Thread Hijacking

Grant

Administrator
As of late there has been a considerable amount of thread hijacking and as a result I would like to institute a No Thread Hijacking rule.

Hijacking a thread is a bit like having a person interrupt my morning coffee. It is generally considered bad manners and it usually upsets the people who were already there and it is sometimes difficult to deal with. There are many methods a person can use to hijack a thread such as:

- Interrupting an ongoing conversation by asking an irrelevant question,

- Two (2) or more members getting personal in a private conversation that has nothing to do with the subject of the thread,

- Using abusive language, personal slurs and other unpleasant comments that make other users uncomfortable.

Why should PWI Forums users be concerned about hijacking threads?

Generally, users sign up to this website because they are interested in a pressure washing-related conversation thread that is already on the go. If a new user signs up to a thread that appeals to him or her, and finds that the content of the thread changes totally off-topic after a few messages, he or she is going to be disappointed and less likely to participate in other relevant discussions.

Yes, it is even possible for people that start a thread to hijack their own conversations, which is not a very sensible thing to do. Because users do look at a number of different thread topics before joining in, they are keen to participate in that specific topic and a hijacked thread can lead to a drop in the overall quality of forum discussions and active participation of the most valuable members.

Site admin and moderators too can be really nice people and they might feel uncomfortable interrupting an on-going thread if established forum members are using it. This is despite the fact that they control the conversation and the users who participate. The moderators’ goal is to keep a check on how different threads are going, and just quietly intervene if someone does try to slant the conversation away from the thread purpose. However, without the help of forum members who should ignore posts that may lead to thread hijacking it is not easy to achieve.
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So we ask all forum participants for a little more consideration for other users, please. Better yet, why don’t you start your own thread, on your own topic and then like-minded users can join up with you. We appreciate your understanding and efforts to keep the PWI Forums website as good as it can be!

... and we reserve the right to delete all posts that we deem may lead to thread hijacking.
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How to determine if you are about to hijack a thread?

It's very simple - before posting a message in a thread, check the title of the thread (and the first message thread if needed).

If the post you are going to make has nothing or little to do with the thread’s subject, please do not post this message in this thread.

Instead, use the search feature or the Related Topics link and find a similar thread; if you don't find a related topic, you can open a new thread.

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PS. For those concerned, these rules will not be strictly enforced for threads in the mindless blabbering section.

Thank you for following the PWI Forums No-Hijacking Etiquette.

Moderators are asked to try to keep threads on track and ask violators to start new threads in the appropriate areas.

Please note that this is not completely written by me, portions are borrowed from other forum admins who have similar problems.
 
If you do anything to yourself, make sure it is in the appropriate forum. But, staying on topic, if we stop hijacking threads, it is easier to follow the original thought or question making it easier to read, search and follow along.
I thank everyone in advance for their help.
 
Do I need to remind everyone to take there meds before logging in?
 
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