Reflex posting: keyword scan, post opinion, next!

Post Reply New Topic

Racism. Terrorism. Abortion. Evolutionism. Creation Science. God. Jesus. Firearms. Explosives. Murder. Islam. Judaism. Et cetera, key buzz words...


Basically, this thread is about the tendency of posting a reply to a person without actually reading what they said. Though I am not sure of the thoughts and actions of everyone, I notice that a lot of replies to other posters tend to show either a lack of knowledge of the post that they are replying to, or worse, the lack of ability to comprehend language in general. However, my conjecture as to the cause of disjointedness between replies of this nature and the posts replied to is this: the person replying catches a keyword or two, and posts whatever the heck is on their mind about them.

This is not just a problem in forum correspondence either, as it is also common in audio communication. However, posts are in text format, with the obvious exception of video or audio clips. So, for the written posts, there is less excuse to reply without understanding what the previous person was trying to say.

No, I disagree I think burgers can be very nutritious especially when served with a salad.

And for a more serious reply: I've also noticed the trend. Threads are often not a basis for exploration of an idea or for reaching a consensus but merely used to express people's existing opinions. I can almost predict what certain posters will say based on the keywords in the original post. The same is true in other forums, one only has to mention a Windows problem for several replies promoting the virtues of Mac or Linux. It can make for dull threads. I often read threads without posting a reply because the new thread is just a rehash of numerous threads that passed before it. Maybe it is part of the human condition, people are more concerned with expressing themselves than listening and looking for something new.

Quite possibly, everyone at some time wishes to feel heard and feel that their opinion is valuable. I suppose this could be more a problem of recognizing when and where it is more suitable to say something.


BTW, I like Windows Vista, but only because I have a gaming computer powerful enough to run it properly. ...

I'm always mortified when someone has a wimpy computer. Even if they dont I tell em to use linux anyway. Oops. Thats what you are talking about!

Your topic is a good one, for sure. Its a element of humanity.

I once worked at a mail sorting plant, and the place was a huge warehouse with aluminum siding. Everyone was sorting fairly quietly, when suddenly thunder boomed. Of course the place amplified that.

The amusing effect was everyone started chattering with their neighbours, and at a loud volume.

To me, the silent one, it sounded just like chickens clucking when they are frightened. The henhouse was in an uproar.

Oops. I did it again.

So yeah, there is some instinct to talk about what you think, and not what the speaker is saying. I think as aspies its worse, because our thoughts dont exactly coincide with the blandular musings of the more typical populace. Thus our replies are very off topic to them, and they think we are strange.

Woe betide those who think they can summon intelligent discussion without interruption in a place that allows registration for people without any form of filtering.

This is done by everyone, not just certain people. Some people do point-by-point responses at times, and that basically eliminates most of this error, however responding tangentially or even with more disjointedness can occur even on a point-by-point basis. All it takes is to not understand what the person you are replying to meant by what they said for this to occur.

And, yes lacking formal registration with proper social security and drivers license numbers will increase the sock puppet count. ...

Or do you mean that because there is no defined limit as to the number of people who can post that there is a higher probability of people posting reflexively just on the basis of there being more people?

This post doesn't exist. Neither does the thread. There is no topic, therefore I am not off-topic!

Do you mean more people, more posts?
I think post count plays a role in this. People will post something that can technically be added, but is just a response to a keyword or the general theme of the thread. Doing this a lot makes their post count bigger. It could be to bump threads also, but I am less sure of this.

Yes.

You've non-posted in a non-existent thread, how does this work?

I just jerked my knee and then it was done.

You can get pills for that.

<Posts long angry rant about aliens and pharmaceutical companies. Fill in the blanks as you please.>

So this kind of posting is everywhere, more common on a forum with many members, I agree somewhat.
Although I think it's more to do with post count.

A mirror reflex topic

I rarely do a point by point analysis. I would rather just focus on a word or two, which may or may not be the point of the post.

Some optical reflecting telescope mirrors are quite large:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_optical_reflecting_telescopes