no swimswim witem ol meme pool
Two recent topics (list of high school cliques and defining the internet/watercooler news story) resulted in another phenomenon. Certain topics present the nearly irresistable urge to respond personally with an opinion or experience, even if that's not the original intent of the discussion.
In these cases: The mention of teenager social cliques caused almost everyone to deliver their personal clique membership experience: claiming one, resisting them, etc. This accidentally proved my point about the power of that experience well into adulthood. The discussion of bloggable watercooler news stories got a lot of responses opining about the particular story that sparked my interest. In short, a watercooler was formed.
In both cases the general wasn't nearly as attractive as the opportunity to share the personal and specific.
I think I hit the "talk about the weather" organ again. I wonder where that thing is? I'm sure as hell not "above" it; mention the weather and I'll discuss it at length, and I'll bet I'd do the same on the other topics if I hadn't been the one with the less magnetic general questions.
So the next question is; what is the list of those topics? My first guess is that a lot of things about food, sex, and sleep would cause a similar response.
In these cases: The mention of teenager social cliques caused almost everyone to deliver their personal clique membership experience: claiming one, resisting them, etc. This accidentally proved my point about the power of that experience well into adulthood. The discussion of bloggable watercooler news stories got a lot of responses opining about the particular story that sparked my interest. In short, a watercooler was formed.
In both cases the general wasn't nearly as attractive as the opportunity to share the personal and specific.
I think I hit the "talk about the weather" organ again. I wonder where that thing is? I'm sure as hell not "above" it; mention the weather and I'll discuss it at length, and I'll bet I'd do the same on the other topics if I hadn't been the one with the less magnetic general questions.
So the next question is; what is the list of those topics? My first guess is that a lot of things about food, sex, and sleep would cause a similar response.