Forum Trends

[Alolan_Apples]

What do you think of forum trends, where several different users post a whole bunch of topics related to the same subject or have a certain naming scheme? Like the recent “exposure” trend. Some other examples (from TBT in the past) were discussing other nations with their translations in the topic title, if someone was a great leader of a nation, and the pizza thread trend.

To me, I find this habit to be annoying, at least in the general discussion boards. I prefer if there was only one thread with a particular title structure, and not a whole trend of threads. The exposure trend wasn’t that bad, but most trends get annoying. Actually, I’m against trends in general. I prefer if there was uniqueness in everything rather than a whole bunch of same stuff under a different coat of paint made by different people.

 

[Drawdler]

I understand the annoyance but I find it endearing honestly. They start getting so wacky it’s funny and even though it’s kind of dumb it helps keep things lively.

 

[SkyKnight03]

I don't mind posting in them, but I try not to contribute with creating them either. I don't feel much of a need for involvement. Unless a thread I was going to post anyways overlaps.

 

[Corrie]

I find it funny. I'd rather have them than have the forum be dead silent. It's just people having fun.

 

[Suguri]

I don't see anything wrong with them. They may seem spammy at first IMO but they at least cover different topics. Also, I've posted in one of the "exposure" threads once and I found that amusing.

Also, I'm out of the loop when it comes to past TBT trends because I joined almost two years ago, so it would be nice to know more about the pizza thread thing and the one that's confusing me right now where people were "discussing other nations with their translations in the topic title".

 

[Croconaw]

I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s forum activity. I may not post in all of them but they are fun to see either way.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I don't want to say trends are inherently bad. They help keep a community active, but it's just a reminder of how strong the herd mentality is with humanity. I've no desire to participate in any trends (unless one specifically targets my own interests/hobbies) because a lot of them... are frankly, quite idiotic and annoying, rather it's IRL, or on an Internet forum such as this. For example: I hate gifs being used as profile pics because of how distracting it is to glance at a page and see multiple people with the same drum percussion thing that was popular earlier this year. That thing where a chibified representative of a character would bang their stubby hands on a table or something. God, that was irritating. Animated pfps are obnoxious.

I don't understand the idea of fitting in, or feeling obligated to blend in with people I hardly know. I'm just not a people's person. It's why you don't see me in any of the General Discussion forums all that much.

 

[Chris]

I'm not a fan of them, but as long as they're not creating more moderation work then it's a non-issue.

 

[Halloqueen]

I have no problem with this and encourage it as long as the threads aren't too low effort and can actually generate good engagement. They keep the forum active and give me more opportunities to post, which is my only way of acquiring TBT. In fact, I'd like to thank the people who follow the trends and provide us with the topics.

Also yeah, like Drawdler said, they can get a bit wacky and it's endearing.

 

[Gabby]

I'm pretty neutral on the topic.

 

[Snek]

I like forum trends. As long as its not spam-like in nature I think it fun and engaging. The exposure threads were pretty funny. Many of us I guess were running out of things to discuss but out of that created more things to discuss.

 

[deana]

I don't mind. I think it's natural to get inspiration from other threads to make a new thread and I do like some of the funny topics that come up sometimes. These "trend" threads usually die pretty quickly and I don't mind that either, they are here for a good time not a long time

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

I just keep away from trending threads as honestly lot of them don't really interest me or also lot of them tend to be clickbaity too.

 

[Paperboy012305]

It depends what it is, I loved the exposure threads back in March. They came out of nowhere and were very silly. I too participated in it, with an actual reason why there were so many exposure threads in the first place, being Streetpass Silver.

 

[ZetaFunction]

I'm gonna sound old as heck saying this but I miss the insane trends from like 8-10 years ago on here. Stuff like the messy political debate threads full of drama, the period where there were tons of "marriage" threads in the basement, the collectible clubs and RPG groups (and the copycat ones where people would get rejected and start new ones), and sometimes groups of people would post just literal troll threads back to back to back. Thinking of our queen Izzy Reincarnated The trends I've seen since I've come back from my hiatus on here are kinda underwhelming- it's just people copy-pasting thread ideas and changing one word. Y'all need to get more creative!!! Lol

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I think the forum trends are fun and silly! Very much prefer it to no new threads being posted at all.

 

[Drawdler]

I'm gonna sound old as heck saying this but I miss the insane trends from like 8-10 years ago on here. Stuff like the messy political debate threads full of drama, the period where there were tons of "marriage" threads in the basement, the collectible clubs and RPG groups (and the copycat ones where people would get rejected and start new ones), and sometimes groups of people would post just literal troll threads back to back to back. Thinking of our queen Izzy Reincarnated The trends I've seen since I've come back from my hiatus on here are kinda underwhelming- it's just people copy-pasting thread ideas and changing one word. Y'all need to get more creative!!! Lol

I honestly kind of get the feel LOL because I could have said the same for another forum I used to be on, tho with that said I totally wouldn't have the energy or vibes to fit those things now

I feel like my forum activity has really mellowed out since those former forums but I just wish I still had more topic ideas!!