When starting a thread.........

It depends on the speed and mood of the boards on a particular day. If there's some knotty concept I want to work through on ILM and there's 3 Top 100 threads on the go and a couple of big arguments I'll probably save it for a quieter time.

On ILE a lot of the threads I feel like starting are London or UK centric and there seems little point in doing that sometimes, certainly not after about 4 in the afternoon.

Start your thread on loneliness Ronan.

When I start a thread I normally try and pitch it so it can get the most amount of answers or so that it makes someone I like like me or it is unspecific enough to hover around but specific enough so that there is something to hover around. Threads on the etiquette of inter-personal relationships (Vagaries of Dating, Point Scoring in Arguments) are good because everyone everyone! has to deal with and read relationships. I like reading those threads because they're kinda like dating advice but without the cheesy know-it-all edge of Cosmo or the braggadocio of FHM i.e. they're funny and articulate and intelligent.

Sometimes starting a thread on a very select, obscure thing is good because ilxors are a very knowledgeable crew and intelligent with it = information and readymade opinion wahey!

perhaps the onus is as you say Cozen on the thread starter to mould a thread which will be interpreted in the "right" way.

It's also important that the thread have a question in it somewhere, or a lead off. Many threads die because they're just a couple of paragraphs without any 'in' for others or are a brilliant long post about something which just leads to loads of 'bravos' and not much discussion.

I agree. I think also it's often better to ask this question and then answer it yourself, rather than putting lots of text in the first message.

Tom OTM - the general tone of ILE varies so widely from week to week these days that it generally depends on what else is going on at any time. Around March and April there were a huge amount of political threads for obvious reasons but I thought twice about starting a Hutton Enquiry-related thread this morning because I thought it would sink like a stone.

A lot of the other threads I don't start are conceptual jokes we thought of in the pub, sometimes these work fine if the joke is very obvious (V.I.L.E. for instance), but things like the ILE Hedge Dispute would just baffle or more likely annoy a lot of people.

yeah sometimes ILX is really having a tangibly themed day I guess, this can be great, or not.

what threads have you started that you wished got more answers, if you can remember any?

I genuinely can't think of anything that's off-topic for ILE (I can't remember who it was that said the quintessential ILE thread was "So, I've started sex. What's good?"), but I can probably think of a few thoughts I wouldn't start here (because they involve other people either here or potentially googling).

(xpost: cozen's right, start your thread on loneliness. Also c'mere, you big lug)

(xpost: I consider all my threads apart from Homie the Clown to have dies unjustly obscure deaths)

i'm not really lonely, thats why i thought it would get swamped!

My thread on Significant Badness on ILM recently. I made two mistakes with that one - I spun it off from a thread which had got a bit snippy, and so people were wary of it, and I also started a much more popular thread soon after which dealt with the specifics of the ideas but not the generalities.

Side-question - threads you started which keep reappearing for no reason.

I think I answered Significant Badness, it was a good thread.

I didn't understand Significant Badness :(

it sounds like the name of an Offspring or Sum 41 album.

Momus - "Significant Other", Mego CD5678

I must admit that I have often been wary about starting particular threads, but, as has already been said, it's usually to do with the tone of ILX at the time. I dont exactly start high brow threads, which is sometimes exactly what people don't want, but at other times, it's exactly what people need! Also, I sometimes miss responding to a thread, as I read it & mean to respond later, but then sometimes things can move so fast here, that I forget all about it!

what about the overarching tone of ILX? is there one, are there certain threads that can NEVER be started?

Well, like what?

I can't think of any threads that could NEVER be started.

It's slow today and my Jim O'Rourke insight on the Sascha Funke thread might not be lost after all.

Favourite Band vs Best Band Ever is suffering from my rushed asking and ill-thought out premise, I really should go post something more meaty for people to rip apart but I can't be bothered either.

''I can't think of any threads that could NEVER be started.''

er, how abt the ones that attack other posters or certain mean-spirited ones.

Julio those are not only started they get an enormous reply rate before inevitable locking or deletion.

i am quite bad at spending time considering the framing of a thread: i tend to start with an anecdote that amuses me and see if anyone can tell me why, almost

but then a lot of my work is also basically "help me, explain to me what i just said in english, i know it matters to me but i don't know why!!"

occasionally in the middle of a v.testy debate (which i'm possibly not involved in) i notice a curious assumption or jump being made which ppl aren't zooming in on: i think of starting a thread on it but assume either a. someone will feel got at (if i'm saying "surely this assumption is rubbish") or b. the testy debate will merely invade my thread also

so i leave it till later and then forget it altogether

hurrah :(

If it wasn't for those of you who start threads, ILx's current problems wouldn't exist.

ok tom.

on ilm I start threads but i want to listen to the record first so I never start as many as i should. I'm also not bothered by the fact that it will get 5 answers. I will revive 'em from time to time if i feel the need too.

on ile I'd never start a thread on relationships bcz its v difficult for me to phrase it.

It doesn't seem like there is a surefire formula for a 'successful' thread; what looks like a promising title can sink like a stone and vice versa. When there is a lot of traffic generally I don't tend to start threads, partly for the sake of not increasing the clog but partly to avoid that sinking feeling myself...

I have (twice maybe?) started anonymous threads when I really wanted advice, and always felt bad once they did drop off new answers, like 'what, that's the end of my problem? nuh uh!' but there is nothing you can do is there, unless it's to harp on and on, answering your own questions just to keep the thing alive. And of course nobody can follow up and ask you, so is it all ok now? because they don't know it's you...

I know what you mean, when people haven't shared your enthusiasm for something (good or bad) the temptation is always there to keep your thread alive, but this always looks a bit desperate. Sometimes it's necessary though, when maybe you didn't post at the right time & you feel that if you revive it, more people will get to see it & possibly respond. There are threads I want to start quite alot, but if certain individuals are feeling pretty nasty on a particular day then I steer well clear!

More fashion threads!

Resolution for '04: start a thread that ends up locked.

that is easily sorted andrew >:)

I really thought my pornography thread would get more responses. I was trying hard to be neutral when framing the question, maybe this hurt the thread's chances.

I like pornography - I didn't notice the thread coz it started with U.S. and I'm not interested in that.

When starting a thread, I usually think it might get a few responses, but I doubt it.

I sometimes think of terribly introspective threads I could start when I'm just going off to sleep, and even come up with more than a flippant sentence to build on the subject. However, by morning I can only remember the jist of it, and think it's probably prudent to steer clear of posting too much dark of the night soul stuff, as I'm usually feeling okay by the morning.

Yes, nothing worse than the moody thread that haunts you when you've long ago snapped out of it. The opposite to the type of thread I was talking about earlier really.