Post by nyandra on May 26, 2007 14:13:56 GMT 10
Hi, I'd just like to talk to you today about the concept of staying on topic. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and noticing offtopicness happening a lot.
Off Topic is where you randomly start talking about things that are not connected to the original topic. Now, they might be connected to something that someone said before you, and that's fine. But if you want to go further into it, make a new thread about it. There's no rule against making new threads. This will make things much less confusing.
Random offtopicness is the worst. Say something in a thread reminds you of something else you want to say - go start a new thread please. It makes it easier for everyone, and keeps the forum less confusing and more active. Or, if there's already a thread on that sort of topic already, you can go and put it there.
That's another point I'd like to talk about- You *can* make a thread that's already had a thread for it, if it was a thread that was a while ago, or isn't exactly on the topic you want to talk about. This is particularly important for things like in the General Col and Frank forum. Say you want to talk about a specific aspect of Col's performance in one night of Spicks and Specks. You do *not* have to just put it in a thread about spicks and specks. It'd make a good conversation! And that way, we can talk about *that question* not just spicks and specks in general, and it makes the forum more diverse. Now if you were talking about something funny Adam said on spicks and specks that night then *that* would go in a general spicks and specks thread. Because this is a lano and woodley forum, not an Adam Hills forum. Do you get what I mean? Or say you're talking about an episode of the adventures of LW. And you think of something else funny that's not connected to the original post- what better opportunity is there to make a new thread?
When making a new thread, try to make sure that it makes sense, is coherent, and that you have something that people can talk about in some way- that cuts down on random off topicness too. ('isn't this cool!' *does* count as 'something people can talk about')
Offtopicness in the General forum is much more acceptable than offtopicness in the Media or the Col and Frank LW related forums. But sometimes it goes a bit over the top even there.
So. When reading a thread, here's some things to think about:
1. Read the original topic of the thread. If what you have to say is too disconnected to that topic, make a new thread. We're not going to run out of space. As long as you're not spamming or something, we won't mind talking about different aspects of things.
2. If you and a friend want to go off on a tangent- make a new thread. It'll be interesting and fun!
3. Don't be too afraid to make a new thread about a different aspect of something, or to make a new thread even if there had been a thread on it ages ago but we've moved on. You *are* allowed to bump things up but if what you have to say isn't really relevant to that, why not start a new one? But, please check to make sure that there hasn't been the same topic already posted recently.
I just thought I'd talk about this because I love to see the forum improve.
Hope no one minds. This will probably be added to at a later date.
Off Topic is where you randomly start talking about things that are not connected to the original topic. Now, they might be connected to something that someone said before you, and that's fine. But if you want to go further into it, make a new thread about it. There's no rule against making new threads. This will make things much less confusing.
Random offtopicness is the worst. Say something in a thread reminds you of something else you want to say - go start a new thread please. It makes it easier for everyone, and keeps the forum less confusing and more active. Or, if there's already a thread on that sort of topic already, you can go and put it there.
That's another point I'd like to talk about- You *can* make a thread that's already had a thread for it, if it was a thread that was a while ago, or isn't exactly on the topic you want to talk about. This is particularly important for things like in the General Col and Frank forum. Say you want to talk about a specific aspect of Col's performance in one night of Spicks and Specks. You do *not* have to just put it in a thread about spicks and specks. It'd make a good conversation! And that way, we can talk about *that question* not just spicks and specks in general, and it makes the forum more diverse. Now if you were talking about something funny Adam said on spicks and specks that night then *that* would go in a general spicks and specks thread. Because this is a lano and woodley forum, not an Adam Hills forum. Do you get what I mean? Or say you're talking about an episode of the adventures of LW. And you think of something else funny that's not connected to the original post- what better opportunity is there to make a new thread?
When making a new thread, try to make sure that it makes sense, is coherent, and that you have something that people can talk about in some way- that cuts down on random off topicness too. ('isn't this cool!' *does* count as 'something people can talk about')
Offtopicness in the General forum is much more acceptable than offtopicness in the Media or the Col and Frank LW related forums. But sometimes it goes a bit over the top even there.
So. When reading a thread, here's some things to think about:
1. Read the original topic of the thread. If what you have to say is too disconnected to that topic, make a new thread. We're not going to run out of space. As long as you're not spamming or something, we won't mind talking about different aspects of things.
2. If you and a friend want to go off on a tangent- make a new thread. It'll be interesting and fun!
3. Don't be too afraid to make a new thread about a different aspect of something, or to make a new thread even if there had been a thread on it ages ago but we've moved on. You *are* allowed to bump things up but if what you have to say isn't really relevant to that, why not start a new one? But, please check to make sure that there hasn't been the same topic already posted recently.
I just thought I'd talk about this because I love to see the forum improve.
Hope no one minds. This will probably be added to at a later date.