Highjacking

[DeepFrz]

I do wish people would stay on topic and stop hi-jacking threads. It makes it very difficult to find interesting information that was posted off topic. It really doesn't take anymore time to post to a new topic. I may be guilty of this myself, however I do try to stay on topic.

I know this is a "fun" as well as an "informational" forum, however staying on topic really shouldn't be a detriment to "fun".

Perhaps the administrators could encourage people to do this and either delete or move off topic posts.

Thanks

Deep

[Sonosailor]

Holy Jeeze, me too. That's terrible.

By the way, what do you think of using a single engine on a catamaran?

Just kidding, really.

Another by the way, however, do you think you should have named the thread: Hijacking the Tread? Mind you, Hijacking is going to get lots of hits!!!

[Andy R]

This is a tough scenario because just like real world conversations people naturally stray off topic. Since one of our goals is trying to create a knowledge base, I think we all need to encourage each other (in a polite way) to stay focused.

A good way to do this might be to PM a member and remind them to please stay on topic. If a thread has changed to a whole new topic, then I would suggest PMing a mod or admin and asking them to split the thread.

This is a group effort and we need to collectivley work on fixing our bad habbits. We will never be perfect but we can try to "use the forum" in a way that will build the best knowledgebase for future reference.

Just food for thought....

[Alan Wheeler]

We(admin/mod team) do keep a watch on threads and do as much as we can. But we have a constant balancing act between maintaining "sole" and "sterilisation" of the board. We do allow a small amount of drift if it is in relation to the conversation, but will jump on it if the thread has taken a compleat turn. The result maybe a deletion (as has been seen) and closing (as as also been seen) an ask that the author start another thread on the shifted topic(is done often) cut and past to start another thread(rare but has been done) or left alone because the consideration is the "off topic" stray will be short lived due to maybe the end of the discussion.
It's a difficult balance and we as the "team" are learning all the time. Often from mistakes;-). Unfortunatly we didn't get a "moderators for dummies" book when we were asked to take the role. :-) We (team) do appreciate feedback. This allows us to discuss and hone our decisions and remember, this BB is really not that old in the grander scheme of things and it's growth rate has been huge. So we (team) are not blessed with the years of experiance of running the place yet.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Maybe a new Smilie is need? ..........for a Spud gun?

[S/V Elusive]

Funny thing - I've found, in the REAL world, that while I may be focused on finding information about a particular thing, that I wind up ALSO finding out a lot of "off topic" interesting information.

There is no telling when someone may get their epiphany for some problem when reading through things that might be considered "off topic". I'm am a monohull type - yet I read multihull stuff... "off topic" .. sure - but it is MY choice. Which leads to this: If you find there is too much "off topic" conversation in a particular thread - don't read it. You have that choice.

This forum, IMHO, does extremely well in meeting the needs and requirements of a LARGE majority of it's members. While we certainly understand and consider the suggestions and complaints of a few individuals, I don't believe that it would be feasible or prudent to force the majority to conform to the ideals of a few.

[DeepFrz]

Another by the way, however, do you think you should have named the thread: Hijacking the Tread? Mind you, Hijacking is going to get lots of hits!!!

Sonosailor;
Yeah, I was hoping that it might.

S/V Elusive
I also find the extra information interesting however it makes it much more difficult to find later on.

Deep

[44'cruisingcat]

If you start reading a thread from the beginning it will most likely be on topic. If you jump in at the end, it could have wandered a bit, as conversation does. Start from the beginning, and if the thread isn't going the right way for you, stop reading.

[DeepFrz]

Thanks 44'crusingcat, very helpful suggestion.

Deep

[Tnflakbait]

Straying from the topic on threads is a difficult problem. On one hand if you read the whole thing it usually makes sense. If you read the first message then the last you are lost. Did I just stray?

[cat man do]

Andy R, that pic in your Avatar makes your cat look exceptionaly wide , is that an optical or is she really that beamy?

Oh, sorry about that, thread drift.

Bad Dave

[Pblais]

Straying from the topic on threads is a difficult problem. On one hand if you read the whole thing it usually makes sense. If you read the first message then the last you are lost. Did I just stray?

Well I have to agree. Idealy we would like one thread to present a focused rounded out set of ideas all well presented in great detail with web links to all the related matter and multiple references. The problem is we a "come as you are" kind of place. A little of that is important too. As long as you are a real person, we let any one in. Robotic SPAM posters we generally show the door and they are never introduced to the public.

But as folks with sails, we go where the wind blows and the topic currents drift. Real information takes a bit of looking around and putting up with the background noise to get the full answer. Not too unlike the real world.

If we eliminated all the people asking questions I guess we could have more order, but then that is also part of the ideal too. You should be able to ask questions and not always is the question asked the question that needs to be answered. You often learn the right question and of course are back where you need to be. Answers are usually easier than questions. Often the question that started the thread is the wrong beginning for such a thread and so we drift to the logical end so we can find the beginning. We try to discover them as we post around a topic. We can't assure anyone gets a winner eveytime either. Sometimess we don't have an asnwer.

So long as we can agree on what we want for a place to come to then we can set the tone of how the forum appears and people tend to fall in line or drift away. It's how most on line organizations exists and how they grow and stay around as great places to come. We do have a bit of a track record at it already. I would think we will continue at least the good parts as best we can. Contibutors to the threads determine more than the staff of the forum can ever hope to do. If we have a host of characters coming along regualrly we will stay healthy.

Number one thing - Use the search tool! We have a lot of great stuff already written and any thread can be reopened (well most of them).

[DeepFrz]

Thanks for the book, Paul.

(can't let this die yet)