Off Topic Posts
Posted 02-25-2008 at 04:20 AM by
Zer0.MediA
Off topic posts keep a message board alive. If everyone on the sicc refused to reply to a comment left on their fav boards because it was off topic, the place would be lame as hell. What the fuck is a board without the dumbass, the smartass, and the few people who actually say something on point once in a while to keep the whole shit running?
This is a lot like regular society. People who can relate to what I'm saying probably don't need to hear this... But I work at a large retail pet store, as a dog groomer. Every day I see people walk in the second we open the fuckin' doors at 9 in the morning. The only thing that the employees say to eachother, is... "Why the fuck would someone be up this early to buy some dogfood, when I'm making money being here, and I'd
still rather be at home sleeping"? The customers are the dumbasses, the employees are the smartasses, and the store is the board. We use the place to talk shit, just like a board. The smartasses know better, and the dumbasses are too fuckin' stupid to know what's going on, but the keep showin' up every morning at 9 on the dot to get what they need.
How does this relate to off-topic posts? Well if it weren't for off topic banter than what the fuck would the rest of us have to talk about to keep us busy if there wasn't bullshit to talk about in between ON TOPIC shit? Look at it this way... If some asshole was going to say that you couldn't talk about broads, or cars, or TV while you were at work... you'd tell him to fuck off. So who the fuck are you to tell me that I can't talk about something on a message board that isn't about the record or tour dates?
To me, the whole point of being on a board isn't JUST to hear about the dates or the records, it's to meet up with like-minded people and chat about whatever the fuck comes up. I go to the Strange board to read Strange information, whenever the fuck there is any, and then chat with people with similar interests (in this case, being Strange Music fans). Friend or enemy, people come to the board to hear others opinions. Opinions are (as far as I know) open to critique, and thus open to other opinions...
So in idiots terms, if I wanna talk about broads in a new thread, and you click it, it's your fuckin' fault if you don't like it. When people label an OT thread as OT, then it's your responsibility to either never open it, or to ignore it if you DO open it. If bothers you that much, click the next fuckin' link and find something else to read about.
A website or board can only judge itself on traffic. Traffic (be it on topic or not) will only mean that you have more people seeing the On-Topic when it comes through. If I had to talk about Tech N9ne EVERY fuckin' time I was going to post on the Strange Music forum, then I most likely would post 40% less. That kills traffic and kills views for the board.
That flat out, kills views for Strange Music, the record company.
That, kills promo for the company. It's not like there's so many OT subjects that the real news gets pushed off the bottom of the page.
This makes sense to me right now but I'm drunk so maybe I'm too fuckin' retarded to know what's right and wrong.
