Thread derailment! Sound the alarms! Danger!

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31 Aug 2022, 11:03 pm

In my experience in discussion forums (which is fairly considerable) a topic can only be discussed so much. And when discussion on the topic has run dry, it either dies or goes off topic. A thread that otherwise would be dead going off topic isn't a problem in my opinion. I've seen my own threads go on long after I myself lost interest in discussing the topic I brought up.

Dox47
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31 Aug 2022, 11:54 pm

Matrix Glitch wrote:

That too, quite a few of our most popular and long running threads were started by banned or inactive members, I get the occasional chuckle when I see some of the names.

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01 Sep 2022, 9:26 am

Dox47 wrote:

See, I don't think that's tenable, WP "custom" to the contrary, as we also have rules against duplicate topics and thread merges in News are fairly common.

That is a fair point. It could theoretically be used to shutdown unwanted discussion. Maybe there could be an exception to the duplicate rule if a topic is "course-corrected"?

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06 Sep 2022, 5:39 am

"Off topic" is just WP slang for "doubleplusungood" and/or "crimethink". It is what it is. Most online forums are like that, sadly.

"1984" talked about how the Ministry of Truth proclaimed that Oceania was always at war with Eastasia and not Eurasia, despite the change having happened minutes ago. George Orwell was a modern-day Nostradamus!

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06 Sep 2022, 11:20 am

Aspie1 wrote:

"Off topic" is just WP slang for "doubleplusungood" and/or "crimethink".

No, it's not, although sometimes it does mean "contentious enough to be quarantined to its own thread, lest it completely displace other discussions."

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