When I enter a particular thread here at BetterMost, I imagine I'm entering a party, full to the brim with fascinating, exciting, exotic, interesting people, all of whom have a similar (though not identical) life philosophy as my own and are out on the town for a good time, to meet like minded people and engage in lively conversation.
Imagine if one was rigidly instructed on entering such a party room that one could only speak about one particular topic and that if you strayed off topic, you would be bullied and harassed by the other party-goers and possibly even thrown out of the party by the host. Crikey!
Having said all that, however, I do concede that no-one likes an obnoxiously opinionated, loud-mouth, barge-arse,
on or
off topic. Sometimes such people are unaware how excessively forceful they're appearing ( they may be discussing something they genuinely feel very strongly about) and need to be reminded to modify their behaviour and engage in a polite and respectful manner. On such occasions, I believe it is appropriate for the moderator to send a
polite PM to the offending person (
never a public reprimand). This should only be done as a last resort, however, and only acting upon a complaint. Oops, did I just go off topic?!