New Feature Idea

Brett - this is a keeper

[bsterz]

I sometimes have this feeling that I'm a "thread killer". I post to a thread and it just dies. I know this isn't the case (or I think) but I still stay up at night worrying about this.

It's time for a "Murdered Threads Ratio". This would tell us what percentage of a users posts are the last in the thread.

OK - not a very useful feature, but it would help so many ego's..er..maybe..

Bill

[pageoneresults]

lol, this should be the Friday Funny. :)

I'm happy to hear that I'm not alone in my thinking.

[bsterz]

ah HA!

I wasn't the last poster!

uh-oh

[londrum]

look.. you got a couple of replies on this one, so you can't be all bad.

[akmac]

It's probably because you masterfully sum the main points of each thread into concise yet comprehensive truths.

Only a fool would post to a thread without having anything of substance to add.

Wait... ;-)

[weeks]

If I posted more, the entire WW forum would be dead.

[jbinbpt]

Ditto

[Skeptic]

I am Skeptical about your assertion.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Very amusing.
This joins the "I thought it was only me" department with the other thing I read recently about "phantom vibrate" feelings from your mobile phone.

[King_Fisher]

Me too! Where ever I post, nothing green ever grows again!...KF

[edited by: King_Fisher at 6:56 am (utc) on Aug. 18, 2007]

[ronin]

Thank heavens I'm not the only one suffering from this paranoia.

[callivert]

Just to add fuel to your paranoia....
I saw a discussion here a while ago about dealing with troublesome members in a forum. Someone suggested making their posts invisible to everyone but them. That way, they don't even know they're banned! They keep posting, but nobody else knows that they are there, kind of like a ghost: observing but never observed.
Well that was a great idea, but that got me thinking.
Maybe I'm banned and don't even know it! Or maybe only other unwanted, banned people can see my messages, and we're having a pointless, ghostly discussion.
So to alleviate my insecurity, I'd like to see a moving window calculation of the proportion of my posts that are quoted by other members. If that score drops, I know I'm finished.

[engine]

hehehe, but folks, didn't you know we make all subsequent responses to your posts invisible to you! LOL

[bsterz]

callivert - that's gotta be the most diabolical idea I've ever heard of for handling "problem" forum members. That hilarious! I'm still sitting here chuckling about it.

"Ghostly conversation"...whew

b

[GaryK]

Bill, I like your idea even though I'm scared to find out if my ego will get inflated or become a vacuum. :)

that's gotta be the most diabolical idea I've ever heard of for handling "problem" forum members.

Back in the old days many JAVA chat applets had this ability.

[lgn1]

Brett, this should not be hard to code.

Every week a chart can be displayed, and the end of the year, we can have an award, for those who had killed the most threads. We can call it the:

"Terminator Award"

:)

[weeks]

Well, tell your coders to wait a minute. This formula should be weighted. Lots of posting is going to put high in the ranks of being given the last word.

The quality thread killers I know <cough> can simply stroll into any given thread and have a very high chance of shutting it down.

Scoring should be percent of percent of total posts being the last post in thread where posted, not simply total of last posts.

Whilr yor at it, you could run a who has the highest percent of missspeled wrds.

[Monkey]

Speaking of thread killers - is there a thread destroyer as well.

Am sure there was a thread on Polar Ice melting - but it has been destroyed - did I do that? Am sure I posted the last thread and it disappeared! - so sorry if this one disappears

[Monkey]

Okay maybe it's me - becos its back again!

Someone's messing with me head - and it's easy when I haven't slept 'cause I'm trying to do some programming and "socialise" on foo!

[edited by: Monkey at 11:04 pm (utc) on Aug. 18, 2007]

[bsterz]

Alright weeks - I see where you're going here..and I agree. But shouldn't we also weight it for "Inertia" or "momentum". I mean honestly, I've staggered into a thread that is getting 3 posts every couple of minutes and killed it. That sort of thread-killing should get special treatment.

[tim222]

Am sure there was a thread on Polar Ice melting - but it has been destroyed - did I do that? Am sure I posted the last thread and it disappeared! - so sorry if this one disappears

I think it was frozen for awhile but it seems to have thawed out now.

[deejay]

Now if we're going to go as far as weighting the system... we really should consider weighting for member location (in terms of what hour of the day they tend to post).

I've considered myself a TKE (Thread Killer Extraordinaire) at one time or another on all of the forums I frequent.... turns out after thinking about it though, that I was merely arriving late to the scene of the accident because of my timezone here in New Zealand. I get stuck trying to breathe the kiss of life into a thread that died hours ago

[bsterz]

deejay - nice point. There should be some weighting for elapsed time from last post. This works nicely with the momentum theory as well. For example, let's say we've been seeing a post a minute for 15 minutes, then along comes the killer and BAM, no more posts. This should get a high rating. However, in there event that there has been a significant amount of time since the last post, this may go under "late poster".

I must say - this is helping..yes..perhaps I TOO am a late poster..sure I live smack in the heart of the US, but hey, maybe I've been posting late..

off to bed while the dream is still alive..

[Monkey]

Hey bsterz

It was looking like you might be the last one on this thread and I'm used to being a TK.

So good night and hope you had great dreams of thread killing. ;o)

[weeks]

I mean honestly, I've staggered into a thread that is getting 3 posts every couple of minutes and killed it.

bester, you and I could team up and do serious harm to the internet.

[tim222]

...turns out after thinking about it though, that I was merely arriving late to the scene of the accident because of my timezone here in New Zealand.

I thought it's already tomorrow in New Zealand? Theoretically, you should be getting to the thread before it even exists. Or do I have that backwards? :)

[deejay]

I thought it's already tomorrow in New Zealand? Theoretically, you should be getting to the thread before it even exists. Or do I have that backwards?

*lol* No, actually you're quite right!

hhmmm... a temporal disconnect could be a whole different kettle of fish to deal with though..

[deejay]

..... I rest my case....

[lawman]

..... I rest my case....

Somebody has to be last. We'll let it be you. Oops.

[GaryK]

Does the Moderator get the last word or should we be *cough* kind *cough* and let bsterz be the thread killer? ;)