Hijack poll

[AdamSmith]

Thread hijacks have been a topic of discussion, often heated, ever since online discussion forums began.

Originally it was considered the height of rudeness to divert a thread the least iota from its original topic. The reasons are easy enough to see. Early Usenet groups and so on were difficult to navigate. Navigation through a thread, and across a forum, took time and effort. Online connect time was expensive and, depending on one's access method, often limited by hard stop times, so every minute online needed to count toward a more or less single-minded goal.

Today, most if not all of those issues have gone away. Cost and availability of online connect time are no longer limiting factors. Forum software such as here is vastly more navigable than of old. The old pattern of interest groups made up of large numbers of often largely anonymous-to-one-another participants has in many cases given way to communities such as here, where, while still anonymous, the continuity of participation makes many of us known to one another in the sense of our consistent, authentic screen personas, what each of us is interested in, what you can expect when you see a given individual posting, etc.

Given all that, some of us -- I for one -- very much enjoy it when a thread meanders off its original topic, going into side discussions much as we would if sitting around together over after-dinner drinks. On the other hand, some strongly dislike it when a thread deviates at all from the original topic.

This poll is just a Curiosity Shop entry to see how many hold to the one view, and how many to the other. Or don't care either way.

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

My personal thought is that I am glad if something posted causes others to think, but why not open up a new thread for the new topic, instead of "dirtying" the original topic with an off topic discussion. And while I have your attention, I have been using Kayak to search for airfares.. what sites to you use (if you are not loyal to one airline)...

While that WAS intended as a joke, it also is true and was intended to see what else is out there.

[AdamSmith]

Google Flights! https://www.google.com/flights/

[MsAnn]

I think it is often impossible to stay on topic. As the OP mentions, normal conversations often drift off topic and in many respects can become infinitely more interesting. Unless the OP specifically states that he wishes a thread to adhere to the original topic, I see no reason not to allow a thread to take a more natural course. Strictly my opinion...no emails please.

[Guest callipygian]

Speaking of............


Life's A Ball ...At The OC Fair http://www.tmz.com/2015/08/15/justin-bieber-orange-county-fair/

[TotallyOz]

Google Flights! https://www.google.com/flights/

Adam has gone off course again! He can't take this topic off the main point. This is about car hijackings in Brazil and while he can loosely say that his post was just intended to get people to Brazil in order to get car jacked, it just defeats the main purpose of the thread. Stay on topic please guys!

[AdamSmith]

Adam has gone off course again! He can't take this topic off the main point. This is about car hijackings in Brazil and while he can loosely say that his post was just intended to get people to Brazil in order to get car jacked, it just defeats the main purpose of the thread. Stay on topic please guys!

LMAO

Give me twenty lashes with an old stove pipe as Ann Landers used to say!

[RA1]

I thought it was a wet noodle.

Whenever you stay on topic, I think you might be running a fever. I know that is true for me.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

I thought it was a wet noodle.

She said that for less severe transgressions.

As for me running a fever -- as Alice Roosevelt Longworth would have said, how can you tell?

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

[Guest epigonos]

Tempest in a teapot!!!!!

[Guest callipygian]

[Guest callipygian]

[Guest callipygian]

Dan Savage on Ann Landers......