Is it?
I’m just watching for snakes.
About the new topic, though: not cards, exactly, of whatever sort, but I did have a rousing game of street craps at a bar yesterday.
See? Always carry a pair of dice! Settles arguments. I won a round of beer off this fellow.
It’s just common sense!
well not YET
She’s in that? I never got around to seeing that, but that sounds like a good enough reason to me to give it a watch.
There is a time and a place for the jokey comments, not sure a serious thread on a topic raised in the forum feedback section is either. The OP raised a serious question. Dismissing that out of hand and then going on to basically mock the person and deliberately push the thread off-topic, really isn’t good show. It will eventually drive off new members, which we don’t want to happen.
I agree. I move that the topic be closed.
No. And you’re treading on thin ice, buster. The gavel has been struck.
Well, I certainly didn’t intend to offend…
G’night y’all
We could all try flagging all the off-topic replies in here. That way we can see if that’s the solution to the question in question to see if a Discourse can self-regulate rather than employing hoards of moderators who read every post.
Who’s with me?
I did respond to @rogueamuffin sincerely. But I can’t force him to continue engaging if he’d rather not.
I really would be fine if we had a threaded layout like he suggested. But I’m also fine with this. I know how to scroll past subject changes which don’t interest me.
Most of the replies under this are exactly what I was talking about. You guys have deliberately moved the topic to several other things just to piss me off and I do not appreciate it. I tried to be nice with my suggestion, but this behavior will seriously drive away new people like @LadyShelley said.
Clearly, not all of you like mittens.
(Seriously, with a mind turned towards @LadyShelley’s comment about the attempts to “deliberately push the thread off-topic”, that’s not at all what I’m trying to do. I merely intended to add a little bit of good-natured levity to ease any tension here, and I didn’t mean anything. Much respect.)
I am a new person. I’ve only been here about three weeks. I don’t feel like anyone’s trying to drive me away.
Sorry if you feel like some posters are being smart-asses here. But you could always address those of us who seriously did try to address your concerns.
@tonightatsix, I hear your frustration. There are many threads here that have gone off topic because that’s just what happens. Some have moved over to their own topics, others haven’t. The good news is, since this is a new forum, the mods are listening. Presenting questions, suggestions and frustrations will most likely be taken in consideration in order to tweek things for the better.
There are a lot of folks in this forum who think they are funny (myself included, because it’s true), and jump to opportunity to make a joke. I can’t speak for everyone in this thread, but I’m hoping that no one was trying to go out of their way piss you off, but just… being human in the way that sometimes humans act in an online social forum.
Yeah I don’t know if it’s deliberate, or just folks on a forum centered around a comedy, who, in that same spirit, enjoy joking around? Riffing on the situation so to speak.
I have my pet peeves too, things that frustrate or annoy. Sometimes I wonder should I say something, vent, or just let it go, let people have their fun. I don’t think they are being malicious, and it’s possible I’m being to sensitive about something minor. So I’ll hold back, weigh my words, consider what’s bothering me, consider the person I’m responding too (are they deathly serious, or are they never serious? Lots of personalities here) and how I should respond, if I respond.
I’m also reminded of a piece I read about how people filter conversations and such, through their own experiences. I’m cognizant of that, and I’ll ask, did the person mean to be rude (or whatever), or am reading something into it that was never intended? Am I filtering?
Now, I haven’t found the off-topic thing a major issue, one so serious and out of control that it requires moderation. I’ve seen threads stray, usually after the main topic lost steam, or we’d said what needed to be said and that was it, so now lets just converse and kid around. (ala the suspending posters thread - I said my peace, read what others had to say, and now I no longer follow or read the thread. It’s done and done and if it has since gone off the rails, so what)
But if it’s a baby thread that’s lost its way, a little gentle pressure, as has been suggested by others, a reminder that while it’s fun when it’s fun, that you’d like to get back to the topic, I think folks here would respect those wishes. Otherwise, if it’s a minor side trip, just let it go and skip those posts.
Compromises and balancing acts, are all part of life on a forum.
I thought the first deliberately off-topic reply here in this topic was funny, but, yeah, subsequent attempts to be similarly funny appear to be mean-spirited. While there might not have been malicious intent, the effect is undesirable, and I’d rather not see anything that looks like repeated mocking/taunting of a forum member. That’s abuse.
I think Discourse is trying to get everyone to read literally every post on every topic. The later badges suggest such a thing. Being able to easily ignore off-topic sub-threads might be counter to that ideal.
This was also my biggest concern with Discourse’s model. Their argument, FWIW, is that Reddit-style threading encourages tangents because threading itself is available, whereas their linear model means people are less likely to go way off piece because everything happens in the one thread. I wasn’t sure I believed this would work at the time (and clearly Discourse had yet to meet MSTies, the most tangenty people there ever were) but for the most part I feel like it’s not been a problem. If a thread has veered off, a new comment can always try to bring it back to the original focus.
This is another thing I’d prefer folks to self-moderate, at least until I have time to select and anoint some mods here (I have been exceptionally busy given we are REAL close to production on season 13, y’all, and you can look for more about that in today’s KS update).
If you see an off-topic diversion, you can make a friendly suggestion that the folks involved take it to direct messages or create a new thread. Flagging also brings it to my attention, but unless it’s a truly gratuitous or intentionally disrespectful tangent, I am unlikely to delete comments that are mildly annoying but ultimately harmless. Anyone is free to ask folks to keep to the topic at hand!
Furthering Lesley’s point: If you feel like a tangent needs its own discussion, Discourse makes it very easy to take that conversation to a new thread while maintaining a connection back to the original topic. You can click the link button below any post and choose “+ New Topic.” This will create a new thread which starts “Continuing the discussion from [original topic name]” with a link back to the original post.
Example here.
To be honest, I’ve never been wild about how Reddit looks or behaves, though I’m probably in the minority here. I’ve found some worthwhile things to read there on occasion, but overall the look of the place gives me headaches.
True. Then the only risk is that several small threads are all closely related in subject, if not totally redundant: with no way to wrangle them all into a single larger thread with the proper subject umbrella. [shrug] I guess no system is going to be perfect, though.
I wonder if there’s a plug-in or some such wherewith a usern could hide an entire off-topical thread from the branching reply and it also hides the chronologically placed replies thereof. I don’t see that many wild hairs getting in the way too badly very much but if something becomes a burr in one’s bottom zone, such a hide-this clickable might be just the ticket for their sanity.
Does muting a topic do something similar to this? There’s no real “reporting” option for a digression or off-topic wandering, because reporting for a meandering discussion that veers into one or more irrelevant topics seems like a heavy response to turn around and “lock” the thread…