Frogboy Frogboy

NOTICE: Off topic Posting

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NOTICE: Off topic Posting

from WinCustomize Forums
I'm a cranky guy. Damn cranky.

And one thing that is making me really cranky is that people will make an intelligent post only to see it hijacked by people and turn it into something completely unrelated to what the original topic was about.

I've seen this trend growing lately and it is going to stop now. I don't care how long you've been around the community. If there is a conversation on say designing wallpapers and you turn it into a discussion about third party Photoshop filters, you stand the risk of losing your posting priviledges. If there is a post discussing the finer points of stock portfolios and you turn it into a tirade about Enron, you stand the risk of losing your posting access.

And that obviously goes for posts that are about somethign relevant that turn into cutesy quasi-private conversations between people inside of posts.

And if you want to discuss something, make a post. You can post about pretty much anything you want here in the sense that you can create your own thread. But don't hijack other people's threads. It's rude and it's unnecessary.

We will be adding a host of new forum features to help make having discussions easier to participate in over the long haul. But in the meantime, let's show respect to those who create threads by not immediately turning it into a tangential discussion.

And yes, obviously at some point in a long conversation you will have topic drift. But if you're on post 5 on a thread about HDTV standards, it's not cool to start posting about whether Burger King's Fries are better than McDonalds. Because 1) They're not and 2) it's off topic.

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Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
He said he was cranky, not mad...you guys are off topic again!!

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Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Froggy's not near as cranky as he lets on, Just remember he walks softly and carries a big keyboard.......

Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am on your side Jammeister ... no offense Frogboy, but that for the most part makes the messageboard fun converstaions that are spun off from other ones... but you are in charge, and you have never made a point before that I didn't agree with... so I will heed your advice... mostly because I want all of the bickering and fighting to stop... and maybe we will be able to control the Troll population a little better with these changes and no one will want to leave anymore And Every one can get ((Smooches)) and ((Hugs)) from the lively hearted ones (they know who they are) while listening to whitty Australian humor, and learning all about skinning. Anything that will make this message board better I will gladly be a part of

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Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hm, I am partly with it. I often do not read threads anymore that initially interested me, because they turned into nonsense threads at some point... I just began to drive a board (german only) and have a special topic for nonsense threads. And I will keep an eye on nonsense-posters in other threads myself...

@Jam : That comparison with Nazi-Germany was somewhat rude and out of any context...

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Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
this may sound a bit harsh, but having watched how the message board change over the last few months, i feel it is a required statement.

the topic of a thread always tends to slowly drift, but of late it really has been getting a bit extreme.

the suggestion of improvements and enhancements to the message board in the future is one that i am looking forward to with great interest
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
feline - "this may sound a bit harsh"

i was referring to the original post by frogboy.

re-reading my post, perhaps it wasn't as clear as it could have been
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I apologise to you c242, as I said in an earlier post my comment was an unfair comparison....

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Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm in agreement that some threads are going way off course, and turning into drivel.
Although I would say 3rd party PS filters were 'that' off-topic from wallpaper designing. (Unless we're talking about the real stuff decorators use)
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
were = weren't.
Cold hands, bad grammar.....
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Everything has to have rules. I'm a newcomer on this forum but I am also a moderator/owner on another kind of forum discussions (sport related ) and sometimes they also call me nazi...or communist...

But at the end and when necessary, is the only way to do things...

Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree with Frogboy 'tho. There is a place for alternate topics, and that would be its own thread. It keeps it more organized in that sense. Right?
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I believe that Frogboy is not referring to the natural shifts that a thread will take over time.

What he *is* referring to is how a lot of people will change to topic early on or start a one on one conversation (like they are on instant messenger) and totally hijack the thread.

the trend of changing thread topics and hijacking threads is becoming more and more abundant and it needs to be addressed before it becomes a larger problem.

I hate going to a thread on topic X only to find out that by the 10th post somebody has turned it into a personal discussion about topic Z that is totally unrelated to topic X. Threads will naturally shift over time, but that is different from totally changing the thread topic or hijacking the thread completely.

If you have been warned about doing that in the past, please keep that in mind when posting. if you get warned, please heed the warning.
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree 100% with the Boss!

The humor is very good, necessary and if it is on topic, it is much-much better

I see no danger at all, for no one who has a common sence
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree that it's a real issue, and a problem inherent in a non-branching forum design. If the forum were to have the ability to reply to individual responses, and then hide those 'tangent' branches of the topic to the casual viewer, then this wouldn't be the huge problem it currently is.

It took me a while to find the responses to the topic I posted in the 'PC Zone' thread, and it's not fun to have to wade through off-topic responses just to continue a discussion you started. It's a bit like starting a conversation with someone and then another person butting in and stalling the conversation with their own take on a relatively unimportant aspect of your original comments.

If you want to talk about something that isn't directly related to the question or point made by the original poster, then start your own thread. It's only polite.
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Any thread that had its original point, statement or problem resolved or answered, can go off topic in my book.
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
think part of problem is some of us, myself included, sometimes toss in an off the wall comment when we post to lighten things and then someone else focuses on the comment instead of the thread and responds to it instead of to the thread and as an aside to the comment. As a rule ppls questions usually seem to be answered within a few posts of a thread start so didnt realize was such an issue and to be honest sometimes the reason I DO enjoy this board is how the occational tangent takes off but if it needs to be boring instead that is the moderators call

I'll comply, one really has no choice if wishing to speak here, but probably much more hesitant to say anything for fear its an attempt to steer a thread
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
this may sound a bit harsh, but having watched how the message board change over the last few months, i feel it is a required statement. - feline

Feline, I agree with you. Though I am not a skinner myself and I used to take part in many discussions on WinCustomize. However, over the last several months I have found that I do not enjoy reading the messages boards and therefore have not done so on a regular basis and have not been participating.

I hope this new rule enforcement will bring WinCustomize back to the way it used to be and hope that I will once again be able to enjoy visiting here again.
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
??? I did not notice anything? what did I miss? anyways this is for cranky boy...

shoot! I was gonna post what I'm listening to but I ain't listening to anything atm argh! hehe

well whatever you guys do is fine by me I still have WC on my link bar and it's on my daily rounds so whatever rules you guys make does not bug me any.
/me goes to look up the word "rules" in Dictionary...
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I actually kind of like it when a topic drifts from one thing to another. If you've recieved an informative answer that works by post 2 or 3, I don't see anything wrong with talking about something else in the same thread.

But I also see the point that some people do get frusterated by it. And if a question isn't answered before the topic drifts it is quite annoying.

For those of us who like to see things twist and turn within a thread, if the person posting the original message in a thread puts down that they don't mind if the thread gets completely off topic, would it then be ok to go off topic only within that thread? That way those of us who like to go off topic can still have the freedom to do that once in a while, as long as we respect those who don't like those type of threads.
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Topic dift is natural. Once the original topic has run its course, it is natural for it to veer off. That's how it's always been.

What seems to have happened over the past few months is that a select group of "Regulars" seem to have a handful of topics/dramas that they tend to carry from topic to topic.

Now, if you're part of the "inside joke", so to speak, that's probably fun. But for the vast majority of lurkers and other readers/posters, it's not fun. It's not fun to have a topic you've put together hijacked on response #5 or whatever.

As I said in another post, we won't be exiling people for violating this. But we will be taking away posting priviledges (as I've already begun to do).
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If i may ask....Where do we/you draw the line on this?? Are we to have constant guidence, a rule set out or just end up thinking carefully of what to say. Yes many threads get mixed up with varying posts but the only way to totally 'cure' any problem is to remove the thread once the problem has been solved rather than having it linger...but on the other hand leaving threads answer peoples questions meaning they need not post one so either way you do things its simply swings and roundabouts
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It will be nice to have the message board back the way it used to be. The last few months have been painful watching the board endure a steady decline. It's putting quite a few people off coming here, even people who have been here a long time.

A number of times recently I've arrived here to find the same topic from the same people in every thread. There didn't seem to be a way round it other than either getting mad or going away (I've done both). Hopefully now it will all be sorted

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