Thread Hijacking!

[taverr]

First of all, some common glossary -

Thread Hijacking : Thread hijacking is the act of trying to steer a web forum discussion thread off topic by discussing a subject entirely unrelated to the subject at hand.

---

So, now nearly in most of the topics I see this -

1. Someone starts the spark.
2. Other joins in.
3. Topic has been successfully (or not) hijacked. 😈

---

.
Although it’s good to have fun but the excess of everything is bad. It might be okay in some categories like “Conversations” but in other categories, it looks very untidy. (At least in my opinion 🙂 )

It would be a good alternative to having these conversations in the group PM or atleast in the bizzare topics.
.

[details=.]In most of the forums I have been, there is always a point in the Forum rules stating to avoid Thread Hijacking. Should this rule be added here as well?

• Yes, In all forum categories.
• Yes, But in some selected categories.
• No, It is good as it is.

0voters

@fonthaunt, what is your opinion in this?[/details]

Save the kittens! ( If you don’t hate them 😂 )

[writer99025]

Thread hijacking…who does these things…I don’t understand this at all. I hope people stop doing such things and do something more productive and helpful.

[taverr]

Thread hijacking…who does these things…I don’t understand this at all. I hope people stop doing such things and do something more productive and helpful.

It simply means, going off topic. 🙂

[writer99025]

It simply means, going off topic. 🙂

Exactly, why would anyone go off topic on such an important topic. I just don’t understand this.

[eoinfinnegan]

In general, the rules are to keep on topic.
We allow slight deviations and sub-topics to a point and particularly if the OP is involved in the deviation. When major hijacks occur (sounds an awful lot more dramatic than “changing the subject”) we will sometimes moderate the comments or even move them to a new thread if they merit it. This probably doesn’t happen all the time as we simply don’t see every single comment but if something is flagged as off topic then we may act on it.

Did anyone see the Manchester City game last night?

[writer99025]

In general, the rules are to keep on topic.

We allow slight deviations and sub-topics to a point and particularly if the OP is involved in the deviation. When major hijacks occur (sounds an awful lot more dramatic than “changing the subject”) we will sometimes moderate the comments or even move them to a new thread if they merit it. This probably doesn’t happen all the time as we simply don’t see every single comment but if something is flagged as off topic then we may act on it.

Did anyone see the Manchester City game last night?

Did anyone see the Manchester City game last night?

No. Did Guardiola cry like a girl? Edit: Oh, it was only West Ham.

[fonthaunt]

My vote was to not add a rule about this. I’m not for purposeful threadjacks but I think the rules are detailed and I worry about adding more stuff. I also don’t think minor tangents are an issue and could see people flagging like crazy for every mild side comment.

I agree that those who deliberately hijack a thread should be notified about any flags and why their attempt was inappropriate. I have suggested several time that a night deviation is fine, but if it takes on life of it’s own the person should start a new topic and link to it in comments in the old one.

I think categories matter, some are more serious than others, but some threads in Conversations are still purposeful discussions while other threads are just for fun. I think case-by-case works. In the Ranting Pot, most threads do go on tangents and that seems normal there.

So, I’m for encouraging new topics when a tangent takes on weight. Mods can assist as needed. I’m against a B&W rule against off-topic comments. I’d like to see everyone vote honestly before considering it further. 🙂

[taverr]

My vote was to not add a rule about this. I’m not for purposeful threadjacks but I think the rules are detailed and I worry about adding more stuff. I also don’t think minor tangents are an issue and could see people flagging like crazy for every mild side comment.

I agree that those who deliberately hijack a thread should be notified about any flags and why their attempt was inappropriate. I have suggested several time that a night deviation is fine, but if it takes on life of it’s own the person should start a new topic and link to it in comments in the old one.

I think categories matter, some are more serious than others, but some threads in Conversations are still purposeful discussions while other threads are just for fun. I think case-by-case works. In the Ranting Pot, most threads do go on tangents and that seems normal there.

So, I’m for encouraging new topics when a tangent takes on weight. Mods can assist as needed. I’m against a B&W rule against off-topic comments. I’d like to see everyone vote honestly before considering it further. 🙂

Hmm… Makes sense.

Though this topic was just like an “awareness campaign”. 😁

[djgodknows]

[fonthaunt]

First of all, some common glossary -

Thread Hijacking : Thread hijacking is the act of trying to steer a web forum discussion thread off topic by discussing a subject entirely unrelated to the subject at hand.

---

So, now nearly in most of the topics I see this -

1. Someone starts the spark.
2. Other joins in.
3. Topic has been successfully (or not) hijacked. 😈

---

.

Although it’s good to have fun but the excess of everything is bad. It might be okay in some categories like “Conversations” but in other categories, it looks very untidy. (At least in my opinion 🙂 )

It would be a good alternative to having these conversations in the group PM or atleast in the bizzare topics.

.

[details=.]In most of the forums I have been, there is always a point in the Forum rules stating to avoid Thread Hijacking. Should this rule be added here as well?

• Yes, In all forum categories.
• Yes, But in some selected categories.
• No, It is good as it is.

0voters

@fonthaunt, what is your opinion in this?[/details]

Save the kittens! ( If you don’t hate them 😂 )

Great campaign! I’m watching. The wording was where I thought it was more that needed, this wording:

In most of the forums I have been, there is always a point in the Forum rules stating to avoid Thread Hijacking. Should this rule be added here as well?

I’m not for adding a rule though this poll bears watching.

[taverr]

Great campaign! I’m watching. The wording was where I thought it was more that needed, this wording:

In most of the forums I have been, there is always a point in the Forum rules stating to avoid Thread Hijacking. Should this rule be added here as well?

I’m not for adding a rule though this poll bears watching.

I tried to remove the poll but we can’t remove the polls after the 1st 5mins.

So, I will edit that out after it.(Or perhaps not 🙂)

[djgodknows]

I tried to remove the poll but we can’t remove the polls after the 1st 5mins.

So, I will edit that out after it.(Or perhaps not 🙂)

You can close the poll.

[fonthaunt]

I tried to remove the poll but we can’t remove the polls after the 1st 5mins.

So, I will edit that out after it.(Or perhaps not 🙂

[fonthaunt]

Exactly, why would anyone go off topic on such an important topic. I just don’t understand this.

Which important topic? Sometimes it’s just someone adding a joke or note to an on-topic post and it does derail the thread. Tangents happen, though. Verbal conversations and written ones rarely go.on without a tangent here or there.

[blaisefaint]

Dear Maddie:

I noticed you closed the “Improve My Gig Thread” last night, and just recently the “Do This, NOT That!” Thread.

I tried to send you a Private Message (PM), but you’re not taking those at the moment

What’s going on?

Thank you,
Blaise

[miiila]

Which important topic? Sometimes it’s just someone adding a joke or note to an on-topic post and it does derail the thread. Tangents happen, though. Verbal conversations and written ones rarely go.on without a tangent here or there.

[details=for Blaise]I think Maddie is afraid that some people might start to add their ‘Thank you’ for those useful threads in that vertical loooooooooooooooooooong kind of funnyfied artwork, like:

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████░░██████─

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██████─────

────────────────

────────────────

─██████──██████─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██████──██████─

────────────────

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██████──██████─

────────────────

────────────────────────

─██████──────────██████─

─██░░██████████──██░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██──██████████░░██─

─██████──────────██████─

────────────────────────

──────────────────

─██████──████████─

─██░░██──██░░░░██─

─██░░██──██░░████─

─██░░██──██░░██───

─██░░██████░░██───

─██░░░░░░░░░░██───

─██░░██████░░██───

─██░░██──██░░██───

─██░░██──██░░████─

─██░░██──██░░░░██─

─██████──████████─

──────────────────

────────────────────

─████████──████████─

─██░░░░██──██░░░░██─

─████░░██──██░░████─

───██░░░░██░░░░██───

───████░░░░░░████───

─────████░░████─────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██████───────

────────────────────

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████████████─

────────────────

────────────────

─██████──██████─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████████████─

Then again I could be wrong. But at least I hijacked this thread in the name of the cool text symbols generator.[/details]

Oh and I agree partly with you on the topic, taverr, as often, it depends.

I don´t agree on the kittens. 🐈

Which important topic?

grins Are there any important topics on the internet really? 😉

[taverr]

[details=for Blaise]I think Maddie is afraid that some people might start to add their ‘Thank you’ for those useful threads in that vertical loooooooooooooooooooong kind of funnyfied artwork, like:

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████░░██████─

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██░░██─────

─────██████─────

────────────────

────────────────

─██████──██████─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██████──██████─

────────────────

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██████──██████─

────────────────

────────────────────────

─██████──────────██████─

─██░░██████████──██░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██──██████████░░██─

─██████──────────██████─

────────────────────────

──────────────────

─██████──████████─

─██░░██──██░░░░██─

─██░░██──██░░████─

─██░░██──██░░██───

─██░░██████░░██───

─██░░░░░░░░░░██───

─██░░██████░░██───

─██░░██──██░░██───

─██░░██──██░░████─

─██░░██──██░░░░██─

─██████──████████─

──────────────────

────────────────────

─████████──████████─

─██░░░░██──██░░░░██─

─████░░██──██░░████─

───██░░░░██░░░░██───

───████░░░░░░████───

─────████░░████─────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██░░██───────

───────██████───────

────────────────────

────────────────

─██████████████─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████████████─

────────────────

────────────────

─██████──██████─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██──██░░██─

─██░░██████░░██─

─██░░░░░░░░░░██─

─██████████████─

Then again I could be wrong. But at least I hijacked this thread in the name of the cool text symbols generator.[/details]

Oh and I agree partly with you on the topic, taverr, as often, it depends.

I don´t agree on the kittens. 🐈

Which important topic?

grins Are there any important topics on the internet really? 😉

Are there any important topics on the internet really?

Nothing is “important” when compared to another thing of greater importance. 😁

[divyagoel]

[Guest capitalquality]

Good hijack! Very subtle.

[Guest capitalquality]

My vote was to not add a rule about this. I’m not for purposeful threadjacks but I think the rules are detailed and I worry about adding more stuff. I also don’t think minor tangents are an issue and could see people flagging like crazy for every mild side comment.

I agree that those who deliberately hijack a thread should be notified about any flags and why their attempt was inappropriate. I have suggested several time that a night deviation is fine, but if it takes on life of it’s own the person should start a new topic and link to it in comments in the old one.

I think categories matter, some are more serious than others, but some threads in Conversations are still purposeful discussions while other threads are just for fun. I think case-by-case works. In the Ranting Pot, most threads do go on tangents and that seems normal there.

So, I’m for encouraging new topics when a tangent takes on weight. Mods can assist as needed. I’m against a B&W rule against off-topic comments. I’d like to see everyone vote honestly before considering it further. 🙂

night deviation

Is this something that happens after dark in the northern hemisphere? Is it exciting?

[fonthaunt]

Dear Maddie:

I noticed you closed the “Improve My Gig Thread” last night, and just recently the “Do This, NOT That!” Thread.

I tried to send you a Private Message (PM), but you’re not taking those at the moment

What’s going on?

Thank you,

Blaise

@blaisefaint

I noticed you closed the “Improve My Gig Thread” last night, and just recently the “Do This, NOT That!” Thread.

I tried to send you a Private Message (PM), but you’re not taking those at the moment

Hi Blaise!

The Check List thread was nearing 45 comments and several were removed spam and a lot more were just comments like “Great” or “Thanks!” We understand people want to express that and it’s find, but as a standard we try not to let a thread get too long with posts that are not really serious additions to the forum. Some new sellers (and some old ones) like to reply to nearly every thread or think that they must comment to be noticed, so they write the blurbs all over the place.

Over a lot of time, long threads can slow down the loading of the thread or forum (especial on mobile or slow net) so while we leave them open if they are on-topic and meaningful, we have a standard practice of closing threads like that. Some of the others who post tip threads do occasional ask the mods to re-open the thread temporarily so they can update it or add to it, and we are fine with that.

Sorry about the PM issue, I didn’t think of that. I actually have to close notifications from a few regulars when I wish there was another option. Some of the best and most helpful regulars post tip threads with some of my posts linked inside or references to my @username. In particular, your semi-canned one goes up a lot, and I was getting a notification for every single one so I kept running out of time to find things that I needed to respond to. If you need to contact me privately, feel free to inbox me and just ask me to write back in a forum PM for a forum issue. I can unlock the notification thing and write back and we can discuss whatever.

I wish I had a better way to avoid this problem, but I don’t know of one. If anyone has found one, let me know! Thanks, Blaise, I hope that helps! I don’t know if the closure of the other thread you mentioned is for the same reason. If it doesn’t appear so, inbox me to discuss if you wish.

[fonthaunt]

A post was split to a new topic: Removed from a thread due to no need to discuss which user is suspended

[blaisefaint]

@blaisefaint

I noticed you closed the “Improve My Gig Thread” last night, and just recently the “Do This, NOT That!” Thread.

I tried to send you a Private Message (PM), but you’re not taking those at the moment

Hi Blaise!

The Check List thread was nearing 45 comments and several were removed spam and a lot more were just comments like “Great” or “Thanks!” We understand people want to express that and it’s find, but as a standard we try not to let a thread get too long with posts that are not really serious additions to the forum. Some new sellers (and some old ones) like to reply to nearly every thread or think that they must comment to be noticed, so they write the blurbs all over the place.

Over a lot of time, long threads can slow down the loading of the thread or forum (especial on mobile or slow net) so while we leave them open if they are on-topic and meaningful, we have a standard practice of closing threads like that. Some of the others who post tip threads do occasional ask the mods to re-open the thread temporarily so they can update it or add to it, and we are fine with that.

Sorry about the PM issue, I didn’t think of that. I actually have to close notifications from a few regulars when I wish there was another option. Some of the best and most helpful regulars post tip threads with some of my posts linked inside or references to my @username. In particular, your semi-canned one goes up a lot, and I was getting a notification for every single one so I kept running out of time to find things that I needed to respond to. If you need to contact me privately, feel free to inbox me and just ask me to write back in a forum PM for a forum issue. I can unlock the notification thing and write back and we can discuss whatever.

I wish I had a better way to avoid this problem, but I don’t know of one. If anyone has found one, let me know! Thanks, Blaise, I hope that helps! I don’t know if the closure of the other thread you mentioned is for the same reason. If it doesn’t appear so, inbox me to discuss if you wish.

Dear Maddie:

Some of the best and most helpful regulars post tip threads with some of my posts linked inside or references to my @username. In particular, your semi-canned one goes up a lot, and I was getting a notification for every single one so I kept running out of time to find things that I needed to respond to.

Are there edits I can make to the “semi-canned response” to avoid unintended consequences like that?

I might be causing problems for other people without even realizing it.

Thank you,

Blaise

[fonthaunt]

2 posts were split to a new topic: Conversation/Rant about Suspensions

[fonthaunt]

Dear Maddie:

Some of the best and most helpful regulars post tip threads with some of my posts linked inside or references to my @username. In particular, your semi-canned one goes up a lot, and I was getting a notification for every single one so I kept running out of time to find things that I needed to respond to.

Are there edits I can make to the “semi-canned response” to avoid unintended consequences like that?

I might be causing problems for other people without even realizing it.

Thank you,

Blaise

I don’t know! If I figure one out, I will be sure to update. I like the lists of threads sent out and I do that same technique myself, though I try to make minor edits so it isn’t too repetitive. I don’t know if it would hide the notify if the link is hidden in code like this link to Fiverr or if would still happen. I haven’t had time to test it.