The Secret to Good Posting

The secret to becoming a premier poster and getting great grades (and those desirable ice creams and waves) is not to see if you can post ten times every night. That’s silly. Although the current posting record-holder, Ari Bagheri, posted 337 countable posts in one school year, that alone is not what made him a strong poster. Ari would be the first to admit that there was one quarter in there during which, while he did post a lot, his grade was not among the best in the class. Why not?

Quality.

Unless you are Ari and can somehow manage to comment a dozen times on every single thread out there, you will find yourself limited to the one(s) that interest you the most. And in these threads, you should be firm, make solid points, support what you say with the text if possible, address issues others have brought up, and above all argue your thoughts clearly and cohesively. You won’t need 300+ posts to be excellent as long as you are involved in the conversations on a regular basis.

No one expects you to spend your life on these boards. But when you do go online, find the threads that most interest you, read through what has been said, and become involved. Return a day or two later to continue the conversation. And don’t be afraid to start your own threads when you have something important to discuss. If you do these things—and don’t take weeks off at a time from the discussions--you’ll be rewarded for your efforts. You might receive ice cream, a symbol of extra credit that says your post is especially good, or even the coveted wave, a sign that you’ve done something truly wonderful.

Grades for posting come down to a complex formula that combines quantity with quality, and quality is the overriding factor.* So the real secret to good posting is this: be involved, be consistent, and make your points thoroughly and clearly. These are not formal pieces of writing, but they are informal analysis, so treat them as such. The style may be friendlier, and they are most assuredly writing to learn, but they are designed to puzzle out issues with your classmates and to continue and enhance conversations begun in the classroom. Sometimes we’ll use them to prepare for classroom conversation as well.

There is no “wrong” answer on the boards. (Heck, there is rarely a “wrong” answer anywhere.) Here you can feel free to explore ideas. And a good poster is someone who is unafraid to do so.

Now: on to the boards! Click here.

* Essentially: # posts + x cred for stronger posts, but major category posts count double if they are significant and ex cred can really add a lot. (It’s actually more complicated that this, but that’s the watered-down version.)