Arg, he named me! :O ok, I'll behave

Electric Brain, May I suggest one sticky thread for jokes then, stop 50 of the damned things popping up??? Just an idea...

LOL, that was actually the idea i had, lutz. Thx tho.

Trust your feelings!

I totally agree EB, but you know what...

I did a little experiment a short while ago. I posted 2 threads which were serious or semi serious, namely a thread about the advancing medical science and surgeons´s capabilities and a thread about classical television shows. Only a few people actually replied !?! Then I posted a thread with some Star Wars jokes and it did better. Quite frankly it pisses me off too that almost nobody actually cares about serious discussions anymore and only respond to image threads, joke threads, funny link threads etc. I miss the days that I or someone else started a meaningful thread which actually had a minimum of 80+ replies. I honestly had hoped that my TLR´s position thread would have effect and we actually accomplished and learned something, but it was in vain. To be quite honest with you, I have reached a point that I´m considering leaving for a while (couple of months I guess). It´s just that it seems there is absolutely nothing in the forums anymore that should keep me around. The FL discussion forum was hit pretty bad earlier this year and therefore has been avoided by many because of that. Those people ran off to the OT, but even that is (sorry to say) deteriorating. It´s probably just for the best if I leave for a while (I will only visit the frontpage for mod updates from time to time) and come back in a few months. I haven´t decided yet, but I am seriously considering it. Some of you will probably think of me as a coward if I actually do leave or think of me as a whiner, but so be it....

It´s just sad that it has come to this....

Eraser, I don't like to nit pick but complaining about the few responses you got is pointless. How about we examine them.
The "medical research" thread was vague and seemed to be more of a discussion on the separation of the twins and how nice it was that the surgeons wrote off all charges. Unfortunately the twins died soon after and there was little to discuss .
The "nostalgia" thread is unlikely to work in as diverse a forum as this. There are people here ranging in age from 13 to mid-40s (check out the "middle aged gamers" thread in the freelancer discussion forum). There are also plenty of people from all over the world. Just to give you an example, Arcon named shows I'd never heard of in his replies yet we live in the same country, and I doubt you've heard of British shows that will hold nostalgia for someone like me. Unfortunately a thread like that will encourage spam over what programs bring back nostalgia for other members, rather than encouraging discussion of particular shows.
Comparatively, your joke thread (the star wars one i presume) only received 6 replies, of which 3 were freighter fighter's spam!
Also, in my opinion, the "TLR's position" thread failed to halt much spamming. Those who did it, carried on to do so, other's felt afraid to post much in case they get thought of as spammers, and reduced their responses even if it might have been enlightening.

----------------------------------------
Eat a third and drink a third and leave the remaining third of your stomach empty.
Then, when you get angry, there will be sufficient room for your rage.

'tis true

i'm getting rather annoyed with rather boring science threads though but i dont actively groan about them because i think maybe all this bitch posting is making alot of people unwilling to post anything at all.

we risk alienating the posters if we keep this up, acceptable guidelines need to be written out and tattoed onto everyones forheads, not hidden away in a tiny FAQ link cause, to be honest, ive never even been and had a look. we need rules, and we need good moderators, ones that stamp on topics STRAIGHT away

-arcon
------

I tried to open a discussion about sailing...not too many replies there, but I totally agree with EB this is a really serious problem, maybe one thread for jokes at the top stickied, I think this is a decent solution to the joke thread problem, maybe we should have a meeting on IRC to disscuss this situation since we are obviously not getting through on the forum