why didn't anyone comment on my post? May 6, 2002 3:15 PM Subscribe
Just for future reference I was wondering why this post hasn't promoted comment? Is it just that it's a quiet day or something else?
Everyone's waiting for someone else to post?
Seriously, I would guess that it's easier for people to say something when someone else has already spoken up.
That, combined with what I would guess is a general lack of knowledge of that area of the world by MeFites (that have checked out the front page today), probably contributed to the lack of responses.
(I finally did post just a moment ago....)
posted by gohlkus at 4:03 PM on May 6, 2002
Seriously, I would guess that it's easier for people to say something when someone else has already spoken up.
That, combined with what I would guess is a general lack of knowledge of that area of the world by MeFites (that have checked out the front page today), probably contributed to the lack of responses.
(I finally did post just a moment ago....)
posted by gohlkus at 4:03 PM on May 6, 2002
Feelinglistless: if everyone whose post elicited few comments would come to MeTa to ask why this was so, can you imagine the nightmare?
Although the number of comments has little to do with the interest it might generate, I do think this particular post - in stark contrast to your usual style - was particularly lazy and boring. The news was all over ever TV and radio station; every possible news source and all you could come up with to stimulate debate was say, very Englishly, "Well, it's a start"?
*puts on mortarboard* You can do much better than this. Don't make it worse for yourself, lad. :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:32 PM on May 6, 2002
Although the number of comments has little to do with the interest it might generate, I do think this particular post - in stark contrast to your usual style - was particularly lazy and boring. The news was all over ever TV and radio station; every possible news source and all you could come up with to stimulate debate was say, very Englishly, "Well, it's a start"?
*puts on mortarboard* You can do much better than this. Don't make it worse for yourself, lad. :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 4:32 PM on May 6, 2002
Er, what do you expect people to say?
"Yay" or "Boo"?
Cheerleeding posts have largely been driven off the site because they don't add much. This event is quite probably* a good thing, and it's pretty rare that on a Western discussion site you're going to have people suggest that a potential boost for democracy isn't.
Generally speaking, a lack of controversy or division of opinion means that you aren't going to get a whole lot of comments here.
And don't worry, # of comments isn't exactly the best metric by which to determine a post's success. Even extremely quiet threads draw pretty large amount of traffic, and the whole reason to post a thread isn't to generate discussion or up your cred amongst the MetaFilistines, it's to point out interesting stuff online.
Right?
* I almost never** make absolute statements
** see? :-)
posted by cCranium at 4:35 PM on May 6, 2002
"Yay" or "Boo"?
Cheerleeding posts have largely been driven off the site because they don't add much. This event is quite probably* a good thing, and it's pretty rare that on a Western discussion site you're going to have people suggest that a potential boost for democracy isn't.
Generally speaking, a lack of controversy or division of opinion means that you aren't going to get a whole lot of comments here.
And don't worry, # of comments isn't exactly the best metric by which to determine a post's success. Even extremely quiet threads draw pretty large amount of traffic, and the whole reason to post a thread isn't to generate discussion or up your cred amongst the MetaFilistines, it's to point out interesting stuff online.
Right?
* I almost never** make absolute statements
** see? :-)
posted by cCranium at 4:35 PM on May 6, 2002
I think it's just because there was a thread on the possiblity of her release a few days ago, which examined the reasons and prospects fairly well.
posted by riviera at 4:37 PM on May 6, 2002
posted by riviera at 4:37 PM on May 6, 2002
Maybe it's just springtime laziness, or maybe it's just me, but I'm having a hard time lately coming up with anything to say about ANY of the posts.
Yay, someone nice is out of prison.
Woohoo, Spiderman came out.
Horrors, people are still killing each other.
I think I have umbrage burnout.
I'll just return now to quietly being vapid.
posted by dness2 at 4:41 PM on May 6, 2002
Yay, someone nice is out of prison.
Woohoo, Spiderman came out.
Horrors, people are still killing each other.
I think I have umbrage burnout.
I'll just return now to quietly being vapid.
posted by dness2 at 4:41 PM on May 6, 2002
I'm having a hard time lately coming up with anything to say about ANY of the posts.
Make empty, throw-away one-liner comments that contribute next to no content or value. Sure makes me feel like I'm somebody - I mean, contributing to the gradual decline of MetaFilter has to be better than not contributing at all, right?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:51 PM on May 6, 2002
Make empty, throw-away one-liner comments that contribute next to no content or value. Sure makes me feel like I'm somebody - I mean, contributing to the gradual decline of MetaFilter has to be better than not contributing at all, right?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:51 PM on May 6, 2002
i knew it would be a snarly day(monday) sunday night. perhaps the empty post is MeFi karma. (knocks on wood)
this could show that we do have knowledge of her work...Burma is/was one of the most xenophobic countries in the world. (xenophobia is what it is. sometimes folks just dont like outsiders)
posted by clavdivs at 6:14 PM on May 6, 2002
this could show that we do have knowledge of her work...Burma is/was one of the most xenophobic countries in the world. (xenophobia is what it is. sometimes folks just dont like outsiders)
posted by clavdivs at 6:14 PM on May 6, 2002
This is interesting. Why do you care whether people posted in a thread you happened to have started? Is it group dynamics question?
posted by raaka at 6:37 PM on May 6, 2002
posted by raaka at 6:37 PM on May 6, 2002
Burma isn't xenophobic, Ne Win is xenophobic and had destroyed a once-welcoming, flourishing country because of it.
posted by rodii at 7:18 PM on May 6, 2002
posted by rodii at 7:18 PM on May 6, 2002
I'll just return now to quietly being vapid.
The Return Of The Lurker.
posted by y2karl at 7:51 PM on May 6, 2002
The Return Of The Lurker.
posted by y2karl at 7:51 PM on May 6, 2002
You can do much better than this.
Well, glad you think so.
I suppose I was wondering because sometimes things are posted because they are landmark events. Check the couple of comments which have appeared in the thread now so see why I thought this was important. I didn't increase the length of the comment beyond what she said because I believed that she'd covered everything herself.
Why do you care whether people posted in a thread you happened to have started? Is it group dynamics question?
Sort of. I wonder how this post might have been treated six months, a year ago. Would it have been more likely to promote comment?
posted by feelinglistless at 10:30 PM on May 6, 2002
Well, glad you think so.
I suppose I was wondering because sometimes things are posted because they are landmark events. Check the couple of comments which have appeared in the thread now so see why I thought this was important. I didn't increase the length of the comment beyond what she said because I believed that she'd covered everything herself.
Why do you care whether people posted in a thread you happened to have started? Is it group dynamics question?
Sort of. I wonder how this post might have been treated six months, a year ago. Would it have been more likely to promote comment?
posted by feelinglistless at 10:30 PM on May 6, 2002
I wonder how this post might have been treated six months, a year ago. Would it have been more likely to promote comment?
What about five days ago?
posted by euphorb at 11:58 PM on May 6, 2002
What about five days ago?
posted by euphorb at 11:58 PM on May 6, 2002
Sort of. I wonder how this post might have been treated six months, a year ago. Would it have been more likely to promote comment?
Nope.
It's an interesting news story listless, that's all, it's a flash-in-the-pan news story that probably fell off the CNN front page an hour after you saw it.
Maybe if you'd done some research, found sites detailing why this person was detained, what was done by people around her to fight for her freedom.
Instead you dropped a news paper clipping in front of us and said "Well, it's a start."
If you want a conversation, you have to provide a focus for the conversation. You don't necessarily have to ask "Who's your favorite imprisoned fighter for Democracy who's been recently released?", but maybe you could find a comparison to Mandela.
I'm sorry to be so cavalier with the subject matter as I do realise there's importance to it, but if you want people to react, then you have to point people at what makes it reaction worthy.
posted by cCranium at 6:11 AM on May 7, 2002
Nope.
It's an interesting news story listless, that's all, it's a flash-in-the-pan news story that probably fell off the CNN front page an hour after you saw it.
Maybe if you'd done some research, found sites detailing why this person was detained, what was done by people around her to fight for her freedom.
Instead you dropped a news paper clipping in front of us and said "Well, it's a start."
If you want a conversation, you have to provide a focus for the conversation. You don't necessarily have to ask "Who's your favorite imprisoned fighter for Democracy who's been recently released?", but maybe you could find a comparison to Mandela.
I'm sorry to be so cavalier with the subject matter as I do realise there's importance to it, but if you want people to react, then you have to point people at what makes it reaction worthy.
posted by cCranium at 6:11 AM on May 7, 2002
Well, yeah, Cc. Well said.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:34 AM on May 7, 2002
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:34 AM on May 7, 2002
yes, the burmese landscape, the buildings, feilds of poppies are in-and -of -themselves not xenophobic, some her leaders are. perhaps people are avoiding that thread because of the fragility of the countries geo-political situation. and with all the killing going on...ya know karma, hope she wont be thrown in jail or worse.
posted by clavdivs at 9:41 AM on May 7, 2002
posted by clavdivs at 9:41 AM on May 7, 2002
Actually I was thinking about it again on the bus into work this morning ... you know how commuting is you'll try and think of anything to stop the boredom. It was a lazy post. Sorry. Perhaps if I'd try to tink of a way of fitting it into the wider context of something else, such as why the wider world didn't put pressure on the existing government ala South Africa/Mandella it might have worked. Anyway, you've all answered my question and I thank you for that.
it's a flash-in-the-pan news story
Not sure about that though. If you were in Burma it has some significance. Do we have to measure the importance of a news story by how long it appears on the CNN front page?
posted by feelinglistless at 10:41 AM on May 7, 2002
it's a flash-in-the-pan news story
Not sure about that though. If you were in Burma it has some significance. Do we have to measure the importance of a news story by how long it appears on the CNN front page?
posted by feelinglistless at 10:41 AM on May 7, 2002
Come on, clav, you know I wasn't saying the inanimate objects of Burma are friendly. In the course of writing a doctoral dissertation on Burmese, I got to know many Burmans. They're perfectly friendly, welcoming, warm people--the country has just been in the hands of an evil dictator for 40 years. I admit that probably has an influence on the tone of everyday life, but it doesn't make the people in general xenophobic. Good people--as evidenced by Aung San Suu Kyi--, bad regime. (PS: very little of Burma actually has anything to do with the drug trade. The mountainous regions that ring the country are geographically and culturally very distinct from the lowands where most of the people, and almost all of the Burmans, live.)
posted by rodii at 11:05 AM on May 7, 2002
posted by rodii at 11:05 AM on May 7, 2002
Come on, clav, you know I wasn't saying the inanimate objects of Burma are friendly. In the course of writing a doctoral dissertation on Burmese, I got to know many Burmans. They're perfectly friendly, welcoming, warm people--the country has just been in the hands of an evil dictator for 40 years. I admit that probably has an influence on the tone of everyday life, but it doesn't make the people in general xenophobic. Good people--as evidenced by Aung San Suu Kyi--, bad regime. (PS: very little of Burma actually has anything to do with the drug trade. The mountainous regions that ring the country are geographically and culturally very distinct from the lowands where most of the people, and almost all of the Burmans, live.)
posted by rodii at 11:06 AM on May 7, 2002
posted by rodii at 11:06 AM on May 7, 2002
i guess that was my point...xenophobic because of its leaders. while i have a big huge boulder over my head after the phd info, i'll stand by my statement. (when where you there? we really need to talk some time) me, when she burst unto the scence, i was a bit marxist (ah stupid youth) and thought it evident of direct C.I.A. involvement to destabilize the region. I repect Aung San Suu Kyi. one day she may lead the people. Yes i know a little on the suppossed triangle of poppy. Burma, by my facts namely Rashids' 'Taliban' says that the Afghans were "rivalling Burma as the worlds largest producer of raw opium" this was a-ways back 92' to 95'. Hey, they produce raw opium. Dope is not the real issue here. (if there is no issue, lets create one:) but you know the influence of those regional leaders in the opium belt. like almost anywhere in south-east asia. the control is tight. like the KR in Cambodia. The ever complicated history of modern Laos. ya know the old (bad) joke. 'does Vientiane control Vientiane'?
posted by clavdivs at 12:56 PM on May 7, 2002
posted by clavdivs at 12:56 PM on May 7, 2002
Sorry to continue this digression, but... I never go to go there. For reasons too complicated to explain, my time to go coincided with the abortive revolt in whateveryearitwas. (My friend Pat did go there, became a monk (he was there to study Burmese Buddhism) and ended up on the barricades in Mandalay when the sangha tried to resist the government. Maung Maung's (Ne Win's, really) goons plucked him and a few other foreigners up and threw them out of the country; god only knows what happened to the monks.) After that, things got ugly the (brief, constrained, compromised) opening for Americans to do research there was over--not that anyone would want to.
posted by rodii at 2:03 PM on May 7, 2002 [1 favorite]
posted by rodii at 2:03 PM on May 7, 2002 [1 favorite]
understood sir. i digress. the leaders create a sence of xenophobia. not the people. we can agree they are a strong people who need the junta to go away. But part of me feels that this country needs intervention (on anyones behalf) like they need another strong warlord.
posted by clavdivs at 2:35 PM on May 7, 2002
posted by clavdivs at 2:35 PM on May 7, 2002
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posted by moz at 3:44 PM on May 6, 2002