Thread Hijacking

August 26, 2001 7:10 PM

Thread hijacking

Should the wandering and fission of the topics in MeFi conversation be seen as an abuse of the openness of the forum, or should it be welcome as the natural state of a healthy and creative exchange? My first reaction is to resist attemps by others to limit the scope of the conversation, but I can see reasons to keep it focused, too, especially given the short lifetime of any thread. I want to know what the rest of you think.
posted by NortonDC to etiquette/policy at 7:10 PM (5 comments total)

But I only want to hear what you think about thread hijacking, dammit!
posted by NortonDC at 7:11 PM on August 26, 2001

Sometimes there ain't much to say about some posts. Sometimes the only person that can identify with them is the author. Sometimes another thread is hot at the time and takes focus away from an equally deserving thread. I think we all can relate to the attachment we have to our own posts, as we rapidly hit the refresh button waiting for replies, but I'm more for filtering out the noise on my own than having a "approved" guideline. I've read way too many funny hijackings to approve people holding back.

P.S., in hindsight, I'm probably guilty of hijacking, but never intentionally.

posted by machaus at 8:27 PM on August 26, 2001

That marknau is really good at derailing discussions with side threads. Methinks it's time to email him.
posted by mathowie at 12:16 AM on August 27, 2001

So speaking of thread etiquette, did you guys hear about Aaliyah and the plane crash? Oh, wow, that sucked.

No, just teasing. I think in most cases where I've noticed it, hijacking is a good thing. It's usually done to be funny, and often works out that way, although it can be annoying to the original poster if she was hoping for a valid response. But in general I think the community can police its own self on this matter. If some particular person is moving the thread off topic and it's bugging you, email them about it or post it to Metatalk (do not post in the original thread complaining about it, that will just add to the noise).

I think that's all you can do.
posted by daveadams at 8:28 AM on August 27, 2001

I think I'm finding attempts at thread killing more distasteful. Granted, the Palestine/Israel deal seems to be bucking for inclusion among the prime examples relating to Godwin's Law, but does declaring some topic too whatever for discussion on MeFi serve any purpose other than to squelch the exchange of ideas? It feels like a tool for someone who doesn't like where a thread is going to discourage others from participating.
posted by NortonDC at 10:12 AM on August 27, 2001