Topic: Hi-jacking threads - a plea to stop

[Georgie]

Okay, at the risk of sounding like a grumps, can I ask you all to consider how you reply to threads.  I know there is a temptation to hail your friends and go off topic (and I know I've done it) but can I make plea that we try and remain on topic?  I think it's okay here in the shed if topics meander a bit but elsewhere I find it a tad disrespectful.  Or am I alone?

Gx

[lorna]

Georgie Not a grump at all in my opinion. As you say we are possibly all guilty of it at times. However, as Tim pointed out perhaps we could start threads under the correct headings. I for one will try and discipline myself and try to stay on topic.
Lorna

[keef]

Yeah, lets stick to the topic in question. Anyways, been lovely weather over here in Ireland - even got a bit sunburnt in Bundoran today!  ;D Bit wet back home i here.

[OliveOil]

Gosh i am terrible for going hijacking threads - sometimes it seems pointless posting another thread about something similar, so i tend to add a related question or comment to a thread already moving.  Didnt realise it was bad manners - sorry! ;)

[emmy1978]

Gosh i am terrible for going hijacking threads - sometimes it seems pointless posting another thread about something similar, so i tend to add a related question or comment to a thread already moving.  Didnt realise it was bad manners - sorry! ;)

Yes me too. Sorry.

[pigeonseed]

If the comment is about something related, is that still hijacking?

I think a successful thread is one where it appeals to people so much that the conversation continues for lots of messages. And in that case it develops a bit.

That's how it seems to me anyway.

[froglets]

For me, evolution is fine, going off a tangent, less so.

Every now & again I see a topic has lots o freplies to what sem slike a simple post & have a look - usually turns out there is a lively discussion going on, which is fine as I say if it's about related stuff, but odd if not.

...and I hate missing out on a good discussion!

[Froglegs]

If the comment is about something related, is that still hijacking?

I think a successful thread is one where it appeals to people so much that the conversation continues for lots of messages. And in that case it develops a bit.

That's how it seems to me anyway.

I agree with Pigeonseed going round the houses a bit is how a good conversation go's sometime's

[Jeannine]

Perhaps someone can tell me how you respond to a question that comes up in a thread that is actually not part of the original thread.

eg Post about flooding and someone says  does anyone know how to grow rice ?

If  someone actually knows , do they answer or ignore,

Is this then hi jacking if it is answered and everyone then starts talking about their rice harvest.

I am asking seriously by the way, I have often wondered about that.

XX Jeannine

[asbean]

For me the only problem is when looking back through posts to find a useful tip or comment (or picture).  If the topic has "meandered", as they do sometimes, it can be difficult to find unless one can remember "what we were talking about".  We are all guilty of hijacking threads, but I think that if we were too rigid about starting new threads all the time we would lose the spontaneity which is the success of a forum such as this.

[grawrc]

Well I don't have a problem with it either although I agree with Asbean that it can be irritating if you want to find something later.

Being sentient human beings we are much given to lateral  thinking as in "one idea may conceal another" so we go off at a tangent. Mostly when I realise I am doing it I will apologise and try to end my post back on topic, but sometimes things evolve and one topic becomes a different one. I don't mind that. I don't think I'd like the thought police to be patrolling our forum.

[carolinej]

I like to think of posts as conversations, which are notorious for wandering. I didnt realise anyone was annoyed by this.

I used to be on a wine making forum. That was so 'self policed' that you were told to go and search if you asked anything that could be remotely found elsewhere. I appreciate that the same question can come up more than once, but that is part of being in a 'community'. I stopped using it, as I was always worried about getting told off.  :P

I think if real conversations were policed to make sure we stuck to the point, life would be very tedious. I like the friendly , chatty atmosphere here.

It will be a shame if the chat goes 'underground' and has to be sent by PM, so as not to clutter the threads.

Anyway, thats just my opinion. I will try to keep it on track from now on :-X

cj :)

[Emagggie]

I have had a topic completely taken over by someone, and in fact you would have thought it was originated by that someone else ::). Can't say I liked it much.
I realise most of us are guilty of meandering, and as Grawc says, as long as we come back to the topic somewhere in the post it's acceptable. (to me anyhow ;))

[saddad]

Hope it wasn't me...  :-[  :-[  :-[
One of my many failings... like putting the Open Day Notice in here rather than News..
 :-\

[Emagggie]

Nonononono Saddad. Person doesn't seem to be around nowadays. ;)

[theothermarg]

mmm i,m one of those peeps who has a grasshopper mind  :-[it just hops around with a will of it,s own . OH got mad at me this morning saying NOW what are you on about :'( but there is always a link somewhere a bit obscure
i,ll try to be good promise marg

[grawrc]

Peter's Dad (96) is a master of the non-sequitur, partly because he's deaf but mostly cos he has never learnt to listen. You can be in the middle of a conversation about something when he'll suddenly make a statement that has absolutely nothing to do with what you are talking about as his contribution. You then have to abandon your conversation and backtrack and do detective work to find out what the hell he is talking about and how , if at all, it relates to the topic you were discussing. And then he's all injured self-righteousness and we're making a mountain out of a molehill and.... Aaaaargh!! :o :o

[emmy1978]

Hi - back again with my thoughts. Hopefully I am not too bad at this hijacking thing but apologies if I am!  :-[
The thing is a lot of the time the original question that started the thread has been answered with a few different opinions and there is nothing really to add. Often it's a useful place to ask a related question that is not worth starting a new thread about, especially if some-one you know to be pretty good at a particular plant is contributing to the thread. I dunno. I am rubbish at internet etiquette really.  ::)
Jeannine - I think that would be considered hijacking but then again - it wouldn't bother me if I had started the thread and then it went on a rice tangent. Like a normal conversation, it moves on and can always come back to flooding once the rice issue has been discussed!!  ;D

[kitten]

Ooops, i think i'm guilty of this too, and I apologise.  :-X

I too think it's a bit rude to almost start off your own thread inside someone else's thread, it seems to me that the thread often never really gets back on track after that, and it can be a bit annoying if you haven't quite got the answer to the original question yet!!  ???

I also agree with carolinej though, i used to go on the bbc gardening forum and there were always posters whose stock answers were 'if you google bla bla you'll find lots of info' which isn't that helpful at all really, and negates the whole point of having the forum!

Anyhow, thanks for bringing it up G, it's good that we can all have a discussion about it and perhaps just bear it in mind a bit more from now on x

[grawrc]

There are people on here who suggest you go back to previous threads as well but I have found it very difficult to access the thread I am looking for or that they suggest. Anyway I don't have a problem with starting from scratch.

On reflection I think maybe I'm just quite a tolerant human being?

Maybe if folk find something irritating they should let us all know and we can deal with the instances, since most of it doesn't seem to irritate anyone at all?