Forums / Discussion / Q & A

Somehow (mostly accidentally) I've become comfortable enough to engage with this community more than on just a surface level. Honestly, that hasn't happened in a while, and since I tend to pick up on social mechanics on a conscious level and much prefer not to be seen as annoying, ignorant, etc. for things I did not know would have such a consequence, I could use some advice.

First up, my (presumably) massive walls of text. Am I writing just a little too much or waaaay too much? And how do I cut down on my word count? My first issue comes from my "wandering mind" sort of thing. I start off trying to "write my way" straight from point A to point Z, but then points B, D, and P seem relevant and perhaps necessary as context. Honestly, I'm a horrible judge at what to leave out and what keep in, so I tend to err on too much over too little. The other comes from a desire to be clear. I don't really know when what I've written is enough so that any further context will just be redundant, so I tend to err on the side of trying too hard. So I often point out when I'm uncertain, or what statements I'm not making (or tacking on additional info like this). Are there any questions I can ask myself while I'm writing or evaluations I can use to figure out when to add or leave stuff out?

Secondly, since it seems like I finally have a venue to communicate to others, I'm having trouble knowing how often using it would be appropriate. For example, as I write this, due to another new topic by me and a reply to another topic, I'm the most recently active in the top two threads in the discussion session, and if nobody posts before me, then this will be the third. I'm worried that might seem excessive, but I don't know. Does it annoy people if you reply or create past a certain number of threads, even if you are posting serious thoughts in each one, and not double-posting?

Third, is it rude to keep referring to things? There's no shortage of "gay stuff" and "Homestuck stuff" (and the occasional "Let's Play" stuff) in my comments and threads, but I'm not trying to "force" them into every situation I come across. At the same time, if the connection seems a bit tenuous. I don't shy from it either. (For example, I wrote in the comments for "There She Is!!" about how I first came across this when I was first seriously struggling with my sexual orientation, and I noticed a bit of a parallel. whether or not it actually existed only in my mind.) If anyone's familiar with my comments and threads, do I seem too obsessive, or does it seem like while these things may be a significant part of my life, I'm not really forcing them into other people's faces.

I'll wrap up here with a quick-fire blitz of less important questions. "Is responding to old threads seen as annoying, even if they are really big ones, like when I replied to the KYM Homestuck general thread?" "Can I practice textile stuff in my own user page?" "If I have more questions like this in the future, would this be okay, or should I have done something else?"

Thanks for any and all input! Sorry for the bother, but, hey, at least it will help me be less annoying. I've tried to learn all I can from lurking, but I think this is a good logical next step.

post tits get kramas

There are a couple of approaches to foruming well (or simply being well-liked) as I have observed:

1. Grammar always helps. You don't/shouldn't be a grammar Nazi, but you're more likely to be understood using proper grammar.
2. But moreso, if you make a decent point in your first posts and bring good perspective to discussions while you have good grammar, then you come off as smart. Then people look forward to your posts and expect good things from you merely out of respect. Alternatively, if you're witty and have access to some appropriate (and inappropriate) images, then that adds something too.
3. Of course, don't be rude. You can be assertive and a little crass, but if you're looking to be liked, then there's no real need to get antagonistic. Some people will respect you for being more than blunt, but a lot of people will hate you too no matter what you say.
4. Be helpful. KYM forums have generally been places where more moderate people come from all over the Internet, so we have a fairly diverse set of interests and expertise. We're not all STEM-minded pasty white dudes with no bass in their voices. So join in whenever.

A lot of these have to do with reputation. But just like IRL, your reputation plays into how people respond to you even if you do have a good point or something interesting to add. So someone may overlook what you say or apply an unfairly critical eye to your posts just based on how they or the community as a whole sees you.

Now as for your points:

post tits get kramas

• Walls of text have their place, so don't be afraid to whip the word dick out if you know how to use it (and it appears as if you are no quick shooting virgin and are adept at hitting and rubbing various points of the vulva that is our shared lexicon for maximum pleasure…no homo tho.) You can use the board you're posting in and previous posts in the thread as a reference point. In Serious Debate, go all out as long as you can make your point. You're probably good to get talky in General too as well as some Maintenance threads. And you're probably just as likely to be praised for a well-placed gif or fanart in the media threads as you are a well-conceived post for a show, game, or whatever. But in the Fun! threads such as Just for Fun or Riff-Raff, the main objective is lulz. Do what you need to do to entertain yourself and your fellow forumers. Sometimes, that may require some text, but usually, it doesn't, and people will just skim over it.
  • I've also read this elsewhere from a moderator, but be sure to use formatting if you have a tendency to get long-winded. You don't have to know or use all of the HTML or Textile available to you, but if you do get wordy, paragraphs, bullet points, and just a thrown in image or two can make your post a lot more consumable. Always remember: Even when you're in a debate or serious discussion, we're all here on our free time. Make sure whatever you do and however you do it:
    1. It's fun for you, and
    2. It's likely to be fun for a lot of other people too.
        
       As for how to cut down on your word count, that's just editing. Read over your post before you post it, and see if there's something that you added that doesn't add context or meaningful context to your audience. Sometimes, I get caught up in how well I can explain something or how good something sounds, and 30 minutes later, I realize that I just came off as being either too pretentious or added so much in such as a way that no one will read it all anyway. You'll just have to gauge what you think is important to your audience. That comes with time and practice.

• As for posting too often, for the most part, no one will notice if you post in various threads all over the forum. As I have notice, mostly Forum Moderator are the ones who use the 'All' view of the forum. Others tend to look for activity in a certain set of threads or a certain forum. As long as you don't have a string of, say, maybe five consecutive threads, no one will think anything of it. Even if you did, someone might notice, but I don't think it would be an issue unless you weren't adding anything of "importance" or relevance to the thread. Of course, Riff-Raff and JFF are a bit different, but RR will ban suspend you (briefly) for whatever anyway, and you're not going to be subject to the same sort of moderation on some other threads, especially Just For Fun. I think the main thing is just to add something that works for the thread you're on, no matter how many threads you've recently posted in (just don't double/triple post in the same thread with some exceptions.)

• I haven't read your posts, so you may have to gauge how people perceive your tendency to post on certain topics or how often you incorporate certain themes into your posts. Part of you being yourself and enjoying yourself is communicating who you are in your posts as it relates to a topic. That's part of communication in generally, really. Again, you'll just have to use your judgment and experience to determine when you may be returning to a well too often or beating a deceased equine unnecessarily.

Is responding to old threads seen as annoying, even if they are really big ones, like when I replied to the KYM Homestuck general thread?

It can be, but it's usually fine and fair game as long as you contribute to the topic and aren't double/triple posting.

• Especially with starred (Featured) threads, because those are starred so they don't auto-lock after 30 days (I think that's still the auto-lock period for inactivity). They're usually based on some active and/or large fanbase that can go inactive/less active but is likely to become active again. So as to prevent a lot of repeat threads, they're Featured so you can post whenever and not feel that you have to "Bump" it.
• Same for Stickies, although they're "pinned" to the front page of a forum, and they're usually there to field questions about that Sticky or to add important information about it.
  • For example, I double posted in the KYM Pokémon General thread.
    • I posted on a recently inactive (but Featured) thread, because a limited-time event came up.
    • Further, no one posted after that post for almost two weeks. But when another event came up, I felt as if it was appropriate to double post.

Can I practice textile stuff in my own user page?

Sure can.

I'm not sure if all of the things you can do in the forum work in comments, but you can post something in your comments, see how it comes out, and delete it when you're done. You can do that ad infinitum, and it shouldn't bother anyone unless they just so happen to be looking at your profile.

Do note that your character limit is far less in comments though, so you may just want to try a small portion of a longer post to see if a certain order of HTML or Textile works the way you want it to.

If I have more questions like this in the future, would this be okay, or should I have done something else?

I'll defer to the mods because I'm not sure, but that's what this forum (Q&A) in particular is for. Now, you're asked to search for threads that may have already answered your question, but that's hard to do if you don't know what terms to search for or if the answer is in a thread from a couple of years ago. I would expect that you should be OK, especially if you think it's something a lot of other current, active users could get something out of.

But you can also pick a mod/set of mods/set of experience users and PM them questions as well if you feel like you're spamming up the forum with questions.

But seriously, the main thing to remember is to post tits for maximum kramas.

Like so:

Jokes aside, do note the Forum Rules regarding what's safe for images in the forum. If it's kinda saucy and you'd rather not offend someone, then use a spoiler:

<div class="spoiler" title="[Whatever you want the title to be, underneath is a safe image though.]">"!http://i2.pixiv.net/c/1200x1200/img-master/img/2012/10/07/07/10/13/30636613_p24_master1200.jpg!":http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=manga&illust_id=30636613</div>

Should get you this:

And if you're not sure something you're about to post is NC (explicit/"not cool"), then you should probably just look for a different image just to be safe. You only have 30 minutes to edit your image, and a mod may not want to go back after you to delete or hide an image.