I read the first four or five replies, and then I skim through the posts I can see from the reply page. Usually I do that while thinking about how to word my responses.

That's enough for me to see what has and hasn't been said (for the most part) and decide what to contribute.

I flick through them, at best, just to make sure what I said hasn't already been said depending on the situation of course.

When it's a discussion/debate, definitely, I wouldn't wanna look like an idiot by repeating a bunch of points people already brought up.
More lighthearted threads like these, eh, I just poke around the pages a bit and read a few responses, especially if I notice someone I know or see an eyecatching post, but other than that, not really much reading going on. Especially not if there's a ton of unread pages to go through.

Yes and no.. Threads like this I mostly read just first post since it is personal opinion and that is it but then threads like discussion for something particular or answering a question I tend to read all if there isn't very many pages but if it is something important I tend to read all/skim.

I always do it when replying in the debate forum unless the thread has a ridiculous amount of replies in which case I only some of the comments to see if anything I want to say has been said and to get a better perspective on what the general opinion on something on here is. And I sometimes do it when I'm posting in the other forums as well again to see if what I want to say has been said.

Well it actually depends for me. I'm sure in the past I have done that once or twice but now if its a actual discussion or topic of importance I read all replies. If it's like a polls and questions or crazy house aka non- discussion thread I don't. In the past I didn't pay much attention but as I have got older things intrigue me a lot more than they used to and usually not reading everything in a discussion thread for me doesn't happen anymore.

Not usually.

Obviously it depends on the type of thread and how big it is.

I have read every reply in my ask anything thread obviously but I don't read every reply before adding my opinion. My response quite often has nothing to do with previous responses.


Although if it is a help/questions thread then I will check the responses to see if everyone is giving the right answer. If the answer is good then I don't respond.

For me if the thread is many pages long over 3 I will read the first page to get the gist of the topic and the last page to see where the conversation has gone.  With the game threads I read the last page only.  The help pages I will read the whole thing.  So in all it actually depends on what the thread is about.

Other than checking if I already posted on that subject, I rarely read the whole thread. I might skim through the first page to get a general idea of what people are saying but I never read everything, especially when it's over 2 pages long.

The only times I read the comments before replying is when I'm looking to see if I already replied or if the thread I'm planning to post a thread such as "hate on the next pokemon". Other than that, I usually don't read all the comments.

I try to read through? I mean, obviously it's simply not possible if it's a ginormous thread, but I'll flip through pages to see how much discussion is going on and whether or not the topic has moved to different things before I post. I'll also try to at LEAST read the last page fully, to make sure I'm not butting in on something. Don't want to be rude, after all.

I don't always succeed, I'll be the first to admit, but I at least try. For instance, I've read all the posts in this thread because hey, only two pages. I can manage that! And since this is more of a question thread than a true discussion, I don't feel like I'm going to butt in on something, which's good. The topic does seem a bit kicked to death now, but since people are still answering and the answers are still different, I guess it's relevant? 

SoL@R : I've actually had a few embarrassing times when I skip over the replies and I don't know what anyone is talking about
(Believe me, never ever get into that situation! EVER!)

I almost never read all of the replies to a thread before I post in it (like this one, which I didn't read any of the replies to ). However, I read at least one reply most of the times I respond to a thread.

It depends on what type of thread it is and how many replies are already in the thread. If it's a debate or a discussion with other posters, I typically read quite a few replies before I work on mine. If it's a thread with just a question and there's no discussion with other posters occurring in the thread, I usually don't read a lot of the replies. I usually read just a few of them, or none of them.

Only in the debate threads I post in. Otherwise, I just kind of scan through whats happening. The good thing is though, I'm a fast reader, but if the thread is just full of huge blocks of text, I don't bother.

I read most of the comments on the first page, if there is one that is fully completed. If not, I just read the first two or so to get an idea of what the discussion is about. If it's just something opinion based, telling experiences and whatnot, I will just post. To be honest, I am too lazy to actually read most posts. I will if they are interesting to me, and if I can keep my attention on it long enough. I have a really bad attention span haha.

Most of the time, I don't read hardly any of the comments. Usually I just read whatever the title of the thread is, whether its a question or a statement, to see if it interests me enough to make a comment. Sometimes if its still new a thread or it doesn't have very many replies, I'll read the comments just to see what's happening. Or like right now, I'm reading the most recent ( 2 or 3 ) comments to see what other people have said. Like most other people, if my response is related to someone else response, I will summon them ( or 2 people if I'm talking to both of them )

   It always depends on what kind of thread it is and also how many people actually have replied to it.  For something like a debate thread, I'm much more likely to read at least most of the posts, mostly to see what others' opinions on the topic are, and go from there. But usually, once it's more than three pages, I'll skim over the first page, and then read through the most recent ones mostly to see if the topic has evolved from the first page.
   However, if it's a thread like asking for shiny Pokémon you've found, or recent music you've listened to, I barely read any of the other posts, honestly. My experience will be completely different from everybody else, so repeating something that others have already stated won't really be a problem. And then finally, with the forum game threads, it's pretty rare that I'll read that much of it. I'll glance at the posts that come up with the reply screen to make sure I won't repeat something somebody else just did, but mostly with ones like corrupt-a-wish that have been around forever, repeating other similar posts is bound to happen sometimes.

I usually don't. At most I read the first, and last two posts in a thread. If it's a smaller debate thread I'll read the posts. Great comedy material right there. Or if it's a forum game, especially elimination, there isn't any real need to read anything but the first and last post.

Well, it really depends. If there's a thread which I didn't understand its point, then I read at least the first two replies so I understand better the thread. If the thread was so clear, then I just reply to it with my opinion and I return to the Board as usual. If it was a forum game, then I just read the last reply.

Sometimes I do, so that I understand what it's for.