derailin' a thread...how be this defined?

[MeadHallPirate]

ahoy oh Moderators,

me question be in me OP, and i was thinkin' 'bout it whilst i read readin' this thread;

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/whit...ree-obama.html

how does one define goin' off topic? when be it permissable?

...and, when the TS begins to go off into tangents, does that mean that we may respond to them tangents?

- MeadHallPirate

[imported_noahath]

Sometimes threads have a natural discourse and can veer off-topic, but along a related path. Other times posters deliberately try and derail a thread, or will bring in completely un-related subject matter. If staff see a thread is veering off gradualkly, we'll draw posters attention to the topic; if someone is continually ignoring staff instruction, or discussing unrelated matter to the subject at hand, then further action may be taken.

[Tom Palven]

Ahoy me maties! If a new $300 billion spending package to create jobs is a good thing, wouldn't a new three trillion dollar package be ten times as good?

[imported_Jefe]

^ lol, yeah, that's an off-topic post. Thank you for the example, Tom.

[wooyarn]

Sometimes threads have a natural discourse and can veer off-topic, but along a related path. Other times posters deliberately try and derail a thread, or will bring in completely un-related subject matter. If staff see a thread is veering off gradualkly, we'll draw posters attention to the topic; if someone is continually ignoring staff instruction, or discussing unrelated matter to the subject at hand, then further action may be taken.

Sometimes it's a mod that takes it off topic because they don't like the topic.

[imported_chassisman]

ahoy oh Moderators,

me question be in me OP, and i was thinkin' 'bout it whilst i read readin' this thread;

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/whit...ree-obama.html

how does one define goin' off topic? when be it permissable?

...and, when the TS begins to go off into tangents, does that mean that we may respond to them tangents?

- MeadHallPirate

Look at any thread, you'll find a degree of "derailment". Enforcement?....It's all about what catches the eye of an on duty mod.

[imported_Jefe]

Sometimes it's a mod that takes it off topic because they don't like the topic.

I find that hard to believe. If you see someone (including a mod or admin) deliberately trying to derail a thread, please report it.

[tsquare]

I've been on a job site this morning so I missed most of this.

Attachment 11665

Maybe we can just hammer things out?

[Disillusioned_1]

From my own standpoint (and there doesn't seem to be a uniform way that every mod can view every post with the same opinion), I usually won't do anything if there are a couple of minor tangent arguments taking place throughout a thread, and personally I often participate more on those than the primary point. Usually I try to state my opinion on the tangent, and then bring up something about the main point again. As long as the thread quickly comes back to the main point, or if the original poster is participating in the tangent, then I don't take action.

Oftentimes a thread that is 10+ pages long has little to do with the main topic, but since its still an active thread, nobody wants to shut down or re-direct the thread unless there are people still posting about the original topic.

Whether something is offtopic or not, or whether its a dead-end post which simply corrects a mis-statement someone made is a tough thing to define uniformly across ~5-10 moderators, and even if all the mods agree on the issue, certain posters may not.

[MattLarson]

To me, it depends on the degree of divergence and the apparent intent. For example:

Thread topic: Obama had done A
Poster 1: A is bad.
Poster 2: A is good.
Poster 3: Bush did X (where X has nothing to do with A)
Poster 4: I kind of support A, but wish he had done B
Poster 5: A was a mistake, and his reasons are wrong.
Poster 6: A was a very good idea, and will make things better. B would not have worked.
Poster 3: Fox news sucks!
Poster 4: B was the better option because <yadda yadda yadda>

In this example, poster 3 is attempting to derail the thread, introducing irrelevant points in an attempt to shift the topic away from Obama's implementation of A.

Matt