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How do you feel about OT posts?

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serious crayons:
Hey folks! Lately, there has been more than the usual discussion about off-topic comments. The moderators thought it would be a good idea to ask people in the BetterMost community how they feel about OT posts. We'll use that info in deciding how to respond to them or to complaints about them.

Please pick one or two of the options above (they aren't all mutually exclusive). If possible, please comment more specifically below. For example, if you think some topics are more compatible with OT comments than others, or if you think some OT posts are more welcome than others, feel free to elaborate on what makes for good OT or bad OT.

Brown Eyes:
Heya Katherine,

I think that it's perfectly fine and even desirable for threads to occasionally go off topic.  It seems important to me that discussion should be allowed to be organic and grow according to the flow of responses.  And, I do think some topics lend themselves to going off topic more than others.  The main thing, though, is that I think the thread should - at some point- be brought back to the original topic.   If a new topic emerges out of an established thread that's so big and so interesting and good at generating discussion, then I think it should be split into a new thread so that it doesn't turn into a permanent distraction from the original question/ topic of the established thread.  I think it's only fair to the original topic of an established thread that it remain the highlighted issue for discussion in it's own thread.  I think it also helps to keep things organized so people will know where to find a place to post a thought they're having about a particular topic.  If all threads went off-topic too frequently or too permanently, I can imagine it might cause a lot of confusion.  Especially to newcomers to BetterMost or newcomers to a topic.

Lynne:
I completely agree with Amanda.

It's fun and interesting to see what thoughts lead to others as threads develop...sort of a stream-of-consciousness posting - I'm very bad about it myself.  But then if there's enough interest in whatever new idea(s) are presented, the threads can be split/merged/etc to keep the forum tidy.

-Lynne

brokeplex:
Either one of two solutions needs to be adopted:

1) clear rules involving off topic comments need to be established and enforced on all forums all of the time,

or

2) the OT rules need to be ignored and only personal attacks or hate speech needs to be restricted. 

louisev:
I am a regular at another forum called 'Rotten Tomatoes' and they have a rule against what they call 'Thread hijacking.'  If a discussion lends itself to meandering - like 'Heath Heath Heath' which is all about Heath no matter what it is - then the discussion is going to range widely.  However, if the discussion is about a particular political matter in Current Events and someone chimes in with a completely unrelated topic which derails the point that was under discussion, then that is a hijack - an interruption that may very well be intended to stop discussion or debate and make the topic fall apart as a result.  It depends a LOT on the topic - and I do think that the current events area should remain more focused than say the fan discussion or the blogs or other places.

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