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The following is a very long, drawn out explaination of why you are an utter failure at thread making if you have to end all of your threads with a discussion tag. If you don't want to read any of it, you can use the sentence preceding this one as a summary of it's contents. I expect less than 25% of you will read it, but I fully anticipate 90% of you will have something to say on the subject anyways.

Quotes are from real threads. If you don't like being quoted, try copywrites rofl

What is a discussion tag: Many posters follow up the immediate body of their thread with an underlined, bulleted summary of points to be addressed for discussion. Traditionally, the look like this-



They serve the purpose of informing the reader of what they are supposed to talk about in this particular thread. Sometimes they are presented in the form of a list of brief questions, othertimes they are simple outlines of the supposed context and importance of the thread.

Why some users use them: Nine times out of ten, discussion tags follow a post that is lacking in discussable content. Most often they are found at the end of little anecdotes about what happened to the poster that day.



Now really, why would I donate to anyone who makes a thread just to b***h about their own mistake as if any of us should care what they spend their gold on, or how badly they want that Top Hat?

Why you don't need Discussion Tags: Imagine you're writing an essay. It's just finished, but you're considering how to conclude it. Would you conclude it by listing off a simplified list of everything you addressed in the essay?

"I have talked about the following things in my essay

-Shelter for the homeless
-Tax payer contribution
-Government solutions"

is not a proper way to conclude an essay. It insults the intelligence of the reader. What you just wrote about should be perfectly evident unless you're or your readers are mildly retarded.

Likewise, a quickly summarized list of the things your reader just read about is a tactless way to spark a discussion. Discussion tags are put on lazy excuses for threads, where the thread maker couldn't actually think of anything interesting to say, and the thread posters are replying most generally out of boredom and the want for post count +1. Learn how to write a good essay, and you'll know how to write a fantastic, discussion worthy thread where lively discourse on the relative topics of interest comes naturally.

Anatomy of a thread

For your proliferation, I will not only b***h about the lazy uselessness of creating threads with discussion tags, I will offer alternatives. Fundamental basics of quality essay writing parallel perfectly to the aspects of a good thread. If you know one, you should have a relatively increased shot at succeeding at the other. But I don't know for sure, you could just be an idiot.

SUBJECT
In essay writting, the Title. You'd think it should be self explainatory, but here are some mind blowing examples of the type of misleading subject headers GDers make and the completely unrelated thread bodies that follow them:


I only post this one here to point out the fact that, while the thread itself is new, the topic isn't. It's been beaten to a bloody, unrecognizable pulp, and yet she still manages to zombiefy it into a "new" topic.


While in most cases the subject is of relevance to the thread body itself, it doesn't prep the reader for what they are about to read. Ask Zahir, misleading thread subjects are not allowed in the GD.

Next time, try picking out the main subject, like you would for you discussion tag, and putting it in the SUBJECT box :3

THE BODY
The body of a good essay consists of several parts. As should the body of a thread. Briefly, they should include
-introduction
-thesis
-body paragraphs
--concrete details
--commentary
-conclusion

How do these pertain to thread making?
The introduction is where you introduce your topic. The thesis is where you state your opinion on the topic (90% of threads are made for the soul purpose of expression the thread maker's opinion, this part should be a piece of cake), the body of the thread consists of concrete details (examples, real life anecdotes, facts, figures) and commentary explaining the relevence of your concrete details to your thesis, and the conclusion wraps up, WITH OUT A SINGLE DISCUSSION TAG, the purpose of your thread, the interesting points of discussion, and your standing on the topic.

How much simpler could it be guys?

Finally, as a note of upmost importance...
A lot of people believe the GD is for more flippant, half hearted topics and that well thought out discussions belong in the Extended Discussion.

Here is proof, by definition, that the General Discussion IS Extended:


LEARN IT LIVE IT LOVE IT. True discussions do not need discussion tags. BOYCOTT them. Challenge yourself to better thread making. Expect higher from others. Tactful threadmaking incites discussion with out easy prompts.

People who have unofficially agreed with me and do not know they are being listed here as official supporters biggrin
Kahz
Rya's Mule
.[ CuRiOsA ].
Mephianse - the helper mod KTHNX
TheMoC
Candy_Chimes_Gurl
H4rdc0re
sinfultictac
j o p e t
ElberethArcamen
[ Tequila Sunrise ]
adamgnome
Oddly Bitten
Nimisha
Vicky
Spicy Warning
Oscillate Wildly
Warrior Bard
childsdragon
Billy Bilo
Pessimistic Amoeba
Joseph_Katsuya
BrandonP
Pink Tu Tu Of Death
NogginDew
Bite-Sized Chunklet
Tessiebean

I'm not pointing any fingers but *points*

Tactful thread making incites responses with out them.

People love to give their two cents. Especially in the GD, it shouldn't be so hard.

My discussion tags tend to be more like summary tags some of the time. It's like, a concluding statement. =]

Though I tend to agree with you partially, that some topics put a tag at the end just to make the subject seem worthy of discussion. So it might be bad, but people actually do end up discussing things in the topic, so I've always felt that maybe some of them shouldn't be reported. I do like posting in topics more though that have a more discussable thing. Where, you don't just post once, but you actually talk back and forth on length about the issue. And of late I've been trying to make my own topics better.

You wouldn't conclude an essay that way, and there's no particularly good reason to conclude a thread that way. Just lazy reasons.

I agree with you.
What's the point of an opening post if all someone needs to look at are the discussion tags?

That is not a wall of text. It is beautifully landscaped post of paragraphs, indentations, quotes, headers, and italics.