I like KJP's analysis of the board. My own breakdown is that there are threads in which people offer a variety of different post-types and that some threads lend themselves to a greater percentage of one than the other:
a) personal experiences, recommendations, or anecdote and opinion based on the same,
b) data/links to other resources, studies, or news articles-- those can be VERY heavy-weight in terms of content, and there are times when I have to really, really think hard and dust off my vocabulary to follow those (but I do generally enjoy them if the topic is of interest-- sometimes it isn't really relevant and I skip them),
c) speculative/playful,
d) support/emotional validation/comfort/congratulations
Many threads are a mixture of the different types of posts, but some are almost exclusively one type or another. I think it's clear that when you look at KJP's breakdown you can predict which types of posts will predominate in which types of threads, mostly.
Occasionally you get surprised-- by asking what you think is a nuts-and-bolts question, but turns out to be an advising thread instead. For example, I asked about precalc materials for independent study for my DD, and really didn't expect a lot of suggestions for her to be certain to have taken another 18 mo of math prior to high school graduation, only mentions of books, coursework, etc. and if I was lucky (which is why I asked here rather than relying on Amazon), why something worked or didn't. It's a good discussion of the factors to consider, though, so it's all good.
