Staying "On Topic"

So... have the rules changed again? Is veering "off topic" now a pointable infraction? I sure hope not.

Maybe this is a good time to quote Holden Caulfield...

That digression business got on my nerves. I don't know. The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's more interesting and all... Oh, sure! I like somebody to stick to the point and all. But I don't like them to stick too much to the point. I don't know. I guess I don't like it when somebody sticks to the point all the time. The boys that got the best marks in Oral Expression were the ones that stuck to the point all the time — I admit it. But there was this one boy, Richard Kinsella. He didn't stick to the point too much, and they were always yelling "Digression!" at him. It was terrible, because in the first place, he was a very nervous guy — I mean he was a very nervous guy — and his lips were always shaking whenever it was his time to make a speech, and you could hardly hear him if you were sitting way in the back of the room. When his lips sort of quit shaking a little bit, though, I liked his speeches better than anybody else's... It's nice when somebody tells you about their uncle. Especially when they start out telling you about their father's farm and then all of a sudden get more interested in their uncle. I mean it's dirty to keep yelling "Digression!" at him when he's all nice and excited. I don't know. It's hard to explain.

I like that!

So... have the rules changed again? Is veering "off topic" now a pointable infraction? I sure hope not.

Maybe this is a good time to quote Holden Caulfield...

That digression business got on my nerves. I don't know. The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's more interesting and all... Oh, sure! I like somebody to stick to the point and all. But I don't like them to stick too much to the point. I don't know. I guess I don't like it when somebody sticks to the point all the time. The boys that got the best marks in Oral Expression were the ones that stuck to the point all the time — I admit it. But there was this one boy, Richard Kinsella. He didn't stick to the point too much, and they were always yelling "Digression!" at him. It was terrible, because in the first place, he was a very nervous guy — I mean he was a very nervous guy — and his lips were always shaking whenever it was his time to make a speech, and you could hardly hear him if you were sitting way in the back of the room. When his lips sort of quit shaking a little bit, though, I liked his speeches better than anybody else's... It's nice when somebody tells you about their uncle. Especially when they start out telling you about their father's farm and then all of a sudden get more interested in their uncle. I mean it's dirty to keep yelling "Digression!" at him when he's all nice and excited. I don't know. It's hard to explain. Originally Posted by lustylad

If you make a comment that it is a worthless thread...you will be pointed. Be warned.

If you make a comment that it is a worthless thread...you will be pointed. Be warned. Originally Posted by bb1961

Hmmm... that's not off topic, though. Were you pointed for being disrespectful? It would seem to me that you can call a thread topic worthless without calling the OP worthless. But that's just me. I'm not a mod.

Hmmm... that's not off topic, though. Were you pointed for being disrespectful? It would seem to me that you can call a thread topic worthless without calling the OP worthless. But that's just me. I'm not a mod. Originally Posted by lustylad

Yep...I said worthless tread...pointed for being disrespectful.

ECCIE is morphing into Indy’s. Sad but true.

Threads are like flowcharts, it's their nature to get off topic, then sometimes flow back on topic, sometimes not.


The only reasonable way to keep a thread on topic is to make a poll and don't allow any comments. If moderation gets too heavy handed, then people are hesitant to post, which will destroy a site faster than no moderation. It's called paralysis by analysis when people think too hard about what will get them infractions or not.


On the board I was admin of, we usually gave out warnings before infractions, unless the post stepped way over the line or the person was the same old same who had many warnings or infractions. 90% of the time, all it took was a warning to get things on track.

I was pointed for not "being on topic" when I directly addressed/replied-to the mod's post about staying on topic.

Threads are like flowcharts, it's their nature to get off topic, then sometimes flow back on topic, sometimes not. Originally Posted by DEAR_JOHN

Some of the most interesting, insightful and iconic threads in this forum rambled on for months and for literally hundreds of posts and veered off into topics that were far removed from the original one.

Holden Caulfield would approve.

I was pointed for not "being on topic" when I directly addressed/replied-to the mod's post about staying on topic. Originally Posted by I B Hankering

LOL! (And in this case the other meaning)

I guess this is the new and “improved” ECCIE. The second coming of the Harvard-Yale-Princeton club. A bunch of mongers and hos forced to behave. And the mods aren’t any better.

I was pointed for not "being on topic" when I directly addressed/replied-to the mod's post about staying on topic. Originally Posted by I B Hankering

So now been off topic generates points?

So now been off topic generates points? Originally Posted by bb1961

Responding to a mod's post was deemed "off-topic" and pointed.

Responding to a mod's post was deemed "off-topic" and pointed.
Originally Posted by I B Hankering

Political discourse has always been contentious, even more so that Trump was elected. Ok, I get St C wants to clean things up. Believe me, the forum is far better than Yssup posting fat gay pics and stupid Nazi memes. And stupid monkey shit. Very good. But to have WU trying to establish what’s “on topic” is a fools errand. It’s a waste of time. If WU thinks NFL players protesting police inequality in a Blue Lives matter thread is somehow off topic is mind boggling. He should keep the insults and stupid memes out of the forum. And then just stay out of it.

Political discourse has always been contentious, even more so that Trump was elected. Ok, I get St C wants to clean things up. Believe me, the forum is far better than Yssup posting fat gay pics and stupid Nazi memes. And stupid monkey shit. Very good. But to have WU trying to establish what’s “on topic” is a fools errand. It’s a waste of time. If WU thinks NFL players protesting police inequality in a Blue Lives matter thread is somehow of topic is mind boggling. He should keep the insults and stupid memes out of the forum. And then just stay out of it. Originally Posted by bambino

Since when did responding to a mod's post become an "off-topic" pointable offense?