threads that drift off topic {strict}

[bilbous]

{I feel this topic should be kept to the ideas presented below and not allowed to drift very far}


I am wondering how people feel about this, how far does a thread have to wander before it needs to be closed or re-threaded? Do generalized topics deserve greater leniency than more specific ones? Should one-liner quips that play off the current discussion be discouraged lest the thread devolve into chaos? Is chaos always bad?

Does the thread originator have any say as to the intended direction for his thread? Could he perhaps mark it open or strict in the topic to indicate how much fidelity to the topic he expects? Open meaning the toleration level for thread drift should be high and strict would mean there should be low tolerance? Would this make more work for the moderators or would it allow them to focus their efforts?

As this convention has not been adopted I do not expect it to be enforced. Consider this post to be an example of one way it might be implemented.

[emeraldfool]

I like the idea. The strict/lenient bit. Personally I love off-topic banter. I'm here to get to know the other members of the community, not have regimented discussions about specific topics. I'm not really interested in talking to opinion-dispensing drones.

But I understand how people don't want their opinion-dispensing sullied by unrelated conversations, so I think it would be fair if off-topic tolerance was determined by the originator of the thread.

Afterall, it's not against the rules to make a thread dedicated to off-topicness, right? So why not have certain degrees of that?

[Parallo]

I think its a great idea. The ammount of times I post and come back the next day to find that my post has been answered, and a million other topics discussed over it, is rediculous.

[miadon]

if someone added strict in brackets in a topic name I would respect their wish and make sure if I post that I dont go off topic in anyway.

[bilbous]

Thanks for the votes of confidence Perhaps we can flesh out the idea some. It would seem to me that it would most usefully be applied to the general discussion forum and the hydlaa plaza forum as these are the open areas where driftage could be more tolerated. It would less useful to encourage drift in the technical fora as their purpose is not chit-chat but rather advancing the game or reporting trouble and getting help. It might be appropriate for the two open fora to default to {open} and the rest {strict}. Indeed I see no reason for the others to use this system at all and there are some threads in the open fora that should remain {strict} as well.

[zanzibar]

I thnk that things are fine the way they are.  Mods do what they feel is appropriate.

Having more rules is not always a good thing.

[neko kyouran]

After talking it over with the thread starter, it was decided to leave the thread open, and delete all offtopic posts.

Stick to the topic please.  Otherwise, try to refrain from typing.

[lordraleigh]

     I believe that from the way the "Hydlaa Plaza" is described, enforcing heavily against off-topic on it would be harmful and go against the purpose of it, so by default it should remain with high tolerance of offtopicness. Also I think the "General Discussion" should remain the way it is, or perhaps loosen it slightly, only avoid excessive and large offtopic discussions over it, but otherwise tolerated as well.
     The most restrictive against offtopicness should be in my opinion: Roleplaying(Communitive Storywriting).
     Specially when you did not finish to post a large writing yet, and when you return there are some criticisms and praises are already there, breaking the connection between the chapters you wished to post or whatever way you organized it.
     Same with the Guilds forums, but it is not so bad. Still having 10 or 20 posts of criticisms and suggestions in the middle of your own posted updates about the situation of your guild or organization may difficult things a little.

[Karyuu]

I don't think that one general rule of leniency can be applied to all threads. Sometimes I let tangents slip by, sometimes I encourage them, and sometimes I remove them. There are many factors in my decisions, and I can explain them on a thread-by-thread basis but I cannot give you a general outline.

However, I can say that usually the only tangents I end up removing from Hydlaa Plaza are those that are comprised of more spam than decent content. When several people begin to go in circles in a meaningless one-line exchange, it's probably time to do some cleaning. If the thread drifts off on a natural evolution of a subject, chances are its okay. But again, it depends. The person who started a thread does have more say on its course than others, but moderators play the final card. If a thread is considered "open" but for two pages you're talking about the best way to make toast when the original topic was American Sign Language, that's not the sort of open I would consider acceptable.

I think to avoid complications, post as you usually do and through time take moderator actions into consideration.

Edited to add:

The purpose of the Hydlaa Plaza section is to open the floor to threads that are not related to the PlaneShift project. It does not mean that you have more freedom to make posts off-topic to a thread, and it would be a mistake to interpret it as such.

[emeraldfool]

The purpose of the Hydlaa Plaza section is to open the floor to threads that are not related to the PlaneShift project. It does not mean that you have more freedom to make posts off-topic to a thread, and it would be a mistake to interpret it as such.

"Please do all your chit-chatting here."

How can you 'chit-chat' without meandering around, and going off topic a bit? When people meet their friends in a mall, you don't say as soon as you see them "We will now talk about American Sign Language - please stay on-topic"


 "Moderators will delete obvious spam, overly hateful flames, and cussing but otherwise you have free reign to sink as low as you want."

I find this a very misleading statement, seeing as how a lot of the things I choose to talk about immediately gets deleted, and none of it contains 'obvious spam', 'overly hateful flames' or 'cussing'.



Like I said earlier: I'm here to get to know the other members of the community, not have regimented discussions about specific topics. I'm not really interested in talking to opinion-dispensing drones - yet without jokes and anecdotes and meandering, that's all we really are.

[Karyuu]

If you need to chitchat with your friends to such a degree, launch a messenger application. Like I said, if you go off on an unrelated tangent for two pages, it will be removed. I don't see this as a foreign idea.

[emeraldfool]

If you need to chitchat with your friends to such a degree, launch a messenger application. Like I said, if you go off on an unrelated tangent for two pages, it will be removed. I don't see this as a foreign idea.

Yeeeah, but I was under the impression that this was the purpose of the Hydlaa Plaza (seeing as how it actually contains the word 'chit-chat' in the forum description )

I'm not talking about completely unrelated, 2-page-long tangents, in the middle of a deep, on-topic discussion, but it seems to me that if a topic is exhausted, and the thread is being pulled in another direction, that - at least within the Hydlaa Plaza - it should be left on its own.

For example, if everyone participating in the American Sign language thread starts to move onto whether or not manual dexterity is an issue in sign language, which moves to what is meant by 'manual dexterity', which moves to the different applications of manual dexterity, which moves to the various methods of making toast, I'd consider that acceptable, at least for the Hydlaa Plaza. And if someone new comes in and wants to talk about sign language again, they're welcome to do so, but that doesn't mean that the toast conversation should be removed.

[bilbous]

This thread is toast, I wash my hands of it.

[lordraleigh]

This thread is toast, I wash my hands of it.

Pountius Pilatus

Ate tu Bilbous?

Manus manum lavat

[Karyuu]

emeraldfool: I see what you mean - and luckily we can split threads into two ;)