Don't Read This Post! It's Just a Gimmick!!!
 

One of my residents has to do a psychology experiment where they observe the behavior of people after being introduced to an unusual situation.

Here is the experiment. Introduce a post on a newsboard that is the exact opposite of what is normal. Normally, people ost in order to get others to view it. And their titles are ment to attract. So, post a thread with a title that specifically says not to read it, its just a gimmick.

How many people will view the thread?

I think it shoud be interesting to read the results.


-Anxiety

maybe i should keep going back and re-viewing it to mess it up...that would be funny...

fuck i'm stupid

I for one won't be reading this thread.

Kindof a silly experiment. Most people will be curious and since it's a message board, there's no harm in seeing what is here. What does it prove other than that people will discount a "warning" in an informal environment when there is no penalty for being curious?

Now if you put this on a sign in the middle of a minefield, then I'd be impressed :D

SI

Doesn't a title that says "don't look here" do more to atract more attention than one that says "EVERYONE, LOOK HERE D00DS!" For example, it's like when someone is changing and they say "nobody look," it only serves to draw attention.

Simply put, this study is asinine.

Well, it still won't get as many views as the nude GF post...

;)

Not if I can help it!

I held off as long as I could. :(

every post in a public forum is meant to be read. I am don't think this experiment tell us anything.

Re: Don't Read This Post! It's Just a Gimmick!!!
 

What, you mean like an FOF-related post?

I tried that last night. Nobody read it.

I did (ok, maybe I didn't, but I just wanted to make you feel good... is that a crime?)

Yea, Im not sure what this experiment is actualy meant to show. Its like standing in the middle of a mall and yelling, "Hey everybody, whatever you do just dont look over here! I swear there is nothing to see!" Im thinking most people around him will look.

Re: Don't Read This Post! It's Just a Gimmick!!!
 

This experiment is already flawed. Its assumed that the people here are normal.:)

When did I get to Alabama?

Is your resident a C student? 'Cause that's about the level of this experiment. The name chose for this message was not the opposite of norm -- it was in fact designed to be "titilating." You told people not to look, and most people have an inherent interest in doing something they are not told to do.

This didn't put me in an "unusual" situation. I was just wandering which thread was more idiotic -- What's Causing AZSpeechCoach's sister's house to stink, The Naked GF Photos or this.

Congratulations! :)

Dola -- when we did this similar experiment in my psychology class, our activities were physical -- for instance, I walked alone across campus along the sidewalks at lunch and played "chicken" with groups of people to see if they would move. When an individual is walking toward a group and one of them has to move to pass on a sidewalk, most people assume that the individual should move. The goal of the exercise was to evaluate people's response -- Did they appear angry? Did they move when I didn't move? Did they run into me?

To put people in the online environment in an "unusual" situation, I think there have been excellent examples of that done here in the past -- revived year-old threads for no apparent reason, hi-jack threads, etc. Dear god, you could write a doctoral thesis on the works on HornsManiac.

if you're looking for an unusual situation to put people who post here in, you could actually post nude pictures of your girlfriend. That's one that hasn't been done before.

why did I waste my time posting in here???