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Watch Me Fail Spectacularly

by Dan C. Rinnert
11 replies
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<rant>

You know what really bugs me? The "watch me do this" threads, especially the ones that you don't find out are a "watch me do this" thread until after you've opened it.

How about this?

Instead of having us watch you do whatever, how about you just go ahead and do it and don't tell us about it until you have results?

It will save a lot of wasted time, because a lot of the "watch me" threads either end up deleted as a precursor to a WSO or the experiment fails and we never see the OP again or it gets forgotten and we never learn the results anyway.

"Watch me do this" is something best reserved for people who have actually done it and are now showing the rest of us how to do it. If you're just wanting us to watch you do something you've never tried before or an experiment or whatever, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sorry, I dozed off at the thought of it.

</rant>
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Hi Dan,

    If I remember correctly, those can be reported and removed from the forum. I don't remember the reasoning behind it, but for some reason I think they are not allowed on the forum.

    All the best,
    Michael
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    • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post

      Hi Dan,

      If I remember correctly, those can be reported and removed from the forum. I don't remember the reasoning behind it, but for some reason I think they are not allowed on the forum.

      All the best,
      Michael
      I think the reason was that these "follow along while I eat breakfast" type threads belonged in the blogs, not the general discussion forum.

      Not sure if that counts as a reason though...but it works for me. I never really liked those threads either. I don't think newbies need motivation...many just need a smack in the head and/or a kick in the rear.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    LOL - I like that falling asleep bit at the end.

    But I kind of like the "watch me do this for the first time" threads. Because many times if someone happens upon a technique that is successful for them, there's no way they'd ordinarily share it w/ anyone.

    However, in a "watch me do this" thread, they may accidentally be sharing a successful technique without knowing it, until it's successful.

    To me it would be kind of like a new Discovery Channel reality show, maybe called "watch me start a business". Of course you'd be watching a large majority of the businesses fail. But you'd learn something in the process of watching a failure. Plus you may actually catch a gem once in a while.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    If done right, the Watch Me threads can be extremely benefivial and motivating to newbies. But you are absolutely correct that the vast majority of them (in my opinion) are wastes of time because they never go anywhere meaningful.

    Normally the OP will update regularly for a week and then drop off. This is probably pretty similar to many people who start IM...they quit within a week.


    So the idea behind the threads is great, assuming the person is willing to put in the work and effort to

    A) pursue it long enough to have some meaningful results
    B) update the thread at regular intervals
    C) actually make it to help others, not purely as motivation to themselves


    These threads are great idea, but great ideas are often meaningless and valueless unless pursued in good manner
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by Kenster View Post

      Normally the OP will update regularly for a week and then drop off. This is probably pretty similar to many people who start IM...they quit within a week.
      I remember one where the OP wanted us to watch him make $1000 in 24 hours. As I recall, I don't think the thread was ever updated at the end of the 24 hours. I suspect it may have been deleted as I've not been able to find it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

        I remember one where the OP wanted us to watch him make $1000 in 24 hours. As I recall, I don't think the thread was ever updated at the end of the 24 hours. I suspect it may have been deleted as I've not been able to find it.

        Haha, pretty ambitious goal if it was a newb.

        Here's the problem...


        if the people are not successful, they are normally ashamed to admit it
        if the people are sucucessful, they want to keep scooping in the money without everybody on their case about exactly how they did it.


        I really think it can be a beneficial exercise though, if done right
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        • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
          The two best threads in that catagory that I recall are one by TommyGadget and the other by NewbiesDiary. Can't remember the thread titles, but they were both probably nuked.

          Both were great case studies and good examples of how threads like that should be handled (not the nuke part...:p)

          ~Bill
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          • Profile picture of the author John Henderson
            Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

            The two best threads in that catagory that I recall are one by TommyGadget and the other by NewbiesDiary. Can't remeber the thread titles, but they were both probably nuked.
            Shame about Stef's one getting nuked (NewbiesDiary). That thread really showed what determination was all about.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Henderson
    The very first thread I ever read after discovering WarriorForum was "Watch over my shoulder as I build a blog/website/outside toilet and flip it in 7 days". I think the author was "Thomas" or "Tommy" or something and the thread went on for pages and pages...
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  • Profile picture of the author The-English-Webmistress
    Dan, your rant is just too funny... I think the same about Twitter posts that say nonsense like "I have to pee so bad, but if I leave class for 2 mins Ill miss out on sooo much!! Hang in there bladder of mine!"

    (Note: and this is AN ACTUAL TWEET Y'ALL!!! I mean, how WRONG is that?)


    Andrea, The English Webmistress
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    The-English-Webmistress is really Andrea, who went backpacking the world, accidentally landed in Panama, Central America, and never left. (Beaches! Mountains! Hot latin music! Piña Coladas!) She doesn't miss the London commute AT ALL...
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr. E
    Ahh, I'm new here, so I don't share the past history, but I find those threads at the least somewhat amusing and at times I learn a thing or two.
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