How Often Do Discussions Here Get Hijacked?

[Ronni]

Sometimes a poster responds to a post with a perspective, comment, anecdote or whatever which will veer the discussion off topic. Another poster comes along and reads the last couple of comments and responds to something there, and voila! Unintentional hijack.

I’m on a variety of forums and groups and sites covering both general discussions like this one, and also specific interests like gardening, dogs, personality types etc. It happens there too.

Sometimes I find the hijacks interesting, sometimes not, but if it’s not my topic I either go with the flow, or make a point of responding to the original topic if it seems warranted.

If, however, it’s MY original post then I consider it my responsibility to keep it on topic if that’s what I want, so I’ll continue to bring the discussion back on point as needed.

Other folks do that too I’ve noticed. Some don’t. It just depends on the person I guess. Personally, I make a point of keeping an eye on the topics I introduce and curating the thread as needed to serve my own ends, whatever they may be.

 

[Buckeye]

Topped off the pickup yesterday and unleaded, non ethanol, 89 octane is the lowest that it's been in quite awhile......$2.93 per gallon.

Oops......guess I drifted off topic.

Here in Central Florida, we are dancing around the $3.00 mark for 89 octane. Some a litlle lower, some higher. I paid $3.57 for the high octane stuff for my Harley. Filled it up for less than $11.

 

[caroln]

Topped off the pickup yesterday and unleaded, non ethanol, 89 octane is the lowest that it's been in quite awhile......$2.93 per gallon.

Oops......guess I drifted off topic.

If this is a topic about going off topic, anything goes, right? No harm, no foul! (I'm very guilty of this!)

 

[Della]

My main deterrent against crime is the thought of having to live in a room with an open toilet.

 

[Nemo2]

If this is a topic about going off topic, anything goes, right? No harm, no foul! (I'm very guilty of this!)

Ahem excuse me...but how much did you pay for fuel today? Please stay with the program!

 

[Nemo2]

My main deterrent against crime is the thought of having to live in a room with an open toilet.

And with 34 roommates.

 

[Hyperion]

I've never posted in a forum, anywhere, ever, and I've posted in many, where discussions do not get hijacked at times. Welcome to the internet!

 

[caroln]

Ahem excuse me...but how much did you pay for fuel today? Please stay with the program!

I don't even look anymore. When I start running on fumes I just stick the gas nozzle in the car and watch the $$$$$ window run higher and higher...then I leave and try to forget the whole incident.

 

[Hyperion]

Yes, I totally agree, it IS very difficult to walk on an icy roadway.........sorry, you were saying..?

I don't even look anymore. When I start running on fumes I just stick the gas nozzle in the car and watch the $$$$$ window run higher and higher...then I leave and try to forget the whole incident.

I don't drive too much anymore, no need to. But last time I filled up my little SUV last week, it was $50. It's the price of groceries that is horrible. Wife told me to stop looking at the prices and I was like 'How, it's like a train wreck, you can't stop looking!'.

 

[wcwbf]

Beauty is in the eye of the Bedholder!

just have to ask... is "bedholder" a typo or is there a story here that i hadda be there to get?

 

[hearlady]

Is it better for everyone to answer yes or no or only discuss why it veers off? Or should we let it drift off into other topics naturally?

Sometimes I have a random thought but if I trace it back there is a definite chain of thoughts that led to this seemingly random thought or expression. Sort of the same thing.

 

[horseless carriage]

I agree... it's easy to bring something back to the original point. Just think of it like a chat in the pub. You start off chatting about your car, and eventually ends up with how much the missus is costing you over Christmas...

Tell me about it!

 

[Nemo2]

Is it better for everyone to answer yes or no or only discuss why it veers off? Or should we let it drift off into other topics naturally?

“Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?”

Billy S.

 

[JustDave]

Sometimes, but not often, I find an interesting article to read on the Internet, and then I get a pop up about something else entirely. We are the Attention Deficit Disorder generation trained by MTV and programed by Madison Ave. to believe not concentrating on one thing for more than 30 seconds is our own best interest, less we miss and ad for Zoloft.

 

[leastlongprime]

We only buy gas when we need gas. We just ignore the cost.
It's a Prius2. Drive <100mi/mn, and the drives are < 1-3miles to each destination, this fairly high cost per mile.

OP: {a fair amount but it's a coffeeshop conversation}

 

[Hyperion]

On one forum that I'm a long time poster on, they have a rule about OTs (other topics). No OTs allowed for the first 15 minutes after the original post, or something like that. Absolutely no one obeys that rule, lol.

 

[grahamg]

It's rare for a thread to get "hijacked" in SF, but remember when planes would get hijacked all the time? That was back in the '70s. Why don't planes get hijacked any more? It's like acid rain. Everybody was worried about acid rain back in the '80s, but nobody talks about that any more. It was killing all the trees up in Canada, but now it's beetle kill, or more specifically, mountain pine beetles that are killing trees. Man, the Beatles were a great band. How come young people these days can't create great music like that? Today's music is so boring...

Good work/post, I'm sure most appreciated by everyone, (I loved it anyway !).

 

[NorthernLight]

On another forum, I asked how I could explain something in very simple terms to non-experts.

"My" thread has received dozens of replies -- almost all of which are long and complicated arguments presenting various points of view. I've given up trying to read the thread.

 

[Lewkat]

All it takes sometimes is a word or a phrase and I can be off and running in a direction far beyond what the original poster intended. However, it is with the thought that somehow, I will take it round the bend and back to the original topic.

 

[caroln]

On another forum, I asked how I could explain something in very simple terms to non-experts.

"My" thread has received dozens of replies -- almost all of which are long and complicated arguments presenting various points of view. I've given up trying to read the thread.

I have a hard time staying with long complicated posts. Personally, in my case my attention span has deteriorated to that of a 5 year old, which probably explains why I go "off topic" so often on a thread!

 

[Pepper]

Me too @caroln

 

[ohioboy]

just have to ask... is "bedholder" a typo or is there a story here that i hadda be there to get?

No typo!

 

[Remy]

I have a hard time staying with long complicated posts. Personally, in my case my attention span has deteriorated to that of a 5 year old, which probably explains why I go "off topic" so often on a thread!

I go to a well moderated support sub on Reddit. I have to say, I don't read the long posts. And I mean some of them can get really, really, really loooong. I just can't.

 

[wcwbf]

No typo!

then... could ya explain cuz IDGI... (i don't get it)?

 

[ohioboy]

then... could ya explain cuz IDGI... (i don't get it)?

Instead of in the eye of the BEholder, in the eye of the BEDholder. If you are holding her in your Bed, it does not matter how she looks!