Robin in Tx
03-13-2008, 02:55 PM
Sometimes it makes a little bit of sense. But sometimes it doesn't.
First, I realize that you can tell when a thread has a new post, and I understand the reasoning given... but... when someone posts an update as a new thread, the subject line tells me that there is a REAL update from the original poster. A new post under an old subject line doesn't. And this is really very frustrating. For exmaple, when an prayer request has a new post, that tells me that someone has responded to the prayer request. I'm not interested in reading all those responses. But when updates are moved under the original prayer request, then unless you open up the original prayer request and read ALLLLLLLL the way down, you won't know if the new post is simply another response to the prayer request or a genuine update from the OP. Some prayer requests get well over 50 responses... I do not have the time to open up that thread every single time someone responds to the prayer request to see *if by chance* an update to the situation has been posted by the op. Contrary to way it appears based on the amount of time I spend on these boards, I really do have a life :001_smile: and this has doubled, tripled, the amount of time it takes to keep up with topics.
Second. Barb posted about a possible miscarriage. Somewhere down in the thread, another poster (claire) menitoned that she's going through a similar thing and has a dr's appointment. I opened Barb's original post, and responded *without* reading the ENTIRE thread (which was basically a long list of people saying the same thing as me). Then, a couple of days later, someone starts a new thread, asking Claire how her appointment went. This thread got moved under Barb's original post!!! It wasn't about Barb. It's about Claire! It doesn't belong under Barb's post. It's a completely different conversation, regardless that it got its beginning in another thread.
Third. Someone posted a new thread that the case against the illegal parking mom had been dropped. That got moved under the original thread about the case. There was a lot of argument, etc., in that thread, and you know what? I really don't care to scroll through it and see all that again. It just draws and tempts me into a conversation that I really don't want to be a part of. But I *did* want to see that the case had been dropped. That's news. Sometimes, picking up an old conversation with news, a fresh, clean slate, and a different tone is exactly what is needed.
Finally. I really don't understand what this has to do with the format of the new board. The bumping of a thread when there's a new post really makes no difference... it's the subject line that lets us know what the new post is about. As a reader of the boards, it seems like a big waste of everyone's time to force the merger of these threads... it wastes our time trying to wade through lengthy threads looking for a possible update, and it wastes admin's time staying on top of and merging all these semi-related conversations. I have tried and tried to imagine how it is really BETTER for the boards to do things this way, and I can't come up with one reason why that could be so... perhaps I'm missing something or am not seeing it from admin's eyes... maybe in some way makes it easier for admin to manage... but it sure does make it tough on the reader who wants to be able to skim the boards quickly for new topics and updates.
I know you won't likely change your policy on this, but I wanted you to know that instead of it being easier on our end (the idea that we can always see the entire conversation in one thread) it really has made things more difficult ... (maybe that's what you want? to keep band width down?).
Thanks for reading this far and for any consideration you might give this! :)
Robin
(wondering if I should have posted this under some other thread that discusses this topic! LOL)
First, I realize that you can tell when a thread has a new post, and I understand the reasoning given... but... when someone posts an update as a new thread, the subject line tells me that there is a REAL update from the original poster. A new post under an old subject line doesn't. And this is really very frustrating. For exmaple, when an prayer request has a new post, that tells me that someone has responded to the prayer request. I'm not interested in reading all those responses. But when updates are moved under the original prayer request, then unless you open up the original prayer request and read ALLLLLLLL the way down, you won't know if the new post is simply another response to the prayer request or a genuine update from the OP. Some prayer requests get well over 50 responses... I do not have the time to open up that thread every single time someone responds to the prayer request to see *if by chance* an update to the situation has been posted by the op. Contrary to way it appears based on the amount of time I spend on these boards, I really do have a life :001_smile: and this has doubled, tripled, the amount of time it takes to keep up with topics.
Second. Barb posted about a possible miscarriage. Somewhere down in the thread, another poster (claire) menitoned that she's going through a similar thing and has a dr's appointment. I opened Barb's original post, and responded *without* reading the ENTIRE thread (which was basically a long list of people saying the same thing as me). Then, a couple of days later, someone starts a new thread, asking Claire how her appointment went. This thread got moved under Barb's original post!!! It wasn't about Barb. It's about Claire! It doesn't belong under Barb's post. It's a completely different conversation, regardless that it got its beginning in another thread.
Third. Someone posted a new thread that the case against the illegal parking mom had been dropped. That got moved under the original thread about the case. There was a lot of argument, etc., in that thread, and you know what? I really don't care to scroll through it and see all that again. It just draws and tempts me into a conversation that I really don't want to be a part of. But I *did* want to see that the case had been dropped. That's news. Sometimes, picking up an old conversation with news, a fresh, clean slate, and a different tone is exactly what is needed.
Finally. I really don't understand what this has to do with the format of the new board. The bumping of a thread when there's a new post really makes no difference... it's the subject line that lets us know what the new post is about. As a reader of the boards, it seems like a big waste of everyone's time to force the merger of these threads... it wastes our time trying to wade through lengthy threads looking for a possible update, and it wastes admin's time staying on top of and merging all these semi-related conversations. I have tried and tried to imagine how it is really BETTER for the boards to do things this way, and I can't come up with one reason why that could be so... perhaps I'm missing something or am not seeing it from admin's eyes... maybe in some way makes it easier for admin to manage... but it sure does make it tough on the reader who wants to be able to skim the boards quickly for new topics and updates.
I know you won't likely change your policy on this, but I wanted you to know that instead of it being easier on our end (the idea that we can always see the entire conversation in one thread) it really has made things more difficult ... (maybe that's what you want? to keep band width down?).
Thanks for reading this far and for any consideration you might give this! :)
Robin
(wondering if I should have posted this under some other thread that discusses this topic! LOL)