Few Responses, Overwhelming Response

It is so funny that you would mention this. I had the same thing happen to me. I had started a couple of discussions regarding the Olympics and didnt expect the response that I had received. I had never had enough responses to be chosen for the myLot digest. Thanks to these discussions, I have now been there twice. I know its not much, to me its a great success. It took me at least 10 hours to answer each response. I figure if people take time to participate in one of my discussions then I should take the time to answer and thank them. Your discussions are always fun or interesting. It doesnt suprise me that your response level was high. Keep up the great discussions! dl

I love it when a discussion creates a lot of actual discussion, even if it's only between a small number of people. It's more interesting when people are commenting back and forth so each actual response becomes a page long dialod of it's own. More ideas are usually exchanged that way and it becomes a very satisfying discussion. The one comment per response is fine and if there are a huge number of responses, plenty of thoughts do get out there but there just isn't much real interaction between participants.

I think I would be happy if something like that happened. Then you know for a fact that people are not posting for the pennies they might earn, but rather for the passion they might feel on the subject. I hope it does not tourn into any kind of a war, though. We do not need that.

I like discussions that I start with people that give responses that do start a discussion. I agree with you. I hat responses with just one or two words myself. It doesn't really seem to go anywhere.

I prefer quality over quantity. If I get just one response but that response is thought provoking I am happy.

I prefer to see lots of discussion within discussion, meaning more than one comment under a response. This is where it pays to have several friends who always visit your discussions (or certain topics you ALWAYS respond to) because then you can gab at each other and expand on side topics mentioned in the comments. This in turn can result in more comments from other people who are reading those responses, it's like a ripple effect. I responded a lot in a discussion posted the other day regarding whether we all think the chinese gymnasts are really 16. I think the thread went poof, I don't know if somebody at mylot didn't like the direction it was going, but it was a really good thread, with a lot of back and forth and that made it interesting. It interested me, I think I posted a response and 8 more comments lol. If I were to rate discussions based on 'excellent, good, average, or meh', I'd say the ones with the most detail and passion regardless of number of participants top the list. I like to see some discussion within the participants though, that's what draws interest.