Do you mind thread hijacking or does it drive you nuts

[NeilV]

we have had lots of threads discussing this so I thought I would try a poll

I like but thats just me

[Cironir]

It depends a bit on the forum section and the topic of the thread. :) If the topic is "Apple Pie" and half the messages are about "Beef Steak", then it's a bit tedious. But if the original topic is "Micromanagement" and the discussions drifts slowly to game design philosophy, then I don't mind. But generally, I think it's "cleaner" to just fork threads when the discussion strays from the original topic.

[Son of Moose]

I tend to agree with Cironir.

Maybe it would be better to have MORE separate SHORTER threads that are more focussed in their nature. Nevertheless, one can learn some extremely interesting information in "highjacked" threads.

I had never heard of Bullwinkle before ... :D

[Scott7]

I don't really care either way. Sometimes it annoys me, but other times I find quite fun.

[Yahya]

Totally agree with Cironir. It depends on the original subject, and the direction of the hijacking.

I think you tend to get the same results you'd get from the same people in real life. Some people would rather talk about not what you wanted. (And, tada! I highjack! Let's not go down that path...)

[trypist]

I don't understand the question. What is thread hijacking? What is a thread in an Off-Topic part of a forum? My trouble is that I have tenthousand jolly robbins in my mind who never go to sleep- not even at night. I find it difficult to stick to a topic in most circumstances.
Don't we 'hijack' a thread when we quote from a newspaper or magazine or something?
Philip Tarbuck 12 Sep 04

[Rnett]

I'm use to seeing it on other forums, so I guess it doesn't matter to me.
Bullwinkle (http://www.everwonder.com/david/bullwinkle/)

[Son of Moose]

Rnett:

You found the picture I was describing!! :D :D

Now I would REALLY like to have him as a signature (like Miut's cat). :)

[NeilV]

I don't understand the question. What is thread hijacking? What is a thread in an Off-Topic part of a forum? My trouble is that I have tenthousand jolly robbins in my mind who never go to sleep- not even at night. I find it difficult to stick to a topic in most circumstances.
Don't we 'hijack' a thread when we quote from a newspaper or magazine or something?
Philip Tarbuck 12 Sep 04

Thread hijacking is when we start talking about "A" and someone changes it to "B" Then it Goes on to "C" and so on so by time you get to the second page the topic has changed compleatly and has nothing to do with the original thread.

A thread in an Off-Topic part of a forum is just a thread that has nothing to do with the game and we can talk about anything we want.

Quoting is not hijacking unless it is compleatley off topic

does that help

N

[dreamsoftwilight]

So anyway, what do you guys think about the screenshots and stuff?

lol... sorry, had to do it. :D

[SnowDove]

Doesn't bother me..and if the post is one important to the game, people tend to stick to topic anyways. Seem like the threads drift on & off subject the same as any conversation would when you get a bunch of people together. :)

[Tilandra]

If it's an off-topic thread for the forum that it's in, if the topic drifts a bit, I don't really mind... unless I'm the thread originator, in which case I'll tell myself it's what I get for posting OT stuff in the wrong forum area, LOL.

But some of the best info for games I've gotten has been from ON-topic threads that drifted. It's the nature of conversation to evolve, and flow from one topic to another.

As long as people don't turning into a spitting, cursing, b**ch-fest, I don't mind letting a topic wander. :p

[dreamsoftwilight]

I wonder who the other person was that voted for "love hijacking threads"...

[Miut]

Son of Moose, just to hi-jack this thread - which incedentally if the thread is of an informative nature, I do object to it being hi-jacked onto an unrelated topic to be honest.
Try here for an animated Moose gif that is free to use. I did a static screen shot. Any good for you?
http://www.gifs.net/animate/webl2.htm

http://www.sff.net/people/Lisanne/Viking/images/moose.gif

EDIT: er, not so static, it seems! :D
http://www.sff.net/people/Lisanne/Viking/images/miut.gif

[Ineti]

One vote for 'hate it' here. Especially when there's an official off-topic forum on the same message board system. When I make posts or threads, I'm usually either asking questions or responding to questions or specific comments. I really prefer those to be on-topic so that I don't have to wade through a bunch of non-sequiturs.

I like to post off-topic, but choose my time and place to do so. :)

[Son of Moose]

Miut:

Thank you so much for the animated Moose. Let me see what I can do with him. :D [Btw: Sorry for the unintended highjack :) ].

[tobing]

I don't like hijacking. There are OT threads and even an OT forum for chatter and babble, which has its place in a community like this aftter all.

[Miut]

Hey, Moose! I added to the hi-jack too! ;)

http://www.sff.net/people/Lisanne/Viking/images/miut.gif

[Son of Moose]

You sure did!! :D

[trypist]

I am afraid that the explanation as to what hijacking is merely confused the issue. I take it that you are talking about deliberate hijacking? What if it is not deliberate but the remark has that effect? If no-one reacts to say that it is hijacking then it may rapidly become the subject.
There are many people in this world who would not recognise if they had hijacked (or changed) the theme of a thread, whether deliberately or not. There are many people (including my wife) who cannot answer a question.
Philip Tarbuck 14 Sep 04

[Son of Moose]

What if it is not deliberate but the remark has that effect

I am sure that this often happens. :) Then it is possibly the prerogative of the person who starts the thread to gently bring the debate back to where s/he thinks it should be. No harm done in such a case ... :) Otherwise, it can sometimes be fairly annoying seeing one's thread derailed --- especially if you are looking for information regarding the game (or whatever). :(

[Afterburner]

Thread hijacking is bad only when it happens to my threads, and only when it happens early in the thread.

Other than that, it's fine. :D

[Jenisis]

In fact I kind of like it most of the time. it amkes me feel like I am connecting with "real people" to have a conversation ebb and flow in an organic way. IMHO it is the very natural way we all communicate that has made the internet such a great place.

That said, posts which have no apperant relaevance at all to anything in the current conversation, whether said conversation is on topic or not can be confusing.

So what do you all think about hydrogen cars... :p

[Janmeryet]

I don't mind it. I'm a pretty fast reader with reasonable recall of what's been said before, so if it goes off topic, I'll just skim through it. If I need to relocate information, well, that's what the search button is for! I try not to hijack threads myself, cos I know how annoying some people find it, but as trypist said, sometimes the hijack is unintentional. And I've even tried to steer threads back on topic (with limited success) :)

dreamsoftwilight: What's the bet the other "love hijacking" was Traxia?

[Elvenwarrior2001]

I love it. ;) It's what makes commuinities so fun. lol

Elven

[Kars-T]

i don't understand how one can stay this. In a healthy community with many threads a day you want me to remember what a thread is NOW really about because no one cares for the topic anymore?
I hate changing topic!

[Dnisis]

If the thread is about an important subject, I don't like it changing. Some threads are more like a conversation and when the subjuct changes, it isn't too bad. One game forum I visit, it seems their threads always devovle to food, but it is interesting because there are so many from all over the world.

[Rnett]

Only 41 votes? :(

[Bugsy]

I came a bit late to the voting, but, I like them when it's conversations or discussions about a particular game that ebbs into another game.

When it's for technical info, I don't like them, I just want one good answer to a quesiton, then I'm off to play again most likely.

I voted for love them. It's only a rare time that I don't, and usually, I don't see many hijacked threads in Technical Forums. They are much more formal than a general conversation or discussion about a game or feature of a game.

We all see something in posts that remind us of something we'd love to share with our friends in the forums we frequent. To silence that, kills the feeling of community, comraderie, and lasting friendships that have been made, and makes it nothing more than a place to ask specific questions, for specific answers. No room for discussion, comparissons, ebbing to something else, then back on topic when someone new to the thread joins in again. I've posted in forums and on Usenet since I've been online. Off topic happens, no need for me to get annoyed over it. Human nature. :)