Recent Threadjacks

[malkie]

Is it only me, or does anyone else notice a pattern here.

1. Someone starts a thread.
2. Others comment on topic.
3. Someone highjacks the thread, usually with some little quibble.
4. Half the thread devolves into side discussions that are completely off topic.

[Mixman76]

Yep, Sledge is really good at that.

[drumdude]

Yep, Sledge is really good at that.

Someone has to defend the good Dr. Peterson's name around here, he's not going to do it himself!

[IHAQ]

The ignore function is being under-utilised. I’ve reported off topic postings before with no response that I’m aware of. So thread jacking goes on (and is facilitated by other posters responding) unabated. It’s been much more noticeable of late.

It will be interesting to see if this thread gets thread jacked…

[Dr. Shades]

Seemingly nine times out of ten, the person who reports a thread jack does so only after he or she has responded to the thread jack half a dozen times.

[Physics Guy]

My experience is that different boards, and different people on the same board, often have different ideas about what threads are supposed to be. Some think that a thread is supposed to stick to its original topic and when it runs dry, die with honor. Others think of message board threads as conversation topics which just naturally drift. The original topic is for time only, as it were.

There are things to be said for both approaches, I think. For what it's worth I'd rather err on the side of having too much threadjacking, because at least that's more lively. Erring on the opposite side tends to reduce board activity overall, it seems to me. If a thread gets jacked there's always the option of jacking it back again, and reverting to the original topic with a post that attracts more attention.

(Seeking a term for that, I considered "threadjilling", but even apart from another tendentiously gendered term being the last thing we need, I find it just hard to say. I propose "backjacking" for how it rolls off the tongue.)

I think that maybe Celestial here is better at keeping threads on their initial rails. Going there for more disciplined threads might be an option.

[IHAQ]

Seemingly nine times out of ten, the person who reports a thread jack does so only after he or she has responded to the thread jack half a dozen times.

Are you saying the moderators will only respond to off topic notifications providing the notifier hasn't responded to the off topic posts being reported?

[huckelberry]

Is it only me, or does anyone else notice a pattern here.

1. Someone starts a thread.
2. Others comment on topic.
3. Someone highjacks the thread, usually with some little quibble.
4. Half the thread devolves into side discussions that are completely off topic.

This pattern happens but I do not see a negative here. A thread follows the line of peoples interest. I think they should roam free. I remember some threads I found interesting which happily followed two subject lines.

I cannot see an ownership issue here.

[Symmachus]

]
This pattern happens but I do not see a negative here. A thread follows the line of peoples interest. I think they should roam free. I remember some threads I found interesting which happily followed two subject lines.

I cannot see an ownership issue here.

Excuse me, Huck, but this thread is about off-topic thread jacks, not whether you think they are good or not.

Personally, I hate on-topic thread jacks.

[Bought Yahoo]

I like cutsie cartoons posted with memes, or without memes. A light saber is a huge plus.