Stick to the point perhaps.?

[Gastines]

When a subject or question is posted on the forum, is it too much to ask members to stick to the subject instead of virtually every item degenerating into dozens of childish reposts, my original question on Rennes and Graffiti being a good example. I don't think I'll bother posting anything again.

Regards,

[Dick Smith]

I think that the original post got a pretty serious hearing at first - though there isn't that much to say about it - and then the thread did what threads always seem to do on this and all other forums - it drifted away when everyone had said all they wanted to on the topic. It's actually around page 4 that it wanders.

Perhaps you should have maintained more of a dialogue as it went along?

[Clair]

How appropriate!

My OH was saying just that this morning... He's rather new to this forum lark and was commenting about that very subject.

He gets into what he thinks is an interesting subject (he's into cars, renovation, woodwork...) and sees it being diluted, usually with the same posters seemingly continuing a private conversation, the original post and relevant comments rapidly disappearing behind an exchange of banter and very occasional wit best had via PMs or in the Lounge.

I have directed him to the Other Forum, where discussions seem to stick to the point without the mods having to resort to constant reminders...

I have to say I'm starting to agree with him.

[Weedon]

As I see it, there are such a diversity of interests and things people may feel strongly about at any given time, that it is often difficult to find many others who:- A, either have the same interest or B, feel even slightly warm to a particular topic.  Hence the post moves on to something others find more interesting.

Funnily enough it is why I think the ABC topic in The Lounge is so well subscibed to as the the subject continually changes and you can see that different people have different mindsets to any particular theme.

This forum after all said and done and in the great scheme of things is not that important, is it?

[Baz]

I have to agree that too many topics are degenerating into meaningless banter and completely ignoring the original posting. There is a place for members  who wish to banter by simply opening a topic specifically for that purpose rather than  destroying an otherwise informative subject. I have been on this site from nearly its start and one must expects changes with the increasing membership, but many people want to just glean information and are forced to repeat the same questions time and time again simple because finding the subject is often nearly impossible in search due to subjects going off topic.

I ask the banterer's to continue to have fun between themselves by keeping to their own topics or PM's and respect the serious topics by please leaving them alone.

Baz

[Russethouse]

If you feel a thread is going off topic just press the report button, I looked through the top 7 or 8 sections just last week looking for this type of thing and didn't find too much to worry about, but Mods can't read every post in every thread and are grateful for the input of members.

Please don't think that you are 'telling tales' or being a snitch, its important that the serious information topics stay 'on topic' There is a lounge, an email and a PM system for the other stuff.

Gastines, I think Dick has a point, it does help if the original poster remains involved to some extent.

[Benjamin]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

Gastines, I think Dick has a point, it does help if the original poster remains involved to some extent.

[/quote]

You're joking RH[:D]

It was my innocuous Reuters posting that started this weekend's fisticuffs. As soon as I saw which way it was going I stayed well clear.

There are some serious people with some serious points to make and you cannot expect them to be 100% correct all the time. However there are some who take every opportunity to goad these professional debaters and that's where it starts to go askew.

I only ever post on this forum and whilst I don't normally get involved with the heavyweight boys and girls here I find the diversity of direction that threads take absolutely fascinating.

Long may it continue.

[Clair]

[quote user="Benjamin"][.... I find the diversity of direction that threads take absolutely fascinating. Long may it continue. [/quote]

I disagree and it appears, so do others...

I tend to "switch off" and ignore threads which go on for page after page with subject-unrelated witty(?) "one-liners", usually made by the same clique* of people for whom the Lounge was created.

*clique: in-group or circle (just in case the use of the word is misconstrued for its more pejorative sense)

PS: I seem to remember a rather stormy thread a few years back about the subject of how cliquey (sp?) the forum seemed to be for new-comers...

[Clair]

[quote user="Russethouse"]If you feel a thread is going off topic just press the report button, I looked through the top 7 or 8 sections just last week looking for this type of thing and didn't find too much to worry about, but Mods can't read every post in every thread and are grateful for the input of members. Please don't think that you are 'telling tales' or being

a snitch, its important that the serious information topics stay 'on

topic' There is a lounge, an email and a PM system for the other stuff.

Gastines, I think Dick has a point, it does help if the original poster remains involved to some extent.[/quote]Well, I don't feel it's for me to deprive others of a discussion

they might actually enjoy (see Benjamin's post earlier). So I simply

ignore it.

I've always seen the report button as a last resort tool for really objectionable comments...

[YCCMB]

Oddly enough, Clair, and this has been bugging me a touch recently, I do remember about 3 years ago when certain newer members started threads along the lines of those in the lounge (esp. stuff like "what kind of animal are you" and so on) and were roundly criticised and berated for doing just that, and at least one person left. I have no strong feelings either way, personally, as I'm just as likely to get involved in a drifting thread as a serious topic, and don't feel I'm in any position to criticise other people for doing the same. I do think Dick made a good point, though. Sometimes after a relatively short while, threads have exhausted the main topic and do then tend to drift. It's like any conversation in real life, except that real-life conversations don't have a "title" and people wander off where the conversation takes them. I am finding it a bit ironic though, thinking back to that last occasion, that even some of the critics now appear to feel quite differently about light-hearted threads with no real relevance to France.

[Russethouse]

Clair, To be honest I think most forums, especially those of long standing, have cliques, I could think of several here, the danger is when the presence of a clique disrupts posts that need good solid information.

If that happens then don't hesitate to let a mod know, we are always happy to attempt to get a thread back on topic especially in the sections 'above' the post bag. (Actually Gastines your thread may have faired better in the French culture section)

 

[Bugsy]

A worthwhile post but very difficult to achieve in reality. I belong to several forums and all, without exception, suffer from thread 'hijacking' to a certain degree.

On a Triumph forum I use frequently, we simply post "Hijack, lets get back on track" and this usually works. Exceptions are the usual 'oddballs' that drift into and out-of the forums.

There is also the 'mines bigger than yours' brigade who seem happy to rubbish someones genuine attempt at a contribution to the forum.

This is, of course, all part of the pleasure of being involved with forums and I have to say that this site seems to be very fairly moderated. If you struggle with that there is another, (no names), french forum that will ban you without any communication, if you even cough out of turn.

Enjoy this site and say after me,

I will not hijack a thread,

I will not hijack a thread,

I will not hijack a thread................................[:D][:D]

[Dick Smith]

OK - mea culpa - but most hijacked threads have long answered the original point.

On another forum I go to there is a tradition, when things get heated or way off-track of posting pictures of kittens (followed by favourite recipes). When I did that on another French forum I was banned - for good - by the site owner's girlfriend, who clearly doesn't do irony...

But I still think it's a good idea in som circumstances, except that Frumadmin now says we mustn't do it because thr kittens may be infringing someone's intellectual property rights.

[Chris Head]

But what if the conversation naturally evolves and just happens to flow away from the original subject? This forum has got to be the best on the net, in my opinion,  because of the characters who post and the diversity of conversation involved. I don't think anyone deliberately sets out to hijack but there are those of us whose thought patterns are perhaps a little different and more diverse than those who rigidly stick to the topic.

[Deimos]

Do people not think that there is a difference between a thread moving subject a bit to a related but relevant area and when a thread is hijacked completely into the "page after page with subject-unrelated witty(?) "one-liners"" (as Claire described it).

From an informational perspective, somebody searching and finding a relevant thread may have to plough through pages in case there is the real answer to their situation buried somewhere amongst the "page after page with subject-unrelated witty(?) "one-liners"".

Personally, if people are lonely and need somebody to speak to there are loads of appropriate threads in the Lounge and I cannot understand why they feel the need to hijack other informational threads - but that's just me.

Ian

[chris pp]

Having a diverse capability in thinking should, I would suggest, also endow the possessor with the ability to discipline and direct those processes, rather than just jerking around like a puppet on a string, in exactly the same way that we modify and discipline our physical behaviour.

Chris

[Bugsy]

That's rather profound for a wet Sunday afternoon Chris...........................[8-)]

[chris pp]

Sorry, it's the way my mind works..........

Chris

[Bugsy]

It was a compliment, actually....................[:D]

[Dick Smith]

You have to remember, Bugbear, that making a post which has involved thought all too often gets the poster abused on this forum. Chrispp doesn't do jokes, he just does serious information he cares about...

[Chris Head]

Having a diverse capability in thinking should, I would suggest, also endow the possessor with the ability to discipline and direct those processes.

Why's that Chris?

Ok let me put it this way...there are as many posters on here who one wonders if they were at the back of the queue when sense of humour was being handed out and who clearly only ever stick to the subject matter involved and never deviate from that as there are posters who post one liners and appear to jerk around like a puppet on a string, both types of poster and all those in between are as valid as anybody else, nobody is more or less relevant than anybody else. That's what gives this forum the depth and breadth it has.

So where is the line in what deviation is permitted within a thread? Perhaps we could take the view of a really sensible person with little sense of humour and then the view of a confirmed lunatic and then let somebody who's pretty much in the middle comment?

[Bugsy]

Too much cheese before bedtime can also cause problems..............................[:D]

[cooperlola]

I guess it's just too much admin' to ask the moderators to sticky the long banter into the Lounge when it strays too far off-topic.  The Reuters post was a good example, as I genuinely was interested to know where the best place to buy dollars was over here.  A couple of nudges in the correct direction, did in fact, bear fruit in the end.

 

btw, Clair, please tell Mr Clair if he wants to indulge in a bit of chat about petrol burners, I will happily join in.

[Chris Head]

You wouldn't be joking about such a serious topic would you Bugbear?

(I know, it gives me nightmares about social charges!)

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]

But I still think it's a good idea in som circumstances, except that Frumadmin now says we mustn't do it because thr kittens may be infringing someone's intellectual property rights.

[/quote]

I can state with no fear of contradiction that my kittens will never infringe anyone's intellectual anything. So just for Dick...

[IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/sleepygril.jpg[/IMG]