Oh my god! Hijackers!!!!!

[horsey_dude]

Sometimes I wish people would stay on topic..... It is frustrating to read about a subject that you are interested in and needing to scroll through many many irrelevant posts about what someone had for dinner last night or if they go commando.... (no offence to anyone who has posted on these subjects, I just made them up without meaning to point the finger at anyone).

There are some forums where the original poster can delete posts that they feel are not relevant, what do you think of that?

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by horsey_dude
Sometimes I wish people would stay on topic..... It is frustrating to read about a subject that you are interested in and needing to scroll through many many irrelevant posts about what someone had for dinner last night or if they go commando.... (no offence to anyone who has posted on these subjects, I just made them up without meaning to point the finger at anyone).

There are some forums where the original poster can delete posts that they feel are not relevant, what do you think of that?

It would be rude, indeed, not to hijack this thread.

But I can't think of a suitable tangent to go off on...

Can somebody help????


I don't think this is a good idea though... part of the fun of hanging around here is the variety, the frequent diversions. The signal to noise ratio isn't too bad ... and someone (Franck??) does a pretty good job of splitting threads when they meander off a bit too much.

Gawd, if I had to wonder whether something I posted was going to just get deleted cos someone didn't think it was relevant, I'd probably not bother half the time.

A bit of scrolling through the quips and asides isn't too high a price to pay, surely??

[ChrisA]

.

[Boomer]

I agree with Chris, not that anyone cares reading the threads I've realised that postings are just as organic as 'real conversations'. Just been told off for not having a real conversation I think a bit of waffle on any thread is ok, and as Chris says' Franck does a good job of splitting threads...I must admit to feeling guilty when Franck does this, adding to someones workload etc:sorry Sorry Franck).

That being said, I do also agree with Horsey dude in some respects. I do think that a new thread should be given a chance, meaning that at least the first few posts should be on topic.

[TheTramp]

Fish

[Boomer]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Fish

But did it go commando?

The end has begun.


!

[Wendy]

Although just spoke about this on another thread (hee hee) I know what you mean HD... it can be frustrating.. and some people like the sound of their own "humour" or launch into a dialogue which excludes the rest of us....... think that happens in real life too though .....and maybe it's a good thing a lot us don't talk at CEROC... cos we are too busy dancing....????

I wouldn't want Franck to have to take out posts that were off-topic....

Maybe Statsman can work out how many posts it takes for things to go awry ???

Maybe naughty off-topic posters could put an * at the beginning of any nonsense so HD didn't have to waste so much time.... ???

Belated * x 14 for posts of mine which have been off-topic out of nearly 1000....

Wxxx

[Dance Demon]

Originally posted by Wendy
... it can be frustrating.. and some people like the sound of their own "humour" or launch into a dialogue which excludes the rest of us.......

AHEM!!!!!!!! , I seem to recall at the beginning of this year, a thread called " the Chicklet, Wendy and Dave(Hancock) Free Thread"...so that everyone else could get a word in edgeways .........some of us have been around on this forum long enough to remember a certain person, with a "Peanuts" character as her avatar trying her hardest to beat Trampys spamming record........people in glass houses my girl

any way, Steve,........about that fish

[michael]

Would that be a Salmon by any chance?

Do you fish Steve or are you just fishing!!!

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by michael
Would that be a Salmon by any chance?

Do you fish Steve or are you just fishing!!!

I dunno. I thought that I was hi-jacking

Steve

[Emma]

I don't think thread starters should be able to remove posts they think are irrelevant, mainly because sometimes the threads go off in other directions which may not be relevant to the original topic, but are still interesting...at which point they tend to get split.

I agree it can be extremely frustrating when threads go off topic ...but then I think we are all guilty of the occasional off-topic comment, and after all most conversations drift about a bit. You can't expect threads to stay exactly on topic. Life ain't like that.

....especially not with Boomer, Pammy et al around!

[frodo]

Originally posted by horsey_dude
Sometimes I wish people would stay on topic..... It is frustrating to read about a subject that you are interested in and needing to scroll through many many irrelevant posts about what someone had for dinner last night or if they go commando.... (no offence to anyone who has posted on these subjects, I just made them up without meaning to point the finger at anyone).

There are some forums where the original poster can delete posts that they feel are not relevant, what do you think of that?

[i]Originally posted by Wendy[i]

I wouldn't want Franck to have to take out posts that were off-topic
...
Maybe naughty off-topic posters could put an * at the beginning of any nonsense so HD didn't have to waste so much time.... ???
...

I agree very much that it can be annoying, but sometimes it isn't at all, so would not like the thread starter to make that decision.

Rating of posts is probably a common solution to this sort of thing, but that assumes the majority of participants want to remain on topic, and care about rating. Giving the thread starter only the power to rate (rather than delete) might be better.

I really like Wendy's star :-) though, and think it could work. If only the forum could support hiding starred posts.


Thought this thread was about hijacking (steal) dances from the title.

[Wendy]

Originally posted by Dance Demon
AHEM!!!!!!!! , I seem to recall at the beginning of this year, a thread called " the Chicklet, Wendy and Dave(Hancock) Free Thread"...so that everyone else could get a word in edgeways .........some of us have been around on this forum long enough to remember a certain person, with a "Peanuts" character as her avatar trying her hardest to beat Trampys spamming record........people in glass houses my girl

I didn't say I WASN'T one of those people did I ??? Where's that lawyer bloke !!!!! Yes I was totally guilty of that at one point..more than one probably !!! ..... but Chickie made me do it !!! hee heee ...As I rule I try not to......honest !!! And if I do, I do TRY to be funny... of course, I'm not a stand-up comic so I can't guarantee that I will be........

Seriously ...I think some people don't know when it would be appreciated by the rest of us if they'd PM instead of holding private conversations in public.... I do see HD's point .. in fact part of the reason I stopped posting for a while was cos every thread seeemed to be going off-topic and full of "in" jokes/conversations which made it hard to join in.....

Now I'm back, I'll try to be good.....

Wxxx

[Wendy]

Maybe we need to name and shame the spammers !!! (Don't think that would take Statsman very long !!!!!) They are a bit like smokers afterall....maybe we should politely ask them to stop so as to keep the forum a spam-free zone ??????

Maybe we need to run an assertiveness course...

Elements could be :

How to deal effectively with :

- spammers
- smokers
- gropers
- people with BO
- hypocrites (and that is one for a few chums to appreciate - so apologies if that was an "in" joke for most of you !!!)

Wxxx

[Graham]

Originally posted by horsey_dude
There are some forums where the original poster can delete posts that they feel are not relevant, what do you think of that?

I don't think there should be any form of censorship, whether by the thread "owner" or by a moderator. However, I understand why you get frustrated. It's all very well when you're logging on every day or two - when you come across a hijacked thread you can just flick past the bits which don't interest you, but when you're only looking at the forum every so often, there are so many new posts that it's so much easier if you can just select which threads to read.

I think the answer is to do what Franck already does - if a thread goes too much off at a tangent, then it should be split from the original. This would keep the serious discussions "pure" for those who prefer that, but it also works the other way round - sometimes I've missed funny/interesting tangents because they were posted on a thread which I had previously thought dull or not relevant to me, and stopped reading.

I think the odd one-liner is okay though - it doesn't take long to scroll past.

[Dance Demon]

maybe we could have a "Spam can" section, where the moderator could chuck things that go Waaayyyyy...off thread..
Agree with the big pink guy though, wee divertions and one liners are ok....its just when it goes off at a huge tangent that people get peed off

PS....hiya Wendy...nice to have you back

[TheTramp]

I have to say that I don't have much of a problem with most 'hi-jackings'. I think that Franck and his little helpers do a great job of splitting threads off when they take a different turn from what the original poster intended. And sometimes the one liners and such are more interesting than the original threads. Though, I do admit that keeping up with the forum pretty much daily, and having broadband does help in this....

The only time I really can't be bothered reading much, is when two people start to have a private conversation, of nothing that interests me (or, I suspect, anyone else other than those two people). Then they really should take it into PMs. Usually, when threads start this, I stop reading them, and then find out later that the thread has gone back to normality, and I've missed something interesting.....

Steve

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally posted by TheTramp

The only time I really can't be bothered reading much, is when two people start to have a private conversation, of nothing that interests me (or, I suspect, anyone else other than those two people). Then they really should take it into PMs

Indeed. So Tramp, get that T-bar to work yet ?

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Dreadful Scathe
Indeed. So Tramp, get that T-bar to work yet ?

Yes thanks DS.

How's the dog?

Steve

[Dave Hancock]

I think the problem with censhorship is that if the thread originator is able to cut out posts which he believes to be off-topic then surely he could also pull off posts which didn't agree with his point and the forum would lose a lot its appeal.

I do think that taking posts off-topic is a bit of a problem and it is quite annoying when a serious topic is being debated and then a couple of folk suddenly post about 3 pages of irrelevant p!sh. I agree with Graham that Franck is pretty good at cutting a lot of these threads out and starting new threads from the point where they have gone off-topic.

However I do think that it would be beneficial to the forum if the majority of people stuck to keeping chatty comments in the chit chat area rather than the main dance conversation areas.