Thread Killahs -- through the end of February 2005

[The Meal]

Definition A poster is a Thread Killah if they had the last post in a thread. Non-stickied threads are dated at the time of that last post. Each thread that had a last post prior to 12:00am March 1st (GMT -6) would be countied in this tally.

The Killing Percentage is a ratio of Thread Kills to total posts made, expressed as a percentage.

Methodology I have been collecting Thread Killah data on a monthly basis. One can find data for previous months in this forum (do a search on "Thread Killahs"). I have only been incrementally adding to this data collection, so if old threads have since been bumped, then this data does not take that into account.

There are three sets of data collected here: All folks for whom I've been manually collecting posts, folks with greater than 12 thread kills for whom I did *not* manually collect post counts, and all folks with greater than 2 thread kills that do not fit into either of the first two categories.

I was out of the country (and off the forums) when March 1st rolled around, so I do not have accurate post counts near that date. So I had to do some interpolating from other data collected before and after that date. That is the first set of data (for posters with high post counts) analyzed.

The second set of data are for folks with a high (12 or more) number of thread kills for whom I had not collected post count data. I arbitrarily decided to interpolate their post count values between their current post count (as of this afternoon) and the day they signed on to the forum. It's not nearly as good of a reflection of that poster's actual post count on 1 March 2005, but it does give a value.

For folks with a smaller number of thread kills (11 or lower) for whom I didn't already have post-count data collected, I didn't bother with creating an arbitrary value for posts as of 1 March 2005. I'll simply list those individuals in a table from most thread kills to least (minimum of 3).

The Results
Data -- Posters for whom I had post count numbers (note the actual post count numbers used are interpolated, as described above)
Rank, Killing Percentage, Poster, Thread Kills, Interpolated Posts
1. 17.31% Pyperkub 24 139
2. 14.58% Default 43 295
3. 12.91% martindemon 17 132
4. 12.34% Zarathud 36 292
5. 11.31% Kasey Chang 55 486
6. 10.85% Bakhtosh 41 378
7. 10.78% Hrdina 36 334
8. 10.54% Windows98 23 218
9. 10.31% tals 27 262
10. 10.10% Gedd 43 426
11. 10.08% Asharak 130 1289
12. 9.82% Jow 22 224
13. 9.64% Giles Habibula 51 529
14. 9.48% Caine 20 211
15. 9.33% DD 35 375
16. 9.31% D.A.Lewis 26 279
17. 9.27% Peacedog 111 1197
18. 9.15% Coskesh 27 295
19. 8.81% Spike 17 193
20. 8.80% Rip 73 830
21. 8.67% malchior 24 277
22. 8.65% Jancelot 23 266
23. 7.90% Andrew 26 329
24. 7.72% SirReal 18 233
25. 7.69% EvilHomer3k 39 507
26. 7.62% GungHo 16 210
27. 7.61% CeeKay 87 1144
28. 7.57% Lassr 21 278
29. 7.48% Octavious230 20 267
30. 7.45% naednek 35 470
31. 7.18% jonsauce 15 209
32. 7.08% tgb 33 466
33. 7.05% RookieCAF 13 185
34. 7.02% Kael 27 384
35. 7.01% Faldarian 27 385
36. 7.00% wankerjr 21 300
37. 7.00% Rich in KCK 32 457
38. 6.94% Eightball 24 346
39. 6.93% Eel Snave 66 953
40. 6.79% Veloxi 18 265
41. 6.77% Freezer-TPF- 60 886
42. 6.69% jpinard 32 478
43. 6.66% Zekester 49 735
44. 6.55% Ranulf 13 199
45. 6.40% Dramatist 19 297
46. 6.31% KingB 13 206
47. 6.30% ChrisGwinn 52 825
48. 6.30% Daehawk 31 492
49. 6.30% Thin_J 8 127
50. 6.28% disarm 33 525
51. 6.17% Jag 32 519
52. 6.04% The Evil Dead 13 215
53. 6.03% GargoyleBoy 18 298
54. 5.92% Skinypupy 9 152
55. 5.91% Crowley 40 676
56. 5.90% setaside 28 475
57. 5.88% qp 19 323
58. 5.80% CharlieDelta 18 310
59. 5.64% Meghan 23 408
60. 5.64% DiscoJason 28 496
61. 5.64% Napoleon 25 443
62. 5.64% $iljanus 69 1224
63. 5.58% Amish Warlord 17 305
64. 5.55% Tscott 25 450
65. 5.32% msteelers 14 263
66. 5.31% Grievous Angel 19 357
67. 5.27% JayG 12 228
68. 5.25% Al 22 419
69. 5.25% Bob 16 305
70. 5.22% shaggydoug 9 172
71. 5.20% Chrisoc13 18 346
72. 5.18% Kratz 40 772
73. 5.15% gbasden 11 214
74. 5.09% Grundbegriff 17 334
75. 5.06% ChaoZ 17 336
76. 5.03% Debris 16 318
77. 5.02% Blackhawk 58 1155
78. 5.00% Jeff V 49 980
79. 4.99% Rincewind 9 180
80. 4.96% Eduardo X 85 1715
81. 4.93% noun 12 243
82. 4.86% Dirt 141 2901
83. 4.83% Enough 47 973
84. 4.82% LawBeefaroni 67 1391
85. 4.68% Greggy_D 12 256
86. 4.67% snoleopard 9 193
87. 4.65% Jeff Jones 10 215
88. 4.65% WPD 18 387
89. 4.58% Head 10 218
90. 4.49% Orpheo 10 223
91. 4.48% Discalced 33 737
92. 4.43% dbt1949 53 1197
93. 4.41% warning 22 499
94. 4.39% godhugh 35 797
95. 4.37% Bad Demographic 34 778
96. 4.32% Suitably Ironic Moniker 11 254
97. 4.31% Papageno 8 186
98. 4.28% Biyobi 23 537
99. 4.27% Hispanicgamer 18 422
100. 4.21% Grifman 40 949
101. 4.20% Nade 41 976
102. 4.17% Crux 20 479
103. 4.17% Padre 18 432
104. 4.16% Sunderer 8 192
105. 4.06% Valael 34 837
106. 4.02% bluefugue 28 697
107. 4.01% wire 7 175
108. 4.00% Eco-Logic 14 350
109. 3.98% Kelric 81 2036
110. 3.98% PR_GMR 8 201
111. 3.96% Ironrod 55 1388
112. 3.95% ImLawBoy 23 582
113. 3.93% Sith Lord 83 2114
114. 3.91% Austin 49 1254
115. 3.90% crumsteel 9 231
116. 3.88% Anonymous Bosch 9 232
117. 3.82% yossar 23 602
118. 3.82% Two Sheds 19 498
119. 3.81% Lee 25 656
120. 3.78% JSHAW 15 397
121. 3.78% Ralph-Wiggum 29 768
122. 3.74% geezer 23 616
123. 3.72% Gromit 8 215
124. 3.70% GuidoTKP 13 351
125. 3.66% The Mad Hatter 43 1176
126. 3.63% YellowKing 34 936
127. 3.63% Boudreaux 9 248
128. 3.62% The Meal 106 2926
129. 3.58% WAW 11 307
130. 3.58% Devil 8 224
131. 3.48% IceBear 11 316
132. 3.46% Guy Incognito 6 173
133. 3.44% Kadoth Nodens 11 320
134. 3.44% Fretmute 5 146
135. 3.41% pr0ner 7 205
136. 3.29% LordMortis 91 2765
137. 3.28% TheMissingLink 9 275
138. 3.27% ChrisGrenard 10 306
139. 3.21% Demosthenes 11 342
140. 3.16% jblank 22 696
141. 3.15% hepcat 28 890
142. 3.13% Koz 12 384
143. 3.11% Zaxxon 32 1028
144. 3.05% rrmorton 28 919
145. 3.01% Quipp 10 333
146. 2.96% msduncan 10 338
147. 2.94% gellar 23 783
148. 2.90% CSL 36 1242
149. 2.89% Smoove_B 40 1385
150. 2.81% Trent Steel 17 604
151. 2.68% The Emperor 5 187
152. 2.60% Tareeq 34 1305
153. 2.57% khomotso 5 195
154. 2.48% Mr. Sparkle 26 1049
155. 2.46% Little Raven 10 406
156. 2.46% Poleaxe 13 529
157. 2.44% Fireball1244 19 778
158. 2.42% flycatcher 5 206
159. 2.40% The Preacher 24 998
160. 2.39% noxiousdog 27 1132
161. 2.36% SuperHiro 33 1400
162. 2.36% MHS 20 848
163. 2.32% Exodor 32 1380
164. 2.30% Yankeeman84 13 566
165. 2.22% RunningMn9 34 1529
166. 2.15% Mr. Fed 24 1117
167. 2.10% Captain Caveman 20 953
168. 2.00% McNutt 10 500
169. 1.83% AttAdude 12 657
170. 1.69% triggercut 11 651
171. 1.52% EasilySatisfied 3 198
172. 1.39% lokiju 9 648

Data -- Posters with twelve or more thread kills, for whom I did not have post count data Again, the assumed post count values are interpolated numbers, as described above
Rank, Killing Percentage, Poster, Thread Kills, Interpolated Posts, Forum Arrival Date, Total Posts as of 2 May 05 afternoon
1. 22.01% Fitzy 14 64 13-Oct-04 92
2. 20.22% Incendiary Lemon 20 99 13-Oct-04 143
3. 18.62% EngineNo9 15 81 15-Oct-04 117
4. 17.57% Vagabond 18 102 25-Jan-05 284
5. 16.73% \/\/olverine 22 132 29-Dec-04 263
6. 14.64% Quaro 16 109 13-Oct-04 158
7. 13.88% Charlatan 12 86 13-Oct-04 125
8. 13.69% gorham09 23 168 13-Oct-04 243
9. 13.15% Rubyeye 14 106 13-Oct-04 154
10. 11.73% Ripstar 14 119 14-Oct-04 173
11. 11.63% jlu 15 129 14-Oct-04 187
12. 11.45% Jaymann 13 114 25-Oct-04 169
13. 9.86% Beer Goggles 20 203 25-Oct-04 302
14. 9.69% hitbyambulance 36 371 13-Oct-04 537
15. 8.89% Mithridates 13 146 18-Oct-04 214
16. 8.60% lildrgn 14 163 14-Oct-04 236
17. 8.30% UsulofDoom 14 169 22-Oct-04 249
18. 7.96% Vinda-Lou 16 201 21-Oct-04 296
19. 7.82% Kraegor 12 154 13-Oct-04 222
20. 7.43% Turtle 12 162 21-Oct-04 238
21. 7.29% docvego 13 178 15-Oct-04 259
22. 7.27% hentzau 15 206 21-Oct-04 304
23. 6.79% Ummagumma 12 177 22-Oct-04 261
24. 6.47% Kaigen 12 186 19-Oct-04 272
25. 6.41% Jolor 14 219 13-Oct-04 316
26. 6.21% raydude 13 209 18-Oct-04 306

Data -- Posters for whom I did not have post count data available with eleven or fewer total thread kills (Minimum 3 total kills)
Poster, Thread Kills
Alefroth 11
Cam 11
Crabbs 11
Paul Roberts 11
Pointer 11
SpaceLord 11
tswright 11
Byrns 10
dangerballs 10
driver 10
fancydirt 10
Kiam 10
mori 10
Vegetable Man 10
em2nought 9
ericb 9
Fishy 9
Gebeker 9
Huw the Poo 9
morlac 9
Yog-Sothoth 9
Zathras 9
Aliasbuck 8
BigBoneTone 8
Clanwolfer 8
dedewhale 8
EddieA 8
El-Producto 8
Gorath 8
Hell's Taco 8
is_dead 8
Kyosho 8
LucidSmoke 8
Misguided 8
Montag 8
MzDarm 8
Reed 8
SkyLander 8
Terrified 8
Tim Frederick 8
Det. Dave 7
Exrod 7
Ibby 7
Larraque 7
mathfed 7
McBa1n 7
Noman 7
Reemul 7
Teggy 7
tjg_marantz 7
Toe 7
Atalante 6
Bertran 6
Carpet_pissr 6
Depward 6
Hetz 6
J.D. 6
Jeremy 6
Lord Percy 6
philosophist 6
Rhett 6
Roman 6
ScaryMike 6
Scraper 6
sgoldj 6
Sponge 6
Unbreakable 6
Z-Corn 6
Archangel 5
Benhur 5
deadzone 5
dobberhd 5
Draco 5
Fluffernutter 5
funnygirl 5
godzy 5
gorky1 5
gwartok 5
infoghost 5
Jeffrey LaMarche 5
Jiffy 5
Kagath 5
magic 5
me 5
MeSlayer 5
Mookee 5
nameless77 5
portnoy 5
rob 5
RodeoRanch 5
Snow 5
Speaker2Animals 5
tiny ogre 5
Tony 5
adumir 4
AndyM 4
animal114 4
Arnold Yim 4
Creepy_Smell 4
Cylus Maxii 4
Daveman 4
defy_gravity 4
Edmond 4
elborto 4
Elmo 4
farley2k 4
Flatlander 4
Gizah 4
Godzilla Blitz 4
Goldchamp 4
Grafvolluth 4
Greg Wak 4
Gwar21 4
Hamsterball_Z 4
helot2000 4
kathode 4
leo8877 4
me3000 4
moss_icon 4
msurby 4
Raven_13 4
Sam Hell 4
Spiff 4
Spock's Brain 4
SquireSCA 4
Steron 4
Thunderspark 4
TommyTutone 4
Vesper 4
Albion 3
apezilla 3
ArmyOfOne 3
Azhure 3
baron calamity 3
Blackadar 3
Blonco 3
Brinstil 3
Bruce 3
D'Arcy 3
Dhruin 3
DireAussie 3
egrudzin 3
Fafhrd 3
Freyland 3
Grinfin 3
Gryndyl 3
happydog 3
IHateMorrowind 3
Interloper 3
Intruder 3
JCC 3
jcompton 3
Jessan 3
JonathanStrange 3
koanicriddle 3
Laura 3
loc-nar 3
LordGek 3
malichai11 3
Massena 3
Moat_Man 3
mtkafka 3
Nephrinn 3
none 3
Papa Smurph 3
Rabid moth 3
Ramoz 3
Raug 3
Raven 3
RickinMich 3
Riker's Beard 3
Robert M Colosimo 3
Ronin 3
Rowdy 3
Sherpa 3
Simon 3
sissyc 3
st_dysan 3
strummer 3
the Nightbreeze 3
Tine 3
Torfish 3
username 3
VegasD 3
WheelMan 3
Wholly Schmidt 3
Zanthia_s 3
Zurai 3

~Neal

[Bad Demographic]

Yay! I'm moving down on the list. Me happy.

[snoleopard]

Hah, I thought I was the number one thread killer around here. Close, but not quite, yet.

[snoleopard]

Hah, I thought I was the number one thread killer (killah) around here. Not yet.

Ooops, accident. Why can't we delete double post?

[LawBeefaroni]

Threadkill=definitive last word.

Pyperkub pwnz.

[GargoyleBoy]

I bullied my way up from 110 to 53.

I'm on my way to the top!

/George Costanza

[Dirt]

I'm falling!... Falling!...

[dbt1949]

If we went by pure numbers instead of percentages I think I'd make the top ten list.

[The Meal]

I think the variation from month-to-month is interesting. Some folks are consistently *interesting* (or at least response-worthy) and you'll find them at the ends of the list very consistently. Other folks go through spurts of "tacking on" answers that tend to kill threads, or being participants in conversations with few respondees (which gives you a better chance of killing the thread). I know that I vary between the types of threads I respond to, and certain things, like some of the observational astronomy post I make, are inherently uninteresting to lots and lots of forum users (giving me a good chance to kill those threads). Some months I feel like making those sorts of posts, and some months I don't bother.

~Neal

[Exodor]

I think the variation from month-to-month is interesting. Some folks are consistently *interesting* (or at least response-worthy)

~Neal

163. 2.32% Exodor 32 1380

Does this mean I'm interesting, or do I just tend to post stupid crap that other posters simply can't allow to stand unchallenged?

[The Meal]

Does this mean I'm interesting, or do I just tend to post stupid crap that other posters simply can't allow to stand unchallenged?

Do you seriously contend that there is a difference between those two items?

~Neal

[Yankeeman84]

164. 2.30% Yankeeman84 13 566

I am between RM9 and Exodor. I am in serious trouble.

[Al]

68? 68?! Sixty-fucking-eight.

I'm out of practice.

P.S.

[gorham09]

"Big time, I'm on my way I'm making it; Big Time...."

Ummm.... What does "interpolated" mean? Does it have something to do with the hyperdrive

[The Meal]

Ummm.... What does "interpolated" mean? Does it have something to do with the hyperdrive

To calculate a value within a range based on the values at the endpoints of that range.

Say that I knew on February 1st you had 100 posts. Then say I knew on April 1st you had 300 posts. I'd interpolate those values to make a guess at the number of posts you had on March 1st (which should be pretty close to 200).

~Neal

[gorham09]

And that ladies and gentlemen, is why I went to law school.

And to think, I wanted to be an astronaut. They even offered me a scholarship to this Embry Riddle place. But then they told me I would have to understand numbers. I have a hard enough time with words; so much for my astroanut pipe dream.

[malchior]

Damn. I went from 4 to 21 in a month. I'm so ashamed about my lack of thread killahing potency.

[Default]

My secret? Make posts so inane and obvious that people abandon the thread in disgust.
However, I bow before Master Pyperkub whose inanity blinds the world.

[martindemon]

I have for a feeling for a long time that I was often the last to post in fading threads. I did not know I was 3rd

[ChrisGwinn]

I have for a feeling for a long time that I was often the last to post in fading threads. I did not know I was 3rd

I've often thought I posted last in threads, but it turns out that I don't so so as often as I thought.

[The Meal]

It was guys like you two, and yossar, and many others -- all of whom claimed to be the ultimate thread killers that got me to take on this project.

~Neal

[Thin_J]

I bet my 8 thread kills is a fairly high number, given how rarely I actually post.

And now that I actually really looked at your data, it's not so high. 6.3%?

I thought it was higher than that.

[Kiam]

10 kills! I'm an ace!

[ChrisGwinn]

It was guys like you two, and yossar, and many others -- all of whom claimed to be the ultimate thread killers that got me to take on this project.

Thanks for doing so. I feel less bad now.

[The Meal]

It was guys like you two, and yossar, and many others -- all of whom claimed to be the ultimate thread killers that got me to take on this project.

Thanks for doing so. I feel less bad now.

I think it's an interesting psychological phenomenon that so many of us feel as if our contributions end up ignored more frequently than others fellow posters.

~Neal

[ChrisGwinn]

It was guys like you two, and yossar, and many others -- all of whom claimed to be the ultimate thread killers that got me to take on this project.

Thanks for doing so. I feel less bad now.

I think it's an interesting psychological phenomenon that so many of us feel as if our contributions end up ignored more frequently than others fellow posters.

I never thought my posts were being ignored, I always imagined I was saying something that killed the conversation. Like at a party, where you say something awkward and suddenly everyone's really interested in something at the other side of the room.

[The Meal]

Ah, gotcha. In my effort to be succinct (SEE WHERE THAT GETS ME, EVERYONE!?!), I mischaracterized your idea.

I think it's an interesting psychological phenomenon that many posters are made to feel as if their posts are the cause for the ultimate end of a thread with a higher regularity than many of their fellow posters, despite the fact that frequently they are actually thread killahs of middling magnitude.

Better?

~Neal

[Napoleon]

I nominate The Meal.

[Kratz]

"psychological phenomenon"?

[Dirt]

Anyone who think's their post cause the thread to end is being a Drama Mama.

[Rubyeye]

I nominate The Meal.

I'll second the nomination.

[ChrisGwinn]

Ah, gotcha. In my effort to be succinct (SEE WHERE THAT GETS ME, EVERYONE!?!), I mischaracterized your idea.

I think it's an interesting psychological phenomenon that many posters are made to feel as if their posts are the cause for the ultimate end of a thread with a higher regularity than many of their fellow posters, despite the fact that frequently they are actually thread killahs of middling magnitude.

Hmm.. I just realized there's a strangeness with the way you're calculating that could explain this. It's a straight ratio from posts to thread kills, without taking into account the number of threads posted in. So it's possible that people who post a bunch in a few threads could actually end a fairly large percentage of the threads they participate in.

There's also the phenomenon where you post something and are looking for a reply, but never get one. If you keep coming back to the thread, you'll keep seeing your post at the end of it. Conversely, you're likely to never see the last post in threads that you stop participating in. The combination of the two could be responsible for the inflated perception - a disproportionate number of thread-ending posts that you see are yours.

*edit: It could also come down to self-monitoring behavior. Does worrying about killing conversations result in behavior less likely to kill conversations? It's like people worried about germs - the people most freaked out are frequently the people who least need to be.

[Pyperkub]

#1 with a bullet! Now if I can only kill this thread and keep my anonymity...

[The Meal]

Hmm.. I just realized there's a strangeness with the way you're calculating that could explain this. It's a straight ratio from posts to thread kills, without taking into account the number of threads posted in. So it's possible that people who post a bunch in a few threads could actually end a fairly large percentage of the threads they participate in.

Conversely, they would have zero chance of ending any of the other threads they never post in. I think it balances out -- if you only make replies in a small number of threads, you've got a better chance of killing those threads, *but* you can also guarantee more posts that have no chance of killing the thread.

There's also the phenomenon where you post something and are looking for a reply, but never get one. If you keep coming back to the thread, you'll keep seeing your post at the end of it. Conversely, you're likely to never see the last post in threads that you stop participating in. The combination of the two could be responsible for the inflated perception - a disproportionate number of thread-ending posts that you see are yours.

I definitely agree with this.

*edit: It could also come down to self-monitoring behavior. Does worrying about killing conversations result in behavior less likely to kill conversations? It's like people worried about germs - the people most freaked out are frequently the people who least need to be.

I talked about that in one of my other updates (or maybe earlier in this thread) -- some months I have more of a "I don't give a shit if many other people would find this interesting" attitude, and I go ahead and post about things I only think would interest a very limited audience. Other months I stifle those urges and only really promote topics of mass-interest. I think the more often one posts things of limited interest, the greater their chances of being thread killers.

Interesting stuff, anyway.

~Neal

[Pyperkub]

Die!

[Hrdina]

7. 10.78% Hrdina 36 334

Wow, thanks for the ego boost, Neal.

Maybe if I start posting more often, this site can shut down...

[Kraegor]

hah cool without even knowin it im almost in the top 25 of the top list :p

[Alefroth]

I knew it! 14.54% puts me at number 3.

Ale

[Caine]

wow. i always thought i had that particular aspect of my posts, and now i see that i was right. 14th. just about where i thought it would end.

this thread can die now.

[Sparhawk]

I should be on that list!