posted
I may get tackled for saying this, but I just have to say it.
I think the fact that there are so many landmark threads being made at non-landmark numbers cheapens the idea of a landmark thread.
I've always been for the idea that a landmark thread was a special thread for when you reach a "landmark" number of posts. 1000, 999, 2000, 5,000 whatever.
But when you start doing landmark posts at numbers like 500, 100, 27, or whatever, I feel like it takes away from the value of reaching some significant, high number.
I have absolutely no problem with creating threads about landmarks in your life. Whether you're in a reflective mood, something huge happened in your life, or whatever, go ahead and make a thread about it. I'd love to read it.
It shouldn't be titled a landmark thread though.
If we all just create as many landmark threads as we want, there will be so many so often that no one will care about them as much anymore.
I mean, let's face it. Back when Moose first started the whole landmark thread idea, they were held in high regard because it seemed to show a good passage of time of which it took to reach that number. A little more for slower posters (like me), a little faster for others. Yet all in all, it wasn't something created whenever one felt like creating one.
Now I look at all these landmark threads appearing everywhere and they just don't mean much to me.
posted
Moose, it would really mean a lot to me if you could archive this. Thanks.
Anyway, I agree to an extent. Landmarks are definitely supposed to be special, but I don't think that necessarily means they should happen at a special post count. I mean, I would plan on doing a Landmark if I got engaged, because, frankly, marriage means more to me than my life on Hatrack.
Reflective moods, however, seem to happen a bit too often to be considered as special, in my opinion.
Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I was pretty excited to see an invitation to make a landmark whenever I felt something significant had happened in my life. However, I totally see where CalvinMaker is coming from.
A personal milestone that is unrelated to post count is important, and I also love reading about them. However, I do think that "Landmark Posts" should be just that: Landmark Posts.
Reaching a certain number of posts is an achievement in itself which also directly relates to Hatrack. I like the idea of hitting a certain number of posts and taking the opportunity to think about where you've been, where you are, and how you got there and then sharing it with everyone else.
posted
While I understand that landmarks can be overused, I don't think they should be limited to specific post counts. Some of the landmarks I've enjoyed the most were not at specific post counts. Also, I did a landmark when I hit 500 because I never thought I'd reach 1,000. Now I'm approaching 1,000 and I don't feel the need to do a landmark because I don't feel I have anything meaningful to say. But that's just my opinion.
Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I have somewhere in the thousands (maybe 2000s, I'm not sure) and haven't done a landmark. I plan to do a landmark whenever I think the time is right, and I don't really care how many posts I have at that point. It will be related to hatrack, it will be when I decide I'm finally ready to show hatrack all of me, and I'm not going to wait until I reach a certain number of posts to do so. If I do, I'll probably lose courage and not do it at all.
Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Which is why you write it beforehand in MSWord or something, and just post it when the post count rolls around Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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quote:I feel like it takes away from the value of reaching some significant, high number.
And that value is, what, that they talk a lot?
There's already enough of a heirarchy at Hatrack without outwardly condoning it. It's hard enough getting all the in jokes, imagine newbies trying to learn unspoken rules (which it would have to be, because our moderators won't allow that sort of discrimination to be a rule).
I mean, if you just want to guilt the newbies into not posting a landmark before 1,000, you can try...but you'll have to start this thread every week or so.
So just let them be, or we'll just see a bunch of newbies post-whoring like crazy to reach 1,000 so they can do an introduction thread.
Posts: 5264 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Yeah, wasn't there a thread a while back that said we should do the OPPOSITE of what Calvin is implying? There were so many people reaching high post counts in such a short time, that this person felt that THOSE landmarks weren't meaningful. I'm so confused!!
But not.
People. It's an online forum. Let people share their stories with us when they feel comfortable and when it's meaningful for them. I mean, that's who it's supposed to be meaningful for anyway. Right?
I posted my "landmark" on a non-landmark number, because I never would have had the courage to wait. I've been re-evaluating who I am lately, through a new lens, and I really wanted to share it.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
Actually, it was about the passage of time and a point of retrospect of our own humanity, not at all about any number. As soon as people began counting down to it, it lost worth. You don't need to make umpteen dozen posts to post some story, usually relating to your life, and try to tie in some theme or message. A huge glut of the "landmark" posts (which aren't usually a landmark for anything) consist of "I have x,000/x00 post now, so I figured a landmark was in order. I was born and grew up in <place>, and I really like Hatrack. (((hugs)))." I thought "landmark" meant turning point or defining moment or momentous in some way, and here all along it just was a "inflate post count, tell anecdote, get attention."
I'm glad mine's been deleted for just that reason. Hatrack has turned into a (just another) post-counting forum.
Posts: 779 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:I posted my "landmark" on a non-landmark number, because I never would have had the courage to wait. I've been re-evaluating who I am lately, through a new lens, and I really wanted to share it.
No, that's the point. It's why Pop did it, it's why I did it, and why a handful of others who followed Pop's introspective footsteps did it.
Posts: 779 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
Can we find something more insignificant to get worked up about?
I know!
Let's have another bout of 'Old timer's anxiety,' where people who've had logins for the past six months moan, whine, and carry on about how Hatrack isn't what it used to be, and how it's all gone downhill, and what a travesty it is, because Hatrack was such a nice/stimulating/swinging/happy/real/creative/crazy/brilliant place before.
Oh, wait-- I see that's being done already.
Carry on.
But DO make a new thread for the whining about Hatrack's apparent downturn. To keep up with tradition and all.
posted
The landmark is feeling comfortable enough with fellow Jatraqueros to share 'where I'm coming from'. A specific number of posts has nothing to do with that feeling.
quote:Let's have another bout of 'Old timer's anxiety,' where people who've had logins for the past six months moan, whine, and carry on about how Hatrack isn't what it used to be, and how it's all gone downhill, and what a travesty it is, because Hatrack was such a nice/stimulating/swinging/happy/real/creative/crazy/brilliant place before.
Oh, wait-- I see that's being done already.
Carry on.
But DO make a new thread for the whining about Hatrack's apparent downturn. To keep up with tradition and all.
I thought they had to wait for summer, so they could complain when the school-age kids get out and start turning this into a teeny-bopper forum for a few months.
Posts: 779 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Glynn, I have to be honest, I'm nowhere near advanced enough to understand this. Are you saying that I'm particularly victimized by Hatrack? Does that mean you're defending me in a roundabout fashion?
I never knew you cared. You never write, you never call, we haven't had sex in months, but just when I thought our relationship had dissolved you come and post something sweet like that -- oh my knight in shining black text...
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Can we find something more insignificant to get worked up about?
Well, we already got worked up about smilies - why not this?
To me, it's about free speech and peer pressure. Let anyone post something meaningful whenever they want. If it's meaningful and people enjoy it, then it should be on the board, under whatever guise. It's not enforceable, so coming out against it just seems like the "traditionalists" being all crotchety/anal about change and posting outside the lines.
If there is serious concern, talk to the people who archive the landmarks and have them leave out the ones you don't want. Sure, it's probably wrong and oppressive, but you'll have done your part to keep Hatrack history more constant. I'm tackling you a bit for this, CM, when you may have just been trying to vent your feelings.
I think it's like economics. If a landmark glut occurs, the value of the landmarks go down. Then people stop reading landmarks and posting in them. Then people stop making landmarks. Then their value increases again. Then people start making landmarks again. This is assuming that people would get tired of landmarks and that the quality of landmarks might go down when there is a glut of them. Same reasoning with fluff posts and smilies. There are regulatory mechanisms built into us and our tastes. It's neat to watch them work.
Posts: 1423 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Good post JNSB. I personally love reading all the landmark threads. I enjoy learning more personal information about y'all, so I can use it against you in our debates ("you are aginst the death penalty because your mother didn't hug you as a child!")
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
From my perspective, it's the tiresome inflation of post count which drags the forum down, much moreso than the occasional purely nominal landmark. I remember when people were posting one-letter posts just to up their counts to do a landmark, and that was embarrassing.
JNSB's theory of landmark self-correction seems to be on the spot. Nice work.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
I plan to do a landmark at 1000, because, quite frankly, it's taken me damn near three years to get there... and I'm not sure I'll even make 2000.
Though, likely, I'll be too lazy to write one when the numbers roll around, and I'll use (irony of ironies) my Procrastination nick until I actually do.
::traditionalist, I guess::
::even using a traditional smiley::
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
After reading both arguments about landmark threads, I have decided not to do one yet. I appreciate what everyone has said. I just don't feel like I'm at a monumental moment, nor do I have anything to say that anyone would want to read yet. Plus, I haven't been around very long and my post count is only this high because I'm a post whore, apparently.
So when I have something amazing to say, I'll save it and post it at a nice round number, so that eveyone (myself included) can be happy.
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