary Mac with quad SLI GPUs, LN2 cooling and a vibrating massage chair?

I KNEW you were holding out on me!!!!

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Oh bollocks, looks like I let the cat out of the bag.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Geez man that was one long post. This thread is another crack to piss people off or get pissed on. If someone wants to talk about or say anything then so be it so why do you want to split the posters and pose-urs as you call em.

Bless

 

[Sogo]

I am on the same boat as you roland.g, I like to post relevant posts. But granted I am a criminal against myself, and have posted some pretty useless comments. I probably can go off and reply to every thread and be relevant, but I just choose to lurk and only post when I truley feel the need to. I'm personaly not in much of a race to get my avatar, granted i want it, but i have a nasty habit if holding my tongue.

Alas I do not feel the pain of bad posts since I come from a forum where, well its quite chaotic and fun; entropy if I says so myself.

 

[Bern]

Hahaha this is an international site with lots of interesting people. If you want to see a forum full of useless posts try AppleTalk Australia

 

[mad jew]

I actually agree that the front page news stories usually get their pants spammed off by bad one-lined posts and circular arguments, but it doesn't bother me. I only read the actual news item and then very rarely bother with the rest of the thread.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

I actually agree that the front page news stories usually get their pants spammed off by bad one-lined posts and circular arguments, but it doesn't bother me. I only read the actual news item and then very rarely bother with the rest of the thread.

Same, most of my useless banter goes in the community discussion forum.

 

[russed]

i think the reason that this forum is so successful is that it has a good mixture of usefullness (help and rumours) but also it is a nice place to come and occasionally some posts are funny!

wouldnt life be boring if we only spoke when we had something useful to say?

 

[MrSmith]

wouldnt life be boring if we only spoke when we had something useful to say?

Err...no. If you want to talk about last night's movie/supper/date then find a real person to talk to. Since when has staying on topic been boring? Kudos to the OP for saying what I'm sure all except the 5 or 6 who seem to have to post every day with "Yo, been there **kiss-xyz-another-poster-who-I've-never-met's-ass**" kind of cr@p. I come here for mac news because that's what the site's meant to be about. Sometimes it seems like I'm wading through a chat room

 

[yellow]

Coming from a much more rigid forum environment, I appreciate the relative freedom from the "Mac Community" forums.

 

[Jon'sLightBulbs]

roland.g,

Trust me, there are a lot of people at this board that agree with you. There are far too many kids here writing with the pomposity of a college sophomore with very little to say. Most of the "discourse" here is completely inane. However, it can be fun. Just flow with it.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Indeed this is why the forum is spilt up into different sections. There are the sections for news, help and what have you then there is the section just to talk i see no reason why this should be a big deal. There are some one liners in the "serious" section but that should not be a world stopping problem....this is what happens when you come to a forum, expect to hear from all ages and culture.

This is what makes MR.

Bless

 

[GoCubsGo]

Are you actually saying anything?
I spend a lot of time on MacRumors looking for the lastest info circulating on Apple development. Usually I am on the site about 5-10x per day. I read mostly Rumors. But I spend a fair amount of time looking at forums and reading what people have to say, especially with regards to new product releases. Now I'm not trying to call anybody out, or insinuate that people don't know what they are talking about, but if you look, I don't have that many posts. Why? Because I don't say something unless it adds to the conversations. I see so many posts saying 'this or that would be sweet or awesome, I'd go buy it tomorrow,' and a lot of things of the like. Gee, that's good for you, but it isn't telling me anything about the software or hardware or likelihood or performance, etc. It isn't telling me anything. If you are just trying to get you post count higher, come on, don't be like that, it's quality not quantity that we want. When I see 200-400 posts in reply to a thread and 75% of them don't offer any sort of insight, useful speculation, or anything remotely based on engaging the topic with data or expertise, then it is way too many pages and useless posts to sift through to find the bits of commentary from those who can speak knowledgably on the subject at hand. When someone asks for buying advice on a Dell or a Mac, go off all you want. But when there are rumors or announcements of a new Mac, save the space for the real debate.

Well, there you have it. You started an entire thread about your discontent with people replying to threads and not adding any value to the topic and yet...you failed to add anything of value in your post. This post of yours is far less valuable then the simple one liner that you complain about. If you consider diverting attention to yourself and trying to dictate when it is appropriate to respond valuable, then you win. If I understand your invaluable post, you are telling the members here that if there are posts about Mac rumors or Mac announcements we must not respond unless we bring value to the conversation. However, if there is someone silly enough to pose a question about buying a Dell or a Mac, we can "go off" all we want...value added or not. I find your logic fuzzy and quite invaluable. As a matter of fact, I could care less about why you have a low post count or how your ego has allowed you to make an excuse for your lack of contribution to the world.

My observation based on very little data from you is this. Your post count is low because you fail to have anything to say. Whether the reason be that you're too busy, do not want to look like an ass, or just can't see the need to respond because your answer is probably close to a previous answer already given. You'd like to "call out" anyone with high post counts and dictate to them why their contribution is far less valuable than yours because obviously they've set out on a mission to increase post counts with unimportant banter. You'd like to ensure that we're all well aware that you're far more significant than us because everything you say and do here and possibly anywhere is far more valuable than anything we do. And you probably for the most part lack some sort of attention, or you are bored because the Winter Olympics are starting and regular programming is being postponed until they're over and you have nothing to watch on TV, or quite possibly you sat down and figured it was time to lay down the law. Whatever the reason for your completely invaluable post, you truly have a great deal of time on your hands to actually worry about such things.

I don't know my post count; I guess in my book it's quite irrelevant. I do believe in "post whores" and I do believe that in some people's lives post counts are a status symbol. I don't criticize them for this because we all have our "thing" that people just hate. For me, it's probably the long rambling worthless posts (for an example step back and check out this very post). For others, it's the need to increase post count. And for you, it's the need to bitch and moan about something that you can't change, won't control, and really should ignore. Trust me, if you're looking to add value to the world, or at least the online communities here at MacRumors, why not spend more time "bonding" and less time criticizing. Eventually you'll find that the people here for the most part are helpful and since they all share a common interest, they're actually quite entertaining--that includes you.

Sure I appear to be a bitch, but that is what makes me cute. So, I am going to get back to my homework, you go back to tracking valuable and invaluable posts, and everyone else can go back to whatever they're doing. But think about this, how much value do you really add to a site when you're judging everyone on your own personal criteria? And you spelled latest wrong.

 

[roland.g]

Forty cents on the dollar

Well, let's see. First of all, I am above no one. Second, I agree that there are are variety of threads started here that are fun and this site definitely does promote that. While I agree with an earlier post that live people make for the best conversations, I also agree that forums in general are a great way to reach out and interact with people you would otherwise never meet. There seems to be some resentment to what I said, though maybe that is not the best word, as well as some agreement. I didn't take the time to carefully construct some PC (not to be confused with PC) argument in an effort to avoid stepping on every toe, nor did I claim that getting your avatar up is anyone's primary goal. I was simply thinking back to our favorite tuesday in January when the Intel iMac and MacBook Pro machines were released, as well as other days when interesting new developments are speculated and to paraphrase an earlier reply, I thought it sad that so many kids are posting one-liners in response to benchmarks and other news. Time and place, that's all.

In taking all the criticism in stride, because I do, someone said something to me yesterday and we went back and forth on the subject, heatedly, yet playfully, and privately (there's no record on display). In the end, we each made a new friend. And that is prolly the kewlest thing of all.

Have I said anything of value?
Well, I don't know if this has 'value' or not, but check out jessica's website, she has some pretty kewl photography. (Though I couldn't find the 3rd image on the right on her main page in the gallery.)

 

[Blue Velvet]

I was simply thinking back to our favorite tuesday in January when the Intel iMac and MacBook Pro machines were released, as well as other days when interesting new developments are speculated and to paraphrase an earlier reply, I thought it sad that so many kids are posting one-liners in response to benchmarks and other news.

Well, it happens. Wishing it would go away is an idealistic but futile King Canute-like task.

Exhorting others to contribute in a manner that pleases you is also fruitless.

Everybody has their own way of communicating... such are the nature of forums generally — very few people here are professional writers and some people are also less confident and articulate than others. You'll also notice that many forum regulars usually don't join in in those sprawling 10-page+ threads.

If you're looking for more informed comment, then maybe these forums are not the ones for you although personally, I subscribe to eva01's philosophy — read only the posts of those that continually provide worthwhile content. This is where avatar-spotting can come in handy.