Are the replies important?

I've read a few posts lately where some people feel that the replies to threads aren't very important and it is really only the first post that should be focused on (in terms of search engines as well as human readers).

Do you agree with this? Is the first post alone the "meat" of the thread?

I disagree with this outlook. I feel that it is the replies that make a thread worthwhile. A lot of times, the first post is a question or just a conversation-starter; it's the replies that get the informative and useful dialog going and make reading the thread worthwhile.

 

I would agree with that Nick...

the thread title helps a lot as well, dont you agree.?

 

I agree that the first post is often just the starter. I love it when a post turns into a serious and popular thread of value.

 

There would be no real "discussion" without replies. Think about it - discussion forums would become static sources of content with no real edge and/or "fun factor".

 

Of course replies are important, thats the whole point of a forum.

 

Definitely think the replies are important. Heck, in many cases, the first post is simply a question which gets a lot of the more comprehensive and interesting answers posted as replies, such as 'What forum software is best?' then all the analysis and comparisons and explanations are the replies saying 'X is best because...[evidence]'.

This is also why I personally never got certain mods which only show the first post in a topic to certain usergroups. They basically do more damage than it's worth, unless the topic is either an article or sticky topic with a long, detailed guide in it.

 

As the first post has got us all replying.....:doh:...nice one nick..

 

Nick's crafty like that, Dave.

 

I only read Nick's post. No one else's below his. WHAT? Whatever.

Yes, people read the first one. It sets the tone. But that's the whole point of building a community is to have discussion and conversation, right? Otherwise we would just read twitter all the time.

I think it would be pointless to create a forum where only the first post has any value.

 

I hope Wayne jumps into the conversation. It was his post(s) that I read which implied that it is the first post that is most important. Perhaps I misunderstood him, but I hope he will join us and clarify or elaborate. I'll see if I can find his post.

 

Okay, here is Wayne's post:

Now that I re-read it, it seems that he is referring to the way search engines perceive the threads and their replies, and not the meaningfulness of the posts to human readers.

 

Yep, it was about what SEO looks at on vB. And he mentioned in a reply that it was pretty much the same for all of the forum scripts.