To be entirely honest, what I want to see is in-depth geeky conversations about minutae of continua I'm interested in (mostly LotR), but I understand I'm rather in a minority there. ;) So instead I've been all self-sacrificing and tried to watch for threads that are interesting for most of the Board, rather than me in particular (or indeed, me at all sometimes).
In general, what I like to see are threads that prompt open-ended interaction. That needs an opening post which provides a foundation for conversation, but then lets it spiral off in interesting ways. A couple of examples:
-Geeky fandommy threads, including ones about the PPC. The Magic in North America threads were good for this - people (including me) got to throw insane theorising at the wall, and interact over it. I think there was a MLP thread that did the same thing, though obviously I didn't get into that one.
-Things that prompt storytelling (not necessarily formal writing). The Dungeon of the Board, or the Shipfest, or whatnot. Anything that gets people scribbling down narrative ideas on the Board. I like it when people write.
-Threads that let other Boarders share the same kind of thing the original poster did, while also commenting on each other's. My Fanarts & Crafts thread worked perfectly for this, and was in turn inspired (to an extent) by Ix's costume, so that counts too. Ivy's Deduction thread, too.
-Other discussion threads, like posted news-articles and videos. The thing here is that the thread-starter needs to put in the effort to start a discussion. It's not enough to just slap up a link - lots of people won't follow links, and a lot of those who do will just reply with 'wow!' or the like. One needs to say something to start and shape the conversation about it.
(An example I didn't post: there was a new tyrannosaur described a couple of weeks ago. I considered posting both to say it happened - fannish geekery - but also to look at the pictures that had been done of it, and see how good/bad they were. I didn't do it because I couldn't find much to talk about.)
Then there's the threads that I don't find particularly interesting, but which I support on principle:
-People posting their stories. Y'know, the thing we're ostensibly here for. ;)
-Badfic threads. We used to pretty much have a big badfic thread every week or so; it's weird that it's stopped happening. I don't really get involved in them, but people howling over badfic is where the PPC started, so it's kind of a shame they've gone.
Most other threads I'd class as 'neutral' - things that don't really make the Board more exciting in my view, but don't drag it down either. That covers newbie threads, closed-ended questions (the sort that are usually answered with 'here's where to find that in the wiki'), beta requests and the like.
The one thread-type I've seen a lot recently that I've never liked is 'I'll be gone for the next three days!'; I don't think we're a fast-moving, intense-enough community that people need to announce when they're not going to be around. I used to vanish for 2-3 weeks over summer and not say a word. But like my favourite thread type, that's a personal preference, and not one I'd try to enforce (hence, no badge attacking it).
hS
(No doubt if you'd asked on another day you'd've got a different answer...)
