> I've found that the only times where heavy traffic occurs in the rinkforum is when:
> A) During rather long holidays, where everyone talks about that paticular holiday
> B) When something really weird happens and everyone knows about it or
> C) When someone decides to post some incredibly insane topic that no one would have thought of before. (Rinkforum games included)
>
> DOOM caused a great deal of traffic, for example, as did Christmas and New Years (Which I wasn't a part of becasue I wasn't around). Also, I'm pretty sure that the "Box" game had the most posts on the topic (and completely destroyed the margins). Personally, I don't use any chat that much and prefer to use the forum. I also agree with Unipeg that there really haven't been many posts on extremely interesting stuff recently. Oh well. Maybe tomarrow.
>
> -Ka"I'm at a loss for quotes at the moment"z!

I think there's a huge difference between the type of posts you've mentioned (Doom, Kang, Box games, etc.) that generate "a lot of traffic," and other types of posts. The high-traffic posts may appear more POPULAR because everyone's answering, and so would seem to be more eenteresting. If the topic's mellow and easy and requires fairly little effort from a respondant, chances are there's going to be lots of replies. The downside is that there may be a lot of fluff involved in the traffic.

Topics that are more controversial or specific or which are much more difficult to frame an answer to... Like, for instance, that lengthy post I made for you on Christmas, regarding where to find Free Internet Access in Canada... are far less likely to draw a response. It doesn't necessarily mean that fewer are reading them; just that the effort to answer seems way too much bother.

Heck, knowing this makes me that much more thankful whenever Dracimas or Issachar or Paul A. or Brunnen-G or Sam (of course!) make a good post here. I always try to take the effort to respond, to let people know what they've said is appreciated. (I should've responded to B-G's missive Re: "How many Rinkians does it take to change a lightbulb?" -- That was one of the funniest things I've ever read. A belated Thanks for writing that, B-G :)

So I suggest that if anyone finds the topics here to be lacklustre lately, then do something about it. Participate. Start your own thread. Do a poll on the best potato "chip 'n dip" combo, or on everyone's favorite Hitch-Hiker's Guide quote, or whether Barney would look better in a fez or a blender, etc. Sparkling conversation is just around the corner and there for the taking, to Infinity, and beyond...

Wolf "and you can always talk about Soda!" spirit