In the discussion about the impending changes to the Thumpers forum, I've observed that there are some who'd like to see action taken against the so-called "megathreads". I'm only active in one, "The DR650 thread", which has over 75,000 replies. I'll grant you, if I just discovered the wonderful world of DRness, I might be a little daunted to wade in, and searching for anything specific there is challenging. Unless you ask. I don't know about the other megas, but "Do a search, noob." is a reply you don't see there. Questions asked are answered, good-naturedly. Mostly. But it seems that long-timers are the ones most strenuously objecting to the big threads. Most common complaint I've seen is, "Those damned megathreads just clog up the front page." Really? I don't see how this is a problem. Are people embarrassed that someone visiting Thumpers is gonna see which motorcycles are most actively discussed? I don't get this argument. Active threads are top of page. Maybe I'm missing the point?
man, that is really going put a crimp on the endless "what bike should I buy" threads, I mean, should they post in KTM because that's the bike all their buddies like or Kawasaki because they've always wanted to make some handguards out of old plastic milk jugs, or Honda 'cos they'd heard it was the most reliable.
Like Krusty said, we're DR650SE junkies. We'll be glad to answer questions as they come up, even if it's over and over. That there are 75,000k posts shows our commitment. Our thread kicks ass over anything else on the internet: WE ROCK!!!! Baldy: I beg you to leave us alone. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135295
Wow. Somebody actually likes megathreads. I'd never considered that folks (a tiny minority, probably) would view these mega threads sort of as the topic's own mini-forum. Personally, mega threads suck. In my extremely humble opinion, natch.
That's no answer, Leo . Can't you express exactly what it is you find so sucky about them? And I don't see why you're surprised that megathreads could be popular... Look at how many, many people participate in them. How do you suppose the got so big?
Sorry. I didn't mean to come across rudely. Don't discount Moderator workload as one of the reasons for mega threads becoming huge. I speak from experience on this. IMO, large threads don't prove their popularity. That's just where posts in that area go. Say I'm looking for info a DR-650. You mean I have to read through a several thousand post thread? But if you own a DR-650, you probably keep up with that thread, so this doesn't matter to you. That's what the prior poster was referring to. He'd become comfortable with the world that is his mega thread and didn't want anybody messing that up. I get it. But people come to forums for info, and an unindexed database, which is what a megathread is, doesn't cut it for them.
And that individual's solution becomes... "I can't sift through thousands of pages to find the answer to my one question, so I'll start a new thread." Cue the redundant threads about the same old shit.
I don't see a way to stop redundant threads, though. The site has gotten very large. The newbies are gonna ask their questions ("best tire," "Jesse's vs Touratech," "Mobil 1 vs Spectro") over and over again. The need the info. I think the more pertinent question is how to make this database more accessible to folks. IMO, only the diehards keep up with mega threads...
