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Off topic discussions in threads?

aingaing
edited July 2007 in NewBuddhist.com
To paraphrase:

"Look, I really don't see how this discussion is even relevent (as much as I like fortune cookies and french fries)."

I was involved in an off topic debate. The others involved started to make jokes. The joking was a break from from the off topic debate. To be able to make fun and be silly when finding ourselves getting wrapped up in rhetorical seriousness is a good thing.

If threads never went off topic this forum would have much shorter threads.

I guess i am lucky there is not a teacher around with a stick to hit me when i drift off topic. I would have a very lumpy head.

How should off topic discusions be handled? Should one just start a new thread and continue it there?

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited May 2006
    aing - this is off topic, so I'm moving the thread....


    Oh....

    hang on.....

    From a purely personal and non-Moderating point of view, there are some threads which seem more "suited" than others, to stray off-topic.... But it can be irritating when threads of a specific and significant variety, wander off and divert completely from the original point. in some threads, this is nothing short of sacrilege....

    Maybe as a Moderator, I should be more Mindful..... However, I am as guilty as others, and I don't want to be the bigh heavy "I am" wielding the said stick......

    Perhaps, where relevant, I could be a bit more vigilant:

    However.....

    You can:

    * Actually ask that people please stick to the topic (especially if it's your thread) -

    * Tactfully steer the discussion back, and ask a question/post a comment on the relevant topic -

    * Contact me via a PM (if the problem persists, and it worries you, and you have already made requests which appear to have been ignored. I will step in and do the necesary....
    But if I notice a request has already been made in the thread, and it sems to have been ignored, I would probably step in anyway.....

    The above is of course, relevant to all and every member on forum.


    Aing.....Is this what you needed to know....? :)
  • aingaing
    edited May 2006
    Thanks Frederica

    I was one that was off topic in my reference. And it appeared someone was offended by the off topic discussion.

    Is there a forum I could ask to move the discussion to so we can arm wrestle our opinions over such things as semantics, historical perspectives and the like?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited May 2006
    Was this here.....? I don't remember an issue like that.....
    What topic is it? then maybe I can see about moving it....
  • aingaing
    edited May 2006
    The issue was resolved after anothe poster made his feeling clear. We just went back on topic.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited May 2006
    One of our lecturers at the University, speaking to us graduates doing our Diploma of Education, advised that, with pupils over about 15 or 16, the only thing to do with a "red herring" was to swim with it until it became exhausted.

    "On" topic and "off" topic can so often be in the perception of the reader/writer.
  • NirvanaNirvana aka BUBBA   `     `   South Carolina, USA Veteran
    edited July 2007
    DID YOU KNOW that you can Stay Logged ON to Newbuddhist and conveniently post without having to log in again after a few minutes in the same thread?

    All you have to do is just type in newbuddhist (or newbuddhist.com if you don't have a Mac) and sign in there. You won't be able to see what you've typed, but then:
    Under the Your logo here! banner, click on the second rectangle, FORUM, and you're on until you log out. Sometimes I forget to log out, though, but I'm working at being more responsible...

    BTW, belated thanks to Matt and Brian and all who some months ago improved this site so that you didn't lose everything you had written when you were automatically logged out. That was really inconvenient. Sometimes so much was just lost and you were simply unable to recreate what you had written.

    (I hope I am not guilty of a grave sacrilege here by changing the topic in a thread about Off-Topic Discussions. However, I didn't want to create a new thread to point out what I think others might want to know and found this thread worth bumping.)
  • NirvanaNirvana aka BUBBA   `     `   South Carolina, USA Veteran
    edited July 2007
    buddhafoot wrote:
    I bet the flowers look really good and you cleaned up that spill.

    Sounds like a good day to me. Quit yer bitchin':tongue2:

    I laughed and laughed, bf.

    Or was that on another thread? Gosh, I must have A real problem.

    Gosh, I'm losing it!
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