From another thread
Also, the linear format of threads on this forum is a direct contributor to threads going off topic. A hierarchy format greatly mitigates that problem, since most of the time it is trivially easy to ignore subthreads that wander off the topic.
A compromise solution would be to do what I have done here and create a stand-alone subthread to discuss your complaint without severely interrupting the original thread. The difficulty with this solution is the time, effort, and skill it takes to manually cross-link the two threads. An option in the forum software to do this automatically would go a long way towards encouraging people to create stand-alone subthreads to accomodate off-topic shifts in the conversation.
Getting back to your complaint, I agree that the other thread got way off topic. I disagree that it should have been moved to Flame Wars, since that would have severely hindered any serious attempt to resolve the issues that came up.
In hindsight, what is your proposed solution? Who should have posted differently in that thread to avert the thread drift? Do you blame Eos for posting the first actual flame? Or do you blame me for characterizing an earlier complaint as the pot calling the kettle black? Or do you blame the two people who first complained about censorship on the hpathy forum? At what point do you consider the thread to have gone "off topic"?
Complaints like that are one of the things that cause threads to go off topic. Such meta-discussions are a natural consequence of message boards. Unless you expect to be able to post complaints like that and suspress any ensuing discussion of it.
Also, the linear format of threads on this forum is a direct contributor to threads going off topic. A hierarchy format greatly mitigates that problem, since most of the time it is trivially easy to ignore subthreads that wander off the topic.
A compromise solution would be to do what I have done here and create a stand-alone subthread to discuss your complaint without severely interrupting the original thread. The difficulty with this solution is the time, effort, and skill it takes to manually cross-link the two threads. An option in the forum software to do this automatically would go a long way towards encouraging people to create stand-alone subthreads to accomodate off-topic shifts in the conversation.
Getting back to your complaint, I agree that the other thread got way off topic. I disagree that it should have been moved to Flame Wars, since that would have severely hindered any serious attempt to resolve the issues that came up.
In hindsight, what is your proposed solution? Who should have posted differently in that thread to avert the thread drift? Do you blame Eos for posting the first actual flame? Or do you blame me for characterizing an earlier complaint as the pot calling the kettle black? Or do you blame the two people who first complained about censorship on the hpathy forum? At what point do you consider the thread to have gone "off topic"?
