Because sometimes I wonder what people’s habits are. 
When there is a thread on CC that is NEW (or new to you) how do you read the content?
Read the OP post and then comment?
Read the OP post and all posts after that - then comment?
It’s already a thread of several pages - do you read the OP post and then the last page or two before commenting?
Other methods?
Not looking to judge or slap any hands or anything but I just am curious. And yes, sometimes frustrated!
2, always. Lol
If I don’t want to read the entire thread, I usually feel that I am not interested enough to comment
For chance me threads, I read a few words then rage quit because everyone is better than me.
Yeah
Generally read OP and then all comments… I rarely comment if I haven’t read every post, because I try to offer a new or different perspective, not duplicate them or pile on.
Sometimes I sit out long threads, like the current one on dodgeball?
I read the OP post and all the other posts before commenting.
“Read the OP post and all posts after that - then comment?”
Yes. Pet peeve is when posters comment and obviously haven’t read the thread and even comment saying they haven’t read the thread but…
I almost always read the whole thing.
If a thread is ridiculously long already I mostly avoid them, although occasionally I’ll read the initial post and then jump to the last few pages and read those… eg, when I joined the parents of the class of 2020 thread, that sort of thing. Otherwise I’ll read the whole thread before answering.
I’ll amend my answer somewhat. On a long running thread, such as the diet and exercise or the dressing young or the wedding ones, I’ll not read all the responses. They are long running and I have probably read most of the responses. But if there is a question asked, I’ll read the responses to that question before answering. But there are times I am actually busy and (gasp!) don’t keep up with long running but interesting to me.
Now topics that blow up, such as the cheating sandal one, I will follow for a while and give up because I can’t keep up. Or honestly, it moves into minutiae that I don’t really care about so I’ll move on.
And there are others like the dodgeball one, that I am not interested in and can quickly see that I won’t touch with a ten foot pole.
I usually stick to the topics that are interesting to me and are upbeat topics. I like exercise, fashion, and traveling and those are the topics you’ll usually see me commenting on. Or food, which I don’t usually comment on but like to read.
I read the OP letter, read the first page or two of responses, and then skim the rest before answering.
But, in general, I tend to avoid the super-long threads with innocuous headlines (“what should I do about this?”) because i know that by the time a bland question has reached 20 or 30 pages, it must have run into Godwin’s law which asserts that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
I’ve taken to avoiding dumpster fire threads lately where it’s just going to get ugly and the point gets lost. I don’t need any more stress.
Otherwise, I read the full thread and then post.
I nearly always read the full thread before posting.
@squ1rrel wins the thread.
@abasket I do try to at least skim through previous posts. If there are more than a few pages, I typically stay out, e.g. the “dodgeball” thread.
You all are making me curious to look at the dodgeball thread. 
Another one who reads all responses before posting, though I agree with a couple of others who interpret that differently on a long-running thread.
I think it depends on the question. Like this one. Why should I read the whole thing before commenting? You’re asking what I do.
Now, if it’s someone looking for advice, I like to read through the whole thing first to see if anyone else has covered my opinion already. Or to be able to add to thoughts if I can.
So, I think it depends on the topic. JMO.
Interesting distinction, @VaBluebird – if I care enough to answer a question, I’m too nosy not to read what others posted!
I try to keep my mouth shut until I see what everyone else has had to contribute. Often, that works.
I’m with everyone else. I don’t want to repeat an identical opinion and sometimes the question veers off into other discussions.
I try to not get involved in discussions that will probably grate on me. I wasn’t touching the dodgeball one with a 10 ft keyboard.
Like most who have responded, I read the OP and the comments before posting. If I find it interesting enough to participate, I’ll generally bookmark it so I get notifications. If it goes off the rails, I deactivate the bookmark and ignore going forward. There are some threads where it might not be necessary to read previous posts, like requests for recipes, but the best conversations come about when all the posters are tuned into the previous responses, IMO.