Do you read response before posting on a topic?

I'll read the responses within reason. Maybe a page or two. If I come across the post that has 30 pages of commentary.... no way in hell am I going to wade through that.

Sheesh! I'm already lost here...what was the topic again?

I generally read at least the last 2 - 3 pages of the long threads before posting. Often the original post or question has been clarified/amplified, and I prefer to respond to the actual discussion, not just the starting point.

i read some to make sure my response will not be a repeated version of someone elses at times.....but there are times that i dont do that and yeah my posts are hella outdated...haha

Beth, you are more patient than I am! lol! Somethimes topics get off topic, if you know what I mean and I'm sure you do.

I see questions that interest me. I don't want anyone influencing my thoughts, so I never read first. I might repeat. I might sound like a moron who doesn't keep up with the program, which I don't. I answer the topic, with my thoughts only.

Should I be reading? Am I making myself look more like a moron than what I already am? I don't like the idea of anyone's opinon influencing my own thoughts.

Am I really off base with this? Replies stack up so fast!! I don't have the patience to read through them all, when I am only interested in the post topic is all.

Help!!

Wildflower, try quoting the original post and then respond to it directly. Then you can catch up on what others have written.

I think it depends somewhat on the context. In relationship threads, for example, I think it's important to see what has been said, what the trajectory is. Originality of thought doesn't seem to be the goal to me so much as helping the poster.

I guess I usually do a combination; I read the original post, have some immediate reaction, then read the rest of the posts. If nobody has said what I had in mind, I add my take. If someone has said it, I don't add anything. If someone has said it, and especially well, I say something about how well they said it.

Most often, as ehBeth indicates, there are further details that are helpful to know. In relationship threads especially, it often starts off one way and then kinda skews another way with further details.

Again, I don't think looking dumb or smart is important in that context, it's being as helpful as possible. And probably easiest to be helpful with all the info.

But yeah, on some of those super-long politics ones or whatever... whoa!

Thanks for the tips!! LittleK and Sozobe, great advice!

I often see great topics, but they are up to 10+ pages!! Obviously, they must be good topics or they wouldn't have this much activity. I always avoid them because I have no clue what is going on currently without reading a novel.

Is it PC to jump in somewhere in these topics that do interest me without going through so many pages? Sometimes you have a war of words between only a few people that get way off topic. It is hard to find a place to jump in on a good subject.

Got any Cliff Notes on how to participate in topics that are pages lengthy that sound interesting to you? I do agree. Some issues do give further information beyond the topic for better understanding. Some issues, like political ones, go off topic. How do you speed read this and be able to jump in and participate? Got any shortcuts, besides reading a novel?

Thanks for your help!!

I guess I'm odd, I do often read the whole thread; I learn a lot that way on some questions. It's true that I skip repetitive posts, but I am interested in what some particular people have to say on different matters. I tend to skip material that is written in bold or colors (usually but not always) or is full of invective.

As to people's opinions affecting mine, hmmm, I may or may not agree with the opinions that pass my eyes, and I'll sometimes say so if I agree, but try not to clog up the "airways" by just saying that all the time.

I don't worry about anyone's opinion swaying mine, if I have one - it wouldn't just change mine like that, unless I found the opinion thought provoking and did some rethinking of my own, which happens.

I guess I like to follow a story, and in many threads there is just that, a thread, a line of thought, sometimes many lines of thoughts. I like reading the interweaving of those lines as well as reading particular posts. Also sometimes "riffs" happen, when a bunch of posters riff back and forth like some comedy team.

Do you mean colours like this; or colours that are all over the place and changing?

As for me; I usually read all of the thread, unless I have little time, as that's the best way to experience others' opinions and, of course, learn something previously unknown. However, if it is something that I want to reply to, urgently, I read the first few replies, scan the page for comments I find substantial for the way the thread is going, and then post.

I rarely have a lot of time to read entire threads before posting...but I try to read at least the first & last 5 or 6 and a few in the middle. I don't want to repeat what someone else has said, and sometimes, if my view is the opposing one I might decide not to post, if I am not in a position where I have time enough for the back and forth that usually comes w/ oppositional posting.

I try to read it - sometimes there is too much to read all of it - or there are a couple of people arguing endlessly over a point - but if what I want to say has already been said, I try not to post.

Doesn't mean I always avoid repetition, of course!

This is why I relatively seldom post in politics, whatever I want to say has usually been said a dozen times!

I don't think there is a procedure, Wildflower - but if your post is just repetitious, chances are people will not respond to you much on that thread - that's all.

Because these posts get sidetracked so often I try to merely respond to the original post itself........unless of course I'm messing with someone or I'm trying to sidetrack the post......or I'm on a new med and I'm rambling..........I like pasta, do you?

pasta rules.

wildflower - ignore him. he's being medicated, but I think he skipped this morning's

What's up onyx..how's that complexion regimen going?

I have no opinion on this matter, and, to tell the truth, I have no idea why I'm even on this thread.

aren't you supposed to be working on your roof?