Very longggggggggggggggg threads

All threads can reach a thousand posts.
This one might only be two!

Or three!

I am OK with long threads - some subjects invite a long discussion (does god exist probably warrants more than a page!). But I am not mad about very long posts, especially if they are not broken down into paragraphs.

Lucky or if the same thing gets said over and overrrrrrrrrrrrrrr again! Perhaps we should have a 'bored' emoticon???

Some people get bored very quickly, though.
You do not need to be bored by a thread; just go on another and do not comment on it. Some of us do enjoy long threads, when on a subject we are interested in.
What often makes them longer is when someone makes a comment that is not on the subject, and half a dozen others try to derail as well.
If a serious subject was left to be discussed by serious people, perhaps you would not have needed to start this thread.
Disagreeing with others makes the thread interesting, not boring.

That's the way of debates/discussions I guess. Different people chip in and agree with someone else in slightly different words - and threads develop and inform as they go along.

That's 5 posts!

I don't agree that people 'try to derail' threads. Just because a line of discussion isn't going exactly how some would wish is not necessarily (if ever) deliberate sabotage!

It doesn't bother me how long a thread is. To have got that long it must be on a subject of interest to quite a lot of GN membrs.

dj there is nothing wrong with a quick bit of "aside" chat in a thread. Others are quite capable of skirting round it.

Can often break up the bloody boredom in fact.

That's what I'm saying, jingl. You do not have to be bored on GN. Just go on a thread that you do not find boring.

Can we get this one to a thousand by repeating the same thing over and overrrrrrr again?

Should have done a jingl there, and put that last post on two different ones, just to add to the count.

Isn't that just the natural course of a conversation? People will always go 'slightly of topic'.
I enjoy reading through a long thread that I haven't previously contributed to, unless it's politics or religion It combats a moment of boredom

off not of

Should of added that I often read the long ones without posting just to see what others have to say.
That's my +2

No one brave enough to say I am lazy?

I agree with Ana I think the accusation of derailing is often made by someone who can't cope with a different opinion and with Nina that it is normal to go off topic.

Oh, thank you for the advice on how to use the forum dj. After two and whatever years on here and ten years on the other place before that, I need some instruction.

Jingle Of course you do, there are some people who know everything and therefore have the right to tell the rest of us!

To answer the OP - I don't know if they can achieve anything but if posters are interested in a thread then it will become a long one - if it's of no interest then no-one is obliged to read it.

My only problem with them, say the Low-Carb one which I'm active on, is that if using my Kindle then it takes ages to load and often cuts out.

The rather snooty 'I've better things to do' always amuses me .

River not intended to be 'snooty' was supposed to be amusing!

Now I am confused, what could possibly be better than reading GN postings ?

OOH, harrigran so many things: playing with the GC, going out with DH, theatre, concert, meeting friends and even meeting local Gns!

Do we need a repetition and deviation button?

Pittcity and a hesitation one?

I don't mind at all how long threads are - as others have said, if I'm fed up with them I just look at something else.

My view of what "de-railing" a thread means is not people disagreeing with what I or others think but people chipping in with short facetious and completely unrelated comments that interrupt the flow of the discussion and which appear to be designed to do so. By that, I don't mean going "off topic" - that is inevitable and often takes the topic in a new and interesting direction.

I also find it funny when people say they have "better things to do" - I often wonder why they're not doing them.

Eloethan I take your point about the difference between "off topic" and deliberate"de-railing" though I can't think of any threads where I was aware of "de-railing"

Oh I can ....