Quote:
Originally Posted by vivaldirules
I'm very sorry this didn't work as planned and saddened that people were hurt from the discussions or from the fact that it has been removed. But the problem remains: keeping threads on topic. Just one post with a comment slightly off track in a thread about DRM alternatives and it becomes a thread about bread recipes or squirrels. New people checking in on the thread naturally join in the lastest (squirrel) discussion while those who started the thread are disappointed that no one is discussing the main topic any longer and go away angry. What to do?
I don't think it's to try to stay inhumanly focused on the topic. I think that doing so causes people to become so dreadfully focused that they become dour, easily get their ire up, and lose their sense of humility. That's what it felt like to me, at least, and the only solution for me was to just walk away and stay away. I'm wondering if there isn't a better solution, perhaps in a software change, that would allow someone (maybe anyone, not just the poster or a moderator) to designate a post as off-topic and clearly set it to the side in the thread listing. Not to remove it from the thread but to make it clear to all that the post is a tangent and that the main topic discussion remains alive. Of course, I don't have a clue what I'm talking about. I'm just throwing out an idea I see in my head - such as it is.
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I like the way that life hacker does there comments. I could see a forum set up like this. and it would work well aslong as you have javascript on that is.
http://lifehacker.com/5245881/window...lity#c12686949