Hijacked threads
 

Ok, I was requested to bring the discussion about hijacked threads to this forum.

I've noticed quite a few threads being hijacked over the past few months. I hate to walk into a discussion about A and to find page after page of discussion about B. In fact, I usually don't get past page 2 if a thread has been hijacked.

I ask that the moderators please lock threads that become hijacked.

ALSO. The thread that Bushdog "accused" me of hijacking was my first. I would invite you to show me another thread that I personally hijacked.

Thanks,

Abhay

As I also stated, hijacking on occasion is fine, doing it multiple times in multiple threads daily isn't. Locking threads isn't going to solve it, warnings and suspensions will.

I also said the Other Forum of late has become, I can't find any words to describe it other than gross, lately.

I am in complete agreement with the above posters. I have never seen it as bad as I do now in the other forum. I open a thread talkingh about a certain subject, only to get to the middle of the thread and see it talking about some other thing completley.

People need to be warned, then baned for this IMO. All hijacking does is upset those of us who like to read about the subject that we clicked on.

Not that anyone really cares about my opinion, as I am a rather unknown in the scheme of things, but here's what I've seen:

1. The Other Forum has become rather depressingly boring lately, at least in my opinion. In many ways it has become the antithesis of free flowing discussion that I believe was the intended purpose. Instead, I find it to be closed, overly PC and judgemental (and yes, that often does include my own responses). In addition, it has become in many ways no different than the cliques you often see in JR/SR Highs. Name calling, vulgarity for no purposes, and the relative vapidity of the content has increased more in the last month or so, than in the whole of the 2+ years I have frequented this board.

2. Most of the time, the Mods handle things quite well. I would urge the mods, however, to refrain from threats and the exercise of their mod powers when they are directly involved in a conflict. Doing so, or even threats to do so, only result in either the appearance of impropriety or actual misuse/abuse of power.

3. I believe we as users must be reminded from time to time of the terms and conditions which we agreed to abide by when registering for this forum. It used to be that actions were taken swiftly when violations occured. I see actual T&C violations everyday now. I also seen frequent violations of the law, in the nature of copyright infringement, occuring on this board. If the users cannot understand the t&c's, then it is the job of the administrators and moderaters to properly police the forum.

4. All of the above concerns are consumated in many ways in the current threadjacking problem. It merely represents one thing, a failure to respect others. I would like to think there is a difference between humor and outright disregard for others. But many times we as a forum fail to properly abide by the distinction and find our attempts at humor and frivolity causign actual harm to the enjoyment of this forum by others... WE ALL NEED TO IMPROVE IN THIS AREA.

To conclude, may it all start with me. If everyone does their part, DVDTALK and its forums will continue to be a vibrant and interesting waystation on the digital highway.

In the words of a mod that I do respect greatly, I would hope this is merely a low point in the general "ebb and flow" of the board. However, I've seen little signs of the tide receding in recent days....

As always, YMMV. God bless!

I agree with Abs. The hijacking is getting out of control.

I couldn't agree more. What upsets me most about this is if there is a thread that I want to respond to, by the time I find the end of all the hijacking (typically by the same group of people over and over again), posting my own response to the original question would almost be out of the question/context. I shouldn't have to feel that responding to the topic with something on topic is out of line.

And what annoys me even more is the abuse of Mod power here when it comes to thread-hijacking. I realize that the mods cannot be parents the whole time when it comes to locking and regulating, but really, contributing to the hijacking is totally ridiculous--especially when they accuse other people of doing it.

I really hope that something is done about this and that it is not ignored. I know that there are more people that feel this way besides those of us that responded to this thread... most people just feel like they don't want to be a nag about it.

-allison.

We are watching this and have asked the members to try to curb this recently.

However, if you do see someone who's breaking the forum rules, or a thread being hijacked, every post has a link at the bottom that will send an email to the moderators of the forum. It's very easy to use, just click the link and there's a place to type a short explanation (which is optional) and then click the Send Report Now! button.

Hijacking is definitely a problem. It's gotten so that if a thread I haven't read yet is already on page 2, I won't bother opening it because I'll assume that it's already been hijacked and rendered ineffective.

I don't know how deliberate it is, but it seems to happen when certain members all end up posting in the same thread. They kind of take it over by using it to joke back and forth with eachother and even flirting.

Great in a thread for that, not great in a thread not for that.

What constitues hijacking now? The thread wasn't really about anything besides d_s apologizing to you. If the comment in question were "off topic", then so were several others. It may have been somewhat belittling and insulting, but that's a whole different forum rule.

[rant]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person fed up with this incessant flirting crap. It's really, really pathetic. It seems like half the threads I open end up being conversations between 2-3 people that consist of "You're so wonderful!! :)," and "Oooh, lemmie cop a feel, too!!." Oh, and it doesn't matter what the thread starts off as-- these people will start verbally humping eachother at any time (excuse the vulgarity, but that's what it is). Also, it seems as if a select group of people is always involved in this.

If people want friends over the internet, then that's wonderful. If people want a girlfriend/boyfriend over the internet, then that's weird. They need to get out more, or at least tone it down a lot. This is a public forum, and thus all the posts are available for public consumption. If people persisted with these public displays of affection in the real world, they would be told to take a cold shower and be quiet. Why do they get to inundate the Other Forum with their lovey-dovey gibberish.?

Tell them to stop. Make a "Cyber-Lovin Forum." Heck, can you confine them to a sticky on the second page? Even that would be great.

It's just getting to be way too much, and it's killing the forum that I loved back in 99-00.

[/rant]

:D

I think we just need to be careful how we define "hijacking." When I think of thread hijacking, I think of something like this:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...0&pagenumber=2

However, I have seen hijacking accusations levied against people who:

1. Made a humorous comment related to the subject matter of an otherwise serious thread when this comment generated a couple more comments replying to that comment.

2. Got into a debate on a serious subject peripherally related to the subject of a serious thread.

I don't believe members should have to feel that they are not allowed to make humorous comments in threads or have to open a new thread just to explore another angle of the topic already under discussion.

Good point Justin.

RE: flirting.

We did address this last week (I think it was last week) and there has seemed to be an improvement in the creation of individual threads, though, as noted above, there is still a problem with threads being hijacked.

But while we are trying to get this under control, let's not lose sight of the fact that the Other forum tries to be many things to many people. It's enough to say that you think there's too much of this stuff going on. Insulting the people who are doing it is unnecessary and unwelcome.

I might also add that if you use the report a post feature, the moderators do NOT say "taking action because xyz member emailed me," when we close or modify a thread/post. :)

I believe a little flirting between on-line couples and harmless jabs between friends is acceptable in threads as long as it is a throwaway paragraph contained within a response that pertains to the subject of the thread.

I also believe there is no one here that at one point or another did not participate in a thread hijacking. This often happens with conversations IRL and is understandable if it happens here on occasion. Unforunately the hijackings as of late have been in numerous threads and not limited to a few responses but have taken over the thread entirely.

Overall i think the moderators have done an excellent job in all aspects of their duties. The blame should not be leveled solely at the moderators. The members need to police themselves, and when warned by a moderator refrain from such infractions.

Just my humble opinion.

I know nothing of the forum that you loved in 99-00. I wasn't here.
I realize that I am often involved in these hijacking behaviors- but I generally try to just do it in threads of people who I consider to be my friends and in the survivor thread- I have never done anything to offend anyone on purpose. I came here to have fun, I know that my version of fun is different from the versions of other people. If I have ever personally offended you or anyone else here, then I am very sorry. All I know of this forum is what I've seen in the last two months, that's all I have as a reference.

However, your "need to get out more" comment is insulting. I did not come here to find a boyfriend. I never even intended to meet any of the people on here. Things change.

Well, I did say it was a rant. :D Sorry if I got too up-in-arms. Really. I've been getting too wired recently about what I feel is happening to the forum. The intelligence level seems to dip each day, as does the overall patience threshhold (sp?).

It's just that I think a lot of people feel the same way as I do, but no one actually says anything for fear that they'll be accused of personal attacks. I can't post to someone "hey, that's all well and good, but does calling for an orgy really belong in a thread about sailing boats?" If I do, a person will invariable scream something like "get out of my face... I don't need to talk to you... I'm more enlightened than you... I have the right to free speech." Then they keep on going.

I know that the Other Forum needs to be many things to many people. It's just hard to be here for more than two years (counting lurking), and watch it turn from a great source of debate and information into whatever it is today.

Also, to again somewhat flame-proof myself, I know I probably get more mod warnings than the average member, and am not the greatest person to be criticizng. I never claimed to be Gandhi. I just want to see the substance of the past return. There are some great posters here, and I even enjoy a lot of the ones I bitch about (nod to the C-man here:)). But, the great posts seem to be too few and far between in the present day Other.

Ok, I'll go away now. Take my words for whatever they're worth to you. Just sayin' what I feel.

I'm sorry if I insulted you, but I wasn't actually referring to you, either. I tend to enjoy your posts.

This is my only real problem with the forum. Look don't get me wrong, in the grand scheme of life this is nothing at all, DVDtalk is a way to occupy my time when I am at work and when I am awake during my wierd hours.

Lately it has become the high school other, I mean I goof around as well, but its like a bunch of people hijack a thread to talk about there day and there lives blah blah blah blah.

Um, use Im and use email. You arn't cool cause you are broadcasting your life over the internet.

Not that I haven't been guilty of an occasional self indulgence but lately it has gotten way out of hand.

I couldn't agree more with this. People should be able to make wisecracks or take the conversation in a new related direction if they want.

The problems occur when people start completely unrelated conversations with each other that overtake an entire thread. I don't see one comment as a hijack. It's whole off topic conversations in the middle of threads that need to go. That stuff can be taken to instant messaging, email, or the phone.

IMO, the evolution of a topic into new areas is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the sometimes-seen "hey, i see you're online, glad i caught you... how's your day?"

Then who were you referring to?

I have a relationship that started online in the Other Forum and has since moved to an in-person relationship. "You need to get out more" is quite an ignorant thing to say. :thmbsdwn:

Stream of conciousness thoughts :

Meeting people (friends, BFs, GFs, lifepartners whatever) online is very common and has been so for many many years.

I agree that a lot of threads turn into virtual making out or the like, which is a bit much. The last 2-3 months the other forum
has "spiralled into" a dating service. I'm not saying its all bad,
but its less fun for the 95% of people who are not onlinedating
someone here to read these comments in 50% of the threads.

That being said :

I really really really oppose deletion of any posts.

Its somewhere between censorship, annoying, confusing
and just plain wrong.

Hand out some warnings, slap some wrists - whatever...
Deleting is not the answer in my humble opinion.

Yes ok - if its VERY blatant fine.. but usually its not.

This is not a public forum- this is a private enterprise owned
and operated by G. so he can do what he wants. Still,
realizing this - I think it brings up the question of who
watches the watchers.

I have noticed what I think is blatant abuse of moderator
power, bad judgements and interference where was a
clear conflict of interest.

I think the appropriate steps have been / are being taken
to resolve this, so I am not very concerned about this.

I ran a commercial MUD back in 92 on the
internet which was something like this in terms of the
development of the community.

As many others I miss the "good old days".. But before
me there was "good old days" as well.. And in 6 months
Hotaru San and Cool Kitten will be talking about these
times as the "Good Old Days"...

Online communities change with time and people - its
unavoidable.

On a personal level I think I will do a youtoo-light and cut
down on the time I spend in the Other forum. No specific reason except the above and a general change in the atmosphere.
Also - no one gets my jokes.

Oh - and if I can get one wish - bring back Kenwood. He may
have screwed up but he was the best damn_moderator ever.

Mikael

portions of this licensed from an other forum post

<strike>Except for the Oolong one, which we really got.</strike>

(Someone isn't good with names that start with 'r', sorry ravan) :o

I would much rather see a reactive than a proactive response. Having quips and the like deleted because they might lead to a hijack is going to confuse and anger a lot of people. And if posts are reported to the moderators when the thread veers off, in many cases the situation could be remedied without too much damage.

I thought ratguy posted the original Oolong thread? :)

I agree with the reactive response part. Not only with hijacking, but with forum matters of ALL kinds. I see too many threads closed because they've "turned nasty" in the past or "might turn nasty".

I can understand why the chat like conversations might bother many people. It generally does not bother me too often. Of course maybe I participate in them from time to time which could be why i am not bothered by them.

I can see why someone who tried to start a thread and sees it going in this direction would be upset. I guess since I really do not start many threads that people post to I have not experienced this myself.

I agree with Ravan that posts should not be deleted. I have been against the deleting of posts to get back at padding and now for this. I do think that warnings and if necessary bannings should be handed out if this is the way Geoff wants to handle this. I think the huge increase in costs associated with running this website must be understood by us all.

I think I will be a lot more willing to not post from now on just to try and save Geoff some money. I hope Ravan does not stop posting just because some do not understand his jokes. Look at me- If I did that I would have left a long time ago :)

I do not know that I have an answer on this. If people stop posting will Geoff lose money since bargains are way down?
I for one do not want to see the site fail. The funny thing is that the types and styles of posting that caused the no padding rules are exactly what we are seeing again- just in a slightly new way.

The survivor thread is really a big pad thread- are we up to thread 15-16 already?

roll call threads are appearing again.

personally I was against pad restrictions however the allowing of padlike behavior has again caused the same uproar.

I guess it needs to be decided if padding is allowed in any way or if it is not. Of course at the height of no padding the volume of posts went way down and I believe that the loosening of pad rules came about to try and revive posting a bit.

so now we have this problem again :(

I pretty much agree with everything you've stated here. Except for the no one gets your jokes. I do. But your humor is a little off like mine. ;)

To clarify :

I dont intend to stop posting (thats why its a youtoo-light - another joke I'm sure no-one got :) ), just cut back on my activities in the other forum a bit.

Not to save Geoff costs - I'm sure it wont even show on the bandwith bill if I post my 6 posts a day or not.

All is well, and I'm not making a grand stage-exit-left here, just saying its less fun than it used to be. And yet - recent changes
might help. I think the right moderator policy and attitude will
make the place fun again.

In any case - I'm sticking around, but with different priorities.

I'm so glad that other people are getting as annoyed by this as I am. I think that this has become a big problem lately and has rendered so many threads useless (pointless) that it is making the other forum horrible to read. The problem is not only that people hijack threads, it's that they post so often in their hijacked threads that it keeps most of them on the front page.

I know the Mods have their jobs cut out for them with this, but I don't think it is as bad as it seems in that only a very small number (I can think of 3 off the top of my head) of people do this on a regular (nearly all-the-time) basis.

Perhaps warnings and suspensions could be given out to excessive "offenders"? I realize that this would probably never happen because apparently making "friends" with the right people gives you free reign to hijack threads.

As far reporting posts, I can see reporting posts when there is a stray personal attack, but I think it is rather apparent to most people who go to the other forum, much less moderate it, who the problem-makers are.

Anyway, that's just my .02

Keep up the good work mods!

Ebb and flow...ebb and flow.

And in my opinion, we are seeing a positive trend already. Please give it some time. I welcome the comments, but I do think things are getting better in this regard and will continue to do so without anyone taking drastic action.

Ok, well, I guess I'd like to add my .02 to this..

first of all, when I first joined this forum, I was more of a lurker, but the people in the OTHER forum seemed to all get along, and there <b>WAS</b> hijacking, but it wasn't done as often as it is now.

In my honest opinion, and feel free to read this as you may, <b>EVERYONE</b> in the other forum, from mods to the "New Members" are guilty at one time or another of hijacking a thread.
Whether there is a reference to an Other " in joke ", or a statement that you interpret differently, an offtopic comment is often made, which results in the spiraling hijack.

I do it from time to time, and so do many others. However, there are at least 3 pairs of people I can think of, that do this WAAAAAY too often. The forum is for a community discussion, not a personal playground. I understand "love" and wanting to be with someone all day....but the phone, email, and IM are great ways to express that.

I applaud the mods for doing what they can to keep this "in-check", but I don't think anything short of suspensions for repeat violators will work.

One last comment on this rant of mine :) ...........
I've made more friends on this forum than I've made on the 'net EVER. I consider some of the people here "good" friends, and others "great" friends. I just wish everyone would bring their maturity level up a notch.

Hello DVDTALKERS,

Your resident padder here. :p
In any case, i would like to add some comments about all these registered complaints

1.) The whole factor of Hijacking threads, well there is a major different between a thread getting thrown off course in the bad sense (chit chat between two people or more in a thread totally unrelated) and then theres the hijacking where the thread itself leads itself to another point from where it started. The second isn't so bad. as long as the thread starter is satisfied with it. Say for example he had a question, once it is answered or so forth.

2.) Online relationships. I never came to the forum for any sort of that. I came on to enjoy myself and have a good time, the last thing i ever thought about was meeting someone on here who i would relate to very well. Now, as for the cute stuff. I really try to keep it down. I always figure I could say it on AIM or on the phone. But to say that people who come here for a relationship need to get out more often? Well this is being used as a tool to get to know someone through personalities. if a relationship sparks up, then it sparks up. Hell, my relationship with Hotaru(Carrie) started in the other forum, and then jumped to AIM and then to hours and hours of a phone conversation. Now we live accross the U.S. me in california, and she is located in florida. Now that is a difficult situation. but never the less, why call it something silly? I have plane tickets and i will be visiting and spending thanksgiving with her this year. :) So in a sense, is a online relationship so bad? It really shouldn't matter how you met, aslong as you find that one person you are very happy with.

3.) Quote Editting, I know it wasn't discussed, i just feel the need to rant about how crappy QUOTE EDITTING is. :p

4.) Next thing.. Old schoolers vs. New Schoolers.. Ok, now i can say myself that back in the old days it was much better, blah blah blah. its pointless If you feel that you have out lived the forum, by all means no one is keeping you here. this is for your enjoyment, if you stop, then simply walk away. there is millions of other forums out there to try out. I was part of the New Vs. Old when i showed up around here last year. it was pretty bad, At some point you just have to drop all that and enjoy your time here. So the topics change, thats what happens. deal with it. Life changes. :) there will always be new new folks and older old timers.








http://www.ciudadfutura.com/arcade/a...k_victoria.gif

It isn't just thread hijacking, it is padding.

Like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried, padding stalks our Other forum once again, frightening the people wanting to actually have a good time....Most of the mods seem to care but little gets done to stop it. It is as if Geoff never posted the message about the end of padding. Hopefully it can be killed again and hopefully it has a limit of nine lifes, because I can't handle it too much longer.

There is an absense of following the guidelines. Some days padding is alright and then others it is not. There really needs to be more consistency. I could look for a pleathora of threads to back up this assertion, but I am sure that everyone has a few good ones in their mind right now. It just gets to the point where I don't even know what is appropriate to post and what is not appropriate.

are online realtionships bad?
no, but I think they should be kept off the forums

I agree with you here randy. I don't like out of control padding or hijacks, but I think the steps the mods have taken are starting to work. A lot of people seem to be calling for a hard line mentality on this. I don't think that will help. None of these things are problems when done in moderation. If the mods took to strict enforcement of certain rules, the entire feel of the forum would change dramatically for the worse. I trust their discretion. We have moderators, not enforcers.