Anonymous wrote:The people who are the most annoying on DCUM are the posters who feel they can speak for Jeff on Website Feedback. If I start a thread there with a question specifying Jeff, I don’t need his sycophants jumping in to breathlessly insult me while lecturing me on why Jeff did this or that. Frankly, there should be a thread in which we can speak directly to Jeff without having to deal with his toadies at all.

Those are the *true* teacher’s pets/hall monitor types.

If you post on Website Feedback, then it is for public discussion. That's not Jeff's mailbox and it isn't a private conversation.

If you want a private question to speak directly to Jeff, just use the "Report" button on any post (safest to use one of your own posts). That does go to Jeff's mailbox. Just make sure to put your own email address in the Report and he can and will reply to you. That way no one else will see it besides Jeff.

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

So report it for being off topic. See how that is supposed to work?

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

Yes? We were discussing how we hate the hall monitors of DCUM. Not how to fix the problem. If you want to fix the problem, create another thread. Stop hijacking this one.

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Anonymous wrote:I appreciate the reports for lying, trolling, racism, etc.

I detest the nitpicky reports that can derail a good conversation. One of the hall monitors lives on the VA Schools forum and reports the stupidest little things so I don’t waste my time there anymore.

You posts get deleted for a reason. I don’t know what that reason is, but there is a reason. Maybe you post racist stuff. Maybe you try to derail every conversation into a rant about your unrelated pet peeves with the school system. Whatever it is, do better and your posts won’t get deleted.

The reason was the conversation veered away somewhat from the original topic. It was a thoughtful and constructive conversation about the school system (albeit a tangent from the OP). No cursing. No racism. Just veered somewhat off topic - just like 1 million other threads on here do. Something that happens ALL of the time. Hall monitor didn’t have anything better to do and reported a bunch of posts which were deleted.

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Yes, one person ruined it for the rest of us.

Did you poll everyone who read the thread to determine the balance on that? All you know is that you were frustrated, the rest is your self-centered assumptions.

There were a lot of people frustrated by the deletions. I think there was also a follow-up thread in website feedback about the deletions.

I guess the frustrating part is there is no recourse. If 9/10 people are good with the direction of the thread and 1/10 is not, it really sucks when the 1/10 makes the decision for all. And there wasn’t anything inherently negative in the thread. Just a little off-topic.

Anyway, it’s done. I try not to put too much effort into those threads now because it’s too frustrating when it all gets deleted.

It's very simple really. If you have a tangent to the original thread that goes more than a few posts, then you should start a new S/O thread. Easy enough. Basically, if the tangent goes more than one page, it's too much. For up to about 10 posts, not really a problem, but more than a page and you've derailed the original thread. If you start your own thread, you won't get deleted. But it isn't fair when your side tangent overwhelms the original topic to the point that the OP or a few others cannot find the original topic posts because of the tangent.

And for the record I have no earthly idea what your thread or tangent were about. I live in MD and never venture into the VA schools forum.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IS there anyway that a good sidetrack can be pulled out and put in it's own thread without a heck of a lot of work. For example someone asks about say Science education in FCPS elementary and a side convo develops about science in LCPS, or the info on the other system be moved instead of deleted as off topic. Not the best example, but I hope it explains what I mean.

We don't have the technical means to do that.

I sort of figured that it might be impossible , but was worth an ask.

Anonymous wrote:IS there anyway that a good sidetrack can be pulled out and put in it's own thread without a heck of a lot of work. For example someone asks about say Science education in FCPS elementary and a side convo develops about science in LCPS, or the info on the other system be moved instead of deleted as off topic. Not the best example, but I hope it explains what I mean.

What people usually do is start a new thread, sometimes calling it a spinoff. I don’t think Jeff can move posts from one thread to another.

Anonymous wrote:IS there anyway that a good sidetrack can be pulled out and put in it's own thread without a heck of a lot of work. For example someone asks about say Science education in FCPS elementary and a side convo develops about science in LCPS, or the info on the other system be moved instead of deleted as off topic. Not the best example, but I hope it explains what I mean.

We don't have the technical means to do that.

IS there anyway that a good sidetrack can be pulled out and put in it's own thread without a heck of a lot of work. For example someone asks about say Science education in FCPS elementary and a side convo develops about science in LCPS, or the info on the other system be moved instead of deleted as off topic. Not the best example, but I hope it explains what I mean.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's such hall monitoring and annoying behavior. Stop running to Daddy every time you don't get your way.

DCUM has become popular because a certain level of standards are maintained. Without the help of posters who report posts that don’t meet those standards, we couldn’t maintain them. That would cause us to become less popular overall, though perhaps more popular with you. Unless you can show that you are responsible for an inordinate amount of the site’s popularity, I prefer to stick to the formula that works. Thanks to all those who report posts. I really appreciate your efforts.

Absolutely. Keep doing what you’re doing Jeff. I’ve seen other sites with no moderation and it’s disastrous, bringing out lowest forms of human society. You absolutely are doing the right thing by moderating and having rules.

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It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

A discussion of why people report side tracking is off topic in a thread started to discuss the merits of people reporting posts?

On the subject of off-topic posts, I think it is important to understand that posts that trigger reports often don't occur in a vacuum. Many times, the same sort of post has disrupted similar threads in the past. The person doing the reporting has seen it happen before, maybe multiple times. For whatever reason, some posters have fixations on certain topics and will post about that topic on any thread, regardless of what the thread is actually about. Those posters can provide any number of justifications for why their personal obsession is so important that discussion of it should be allowed in any thread or why it is actually on-topic. No amount of polite reasoning with these folks will convince them otherwise. Occasionally, this can result in some collateral damage when an innocent newcomer stumbles into posting about something that is only vaguely off-topic, but has been known to hijack threads in the past. Posters just assume it is the obsessed poster and report the post accordingly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Jeff, this thread is off on a tangent. Can you please delete it? PP, if you want to discuss how to handle side tracking, please start a new thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.

Since the pp refuses to identify the topics in question, I'm going to guess the tangent was clearly off-topic.

I really appreciate when Jeff moves or others ask to move threads in the wrong forum. I very often come to DCUM with a question about something and searches are much more useful when the topics are in the correct forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It was beyond ridiculous. Really against the spirit of community and conversation.

I have no idea what thread you're talking about or what the conversation was. But sometimes, while an off-topic tangent may be interesting to some people, it can be frustrating to others who would like to discuss the original topic but are getting drowned out by those going off-topic. If the tangent is off topic but worth discussing, just start a new thread.

It was a lengthy conversation. Not worth the effort to rethink and repost all of the various points.

Just because hall monitor CAN report a thread doesn’t mean she SHOULD. It ruined the spirit of the community discussion.

It may have ruined it for you, but clearly someone else felt that you were ruining the spirit of the community discussion by taking the discussion off-topic.

Might I suggest, first, as a general fora courtesy, that if a thread becomes side-tracked, someone can point it out within the thread and the side-trackers can go start a s/o thread, posting the link for others to follow if wanted. Happens all the time without fight on other sites.

And second, that there’s no need to destroy the original side-track, as long as there is general civility, because it may be of interest to others who can then go through the conversation and find the new thread.

And third, if you’re called out on side tracking, to stop posting, “who are you, the forum police?”

As an aside, though, a lot of what some people honk is a sidetrack is still on topic, it’s just that people’s brains are either black/white or shades of grey. So I can see why a side convo. about dog grooming may be on topic in a thread about the best shampoo. Other editors might identify that as strictly off topic.