Straying away from a specific subject

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I've noticed that in many topics here people easily stray away from the original subject... I do it, too. I've noticed it in other forums too, but it seems to be much more common in here. Is straying from the subject typical for autists?

I don't know about others, but when I stray away from the actual subject, it's usually because of one of two reasons: I've either misunderstood the idea of the topic entirely or I reply to the post of someone who has strayed a little, then they or someone else answers my post and go a bit more off topic than I did, then I answer that... I think you guys can get the idea. It doesn't seem that this forum has very strict rules when it comes to going off topic, but personally I'm a little bothered by it. I've tried to ignore the posts that have nothing to do with the actual point of the original post even if I want to say something and have tried not to say anything to anyone if I think it'd make things go off topic, but I can't always stop myself from writing a reply.

Is anyone else bothered by this?

I’m new to actively participating in forums. I thought I’d spend my vacation on WP, get to know the natives, explore the various local customs, and learn more about Aspie culture. It’s been both illuminating and frustrating. I spent all my life thinking I am an NT, so, getting told, otherwise...and we’re off topic.

This is how I’ve noticed the threads usually go off topic- a gradual slide. An observation, a personal anecdote, leading to the on topic post that is completely ignored by those who’ve gone off topic. I do not think this is an Aspie problem. I have never met someone who openly identifies as HFA/ASD/Aspie but I think that a conversation between two people on the spectrum would stay on topic or not by mutual agreement. In NT conversations be it social chit chat, in staff meetings, or class room discussions I have experienced going off topic as just normal. I always found it annoying. On WP there’s just a whole lot of people that aren’t Aspie but rather socially awkward and lonely NT’s, who are having problems in their lives that mirror the problems HFA/ASD/Aspies experience. Being diagnosed as autistic...and we’re off topic.

It bothers me a bit, but it's something I do myself too.
I think it's our way of focusing on details.
I do this in real life conversations as well.
Example: If I'm having a talk with someone about kebab, my mind will get hooked up on some detail about the hot sauce, and suddenly I'm talking about chili plants when everyone else is still on kebab-topic.

As a child I always marveled at how grown ups at cocktail parties would flit from topic to topic to topic.

When I grew into adolescence and adulthood I would do much the same in polite society. And an individual I knew who did the opposite: who would tie you up on the phone with the same one topic for a long time- seemed weird to me and other friends of mine. That person had a number of aspie traits. So I think of topic morphing as being NT,and the opposite (obsessive tunnel vison on one topic) as being autistic.

However my fellow autistics do have an annoying habit of zeroing in on a detail and ignoring context.

That can be maddening on a site like this.

You talk about a topic, and someone zeroes in on some side detail and talks nonsense about that detail causing hijacking of the thread off of the road and into a chasm.

I can be really bad at this. I try to work on it, but I have to know that I'm doing it. I think that sometimes my way of understanding things involves comparing it to something I'm familiar with, then all of a sudden I'm talking about a completely different aspect of whatever the other subject is instead of just trying to relate the two.