Open Thread, April 27-May 4, 2014

NancyLebovitz

You know the drill - If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

And, while this is an accidental exception, future open threads should start on Mondays until further notice.

You know the drill - If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

And, while this is an accidental exception, future open threads should start on Mondays until further notice.

I am repeating myself so much, but..

Why is this posted a day early (when the prior thread was posted earlier than it should've been solely so they can start on Monday).? And way more impotantly, why is the open_thread tag not there. Can you please at least include it (it is important for the sidebar functionality, among other things).

I often rant about people posting the open threads incorrectly when there is so little about it (posting it after the previous one is over, making it last 7 days and adding a simple tag), but this is the 3rd OT posted this week. People specifically go out of their way to post an Open Thread and then don't even do the minimum. I was suspicious that people actually do it for the 3-4 karma they get, but Nancy has 18,8k, so this is likely not the reason.

I am sorry, if I sound rude in any way, but please can someone explain this phenomenon to me. I notice that I am confused.

How much appetite would there be for shorter windows on the Open Threads? Having one every 4 days would have some advantages:

The material would be spread out more evenly through time, rather than having the majority of the posts in the first few days of a new thread
- The start day would vary over time

1pinyaka12y

I created one of the other incorrect OT threads because the post date of the correct one didn't match the expiration date of the previous one (so quickly eyeballing posts at that date in the Discussion post list didn't turn it up) and searching via the box for "Open Thread" didn't return the current one in the first page of results (although it did turn up the previous one almost at the top of the list). I didn't use the tag because I didn't know that I was supposed to. There isn't really an obvious set of rules or standards for creating open threads, so I did what it seemed like other people do and just created one when it looked like there wasn't a current one, copying the text from the previous one for the body and choosing the seven day range following the previous OT thread (hence the title saying 23 April, even though I posted on the 24th). I notice now that the latest open thread is on the sidebar. I looked for that specifically and didn't see one, so that will help people who go through the same process as me. (ETA: I notice that it's not on the sidebar from every page. This is what the sidebar currently looks like from my profile and does not include a link to the current OT. It would not have occurred to me to look at the sidebar from multiple pages. Same goes for the current Rationality Diary, and for some reason the latest Rationality Quotes is only on the sidebar on my profile page, not the discussion list or in this thread) If you're really concerned about starting on Monday and using the tag, perhaps adding a set of instructions on creating new OT posts in the body of the OT post for people to copy and paste will be helpful. Final Edit: The search result page sidebar also does not include the latest OT or rationality diary and that is likely the page whose sidebar I would have checked.

0Metus12y

People want to say something and think that it will drown out in the previous open thread. So they do their own.