Only part of the website that manages to keep on topic without moderator oversight is the Rant section, which is unfortunately shielded to people who haven’t joined. Off Topic comes in close section.
I propose creating a ‘On Topic’ section for when people want to make posts, and want the conversation to remain relevant to the OP. I don’t see any sections of this site that fit the bill for that, so it would be a good experiment, just to see if it really happens.
Have it put between Off Topic and Rant.
This is, of course, only if we think staying on topic is a good idea, maybe most don’t… I don’t see much evidence for it.
I think people worry a little too much about “keeping on topic”. The message boards are not serious philosophical exposition. They’re the equivalent of a jam session for a serious musician: the opportunity to spontaneously bounce off others in order to find those transcendent moments one can add to their serious repertoire. Sorry, Contra, but it is not so much a matter of the board making people stay on topic as the responsibility of the OP (who likely understands it more than anyone( to draw it back to the topic.
Shouldn’t it, Maj, be a matter of the one that knows the string best (the OP (bringing it back to the original intent?
When I start a string. Maj, I do it because I think it is interesting. And if others wander off from the original intent
(maybe they do so because it connects w/ an experience they have had:
This could only mean that they think it is interesting.
Outside of that:
it is just us bouncing off each other.
And when I start a string, I consider it my responsibility to bring it back to the original intent.
I’m sorry, Maj, but I consider these people that talk (and I mean TALK (about keeping it on topic are little more than morons seeking a shortcut to being good at what you are doing.
