Split Forums: When topics go off topic.

[NguyenRhymesWithWin]

OK, folks, I and a few other posters gave it a try...to turn this thread into a reasonable discussion of what the issue here is; as the title states, a 3-year old raped by her uncle, and the concerns the article has around parents who allowed this child to interact with this uncle who had been accused of molesting others. Apparently, this has been an unsuccessful endeavor, as, once again, an issue has been demeaned by the ancillary illegal immigration issue. If the topic were about poor enforcement of rape crimes in Mexico, I'd assume the thread would be titled that way. It is not. I will now bow out of my 'poster' role, and move into my 'mod' role.

Moderator's Warning:

Stay on topic folks, paying attention to the thread title. This thread could become Basement fodder real quick.

This forum has a lot of cool features. Advertisements. Galleries. Other little what nots. Yet we don't split threads when threads have earned enough off topic chitchat.

I haven't been using Invision Forum at a mod or administration side but I have been using SMF and phpbb and there's a function where you can split threads apart and send the remainders to their rightful place. You don't need to kill the topic and obscure it into a place like the basement just because the topic went somewhere else. This system we have now is inefficient.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Or start another thread with the topic you want, rather than threadjacking an already operating thread. Threadjacking is a major problem on this forum, with many posters spinning their agenda into as many threads as they can, whether or not it is pertinent to the thread, at times with the intent to disrupt. We already monitor this by reminding posters to remain on topic and to beginning threads of the topic they want, if they chose to.

 

[NguyenRhymesWithWin]

Or start another thread with the topic you want, rather than threadjacking an already operating thread. Threadjacking is a major problem on this forum, with many posters spinning their agenda into as many threads as they can, whether or not it is pertinent to the thread, at times with the intent to disrupt. We already monitor this by reminding posters to remain on topic and to beginning threads of the topic they want, if they chose to.

People aren't going to stop "threadjacking" and I don't believe most times it's intentional.

Also, it's too late to start a new topic when a topic has began to deviate from the original post. People will still goto the original thread and reply to the deviation on it. Also if you do make a new topic you may get accused of double posting because it's a related thread. This is why splitting is much better.

 

[RightinNYC]

People aren't going to stop "threadjacking" and I don't believe most times it's intentional.

Also, it's too late to start a new topic when a topic has began to deviate from the original post. People will still goto the original thread and reply to the deviation on it. Also if you do make a new topic you may get accused of double posting because it's a related thread. This is why splitting is much better.

Splitting threads is a rather work-intensive process, especially when you have to determine which posts go where among those that address both topics, what threads are worthy of being split, where to place it, etc.

I just don't foresee it being an optimal use of the time of the (volunteer) mods at DP