Interesting stuff-need lessons

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I think I need lessons in how to post interesting stuff people want to reply to.

What things do you post that people don't reply to, exactly? I've seen at least 3 posts by you in the past week that have gotten many replies.

You seem to get as many responses as anyone else does to original posts.

I have a high post count, but for some reason I am rarely moved to start a thread. But when I do I don't always get any responses at all, and usually I get only a short stubby thread. One thread YEARS ago went on for a good several pages before it died out. So I think that your batting average is about the same as mine, or anyone else's, if not even a little better.

That's if you don't count people who post provocative stuff about controversial polarizing subjects in current events, or in the PPR.

If you went to the PPR and asked "Whats so bad about cannibalism? Why not promote more dietary diversity?" you would probably get a lot of responses.

I agree with naturalplastic. Sometimes it depends on what you are posting. I have found that people reply to my posts when I ask them to talk about themselves. My Aspie Obsessions post is a lot longer than my questions. Some people just don't have much to say about certain topics, either because they haven't experienced them or they have and they consider it uninteresting and irrelevant. Or some completely different reason all together.

Honestly, I tend to like posts with fewer replies more than posts with lots of replies.

With some exceptions, when I see a post that's on page 9, I tend to just ignore it because it will be too tedious to read through all the pages, and it's likely to be an older post anyway. The posts I read more are the ones with fewer replies.

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A lot of those posts are me having lengthy off-topic conversations with other members

I don't think that Splendid is angry at you, or angry about any thread that you started.

I don't either, but that doesn't stop my posts from going off topic ! Thank you for the reassurance, though- we ferrets need that sometimes .

I'm a veteran with lots of posts.

I've never started a thread which lead to many responses. You get more responses than me.

One time, I made a tribute thread to Muhammad Ali when he passed away. Muhammad Ali was one of the most popular people from the 60s to the 80s. I got 3 responses, total.

I guess then I should see this is as a 'low reply' forum. It does seem very random as to whether a thread will get responses or not. I was told couching things as a question or in a way that invites others to respond was the way to go to get replies. However having tried that by adding phrases like 'any thoughts welcome' I've found it doesn't make much difference.

Ironically as soon as you make a thread about lack of replies you'll get a fair number of replies. Those kind of posts are more guaranteed to get replies than lots of other posts.

If something "makes people think," it will garner more responses.

If somebody explicitly "pleads" for more responses, that somebody might or might not get more responses. It depends on the interest level of the subject matter, as well as the level of irritation a potential responder will experience if he/she feels like he/she is being cajoled into responding.

It's sort of a Social-Darwinist situation at times. The "fittest" threads survive longer.

I would like to get more responses to my threads....but I also have to "work" to render my thread worthy of response. I can't expect to obtain responses based merely upon an explicitly-stated desire for more responses.

I don't think 'thoughts welcomed' is cajoling anyone into responding. As for interest level, I guess a lot of my posts are just not very interesting . Alternatively it could be that people aren't capable of replying. It's probably a mixture of both.
Personally I would not use terms such as 'fittest threads' as that's obviously a very subjective thing.

"Thoughts welcome" is not cajoling. I agree.

When you lament that people don't reply, and you feel it's "you" (when it's probably not), it's cajoling, perhaps not with any purposeful intention.

I've always reponded to your posts. I don't feel cajoled.