Double Post
Typically, a Message Board thread is expected to resemble a conversation. A poster posts what they have to say, and others respond in subsequent postings. The original poster may post again later, responding to the responses.
A Double Post is when, for whatever reason, one responds to their own post. Talking to oneself can get one odd looks in Real Life, but there are several reasons it may be seen on a Message Board:
- One may simply post the same thing twice by mistake, due to server lag or whatnot. Many forums allow a user to delete their most recent post in thread to clean this up. This sort of thing is especially common on Usenet, where the nature of NNTP causes a sometimes substantial lag in the propagation of new posts.
- One may have a thought that they want to add after posting, and the forum doesn't have an "edit post" button. Or they don't know about the button. Or else, the user doesn't yet have "editing privileges". Or the forum administrator has placed a time limit on the poster's ability to edit posts, and the time to edit has passed. Or they want to have a "hastily written afterthought" feel to their new comment.
- One may simply want to BUMP the thread back to the top of the list, in the hope that people will notice the thread and reply to their post.
- Many forums have a strict limit on number of characters per post - sometimes, posts that exceed this are broken into two consecutive posts. The same often goes for image-heavy posts where there is a limit on the number of images.
Generally, one won't get in trouble for the first type of Double Post, but forum policies on the other three vary widely. One Double Post too many on the wrong forum can get one labeled a Spammer.
Typically, a Message Board thread is expected to resemble a conversation. A poster posts what they have to say, and others respond in subsequent postings. The original poster may post again later, responding to the responses.
A Double Post is when, for whatever reason, one responds to their own post. Talking to oneself can get one odd looks in Real Life, but there are several reasons it may be seen on a Message Board:
- One may simply post the same thing twice by mistake, due to server lag or whatnot. Many forums allow a user to delete their most recent post in thread to clean this up. This sort of thing is especially common on Usenet, where the nature of NNTP causes a sometimes substantial lag in the propagation of new posts.
- One may have a thought that they want to add after posting, and the forum doesn't have an "edit post" button. Or they don't know about the button. Or else, the user doesn't yet have "editing privileges". Or the forum administrator has placed a time limit on the poster's ability to edit posts, and the time to edit has passed. Or they want to have a "hastily written afterthought" feel to their new comment.
- One may simply want to BUMP the thread back to the top of the list, in the hope that people will notice the thread and reply to their post.
- Many fora have a strict limit on number of characters per post - sometimes, posts that exceed this are broken into two consecutive posts. The same often goes for image-heavy posts where there is a limit on the number of images.
Generally, one won't get in trouble for the first type of Double Post, but forum policies on the other three vary widely. One Double Post too many on the wrong forum can get one labeled a Spammer.