Then might I suggest sticking in a "no off-topic comments" rule in the forum bylaws so that any newcomers - should there ever be any - don't run into trouble?

And as I said, who is to decide something is unacceptably "off topic". The OP, Mark, you? Why not just relax and let a conversation take its natural course. If you think a topic has gone too far off the rails bring it back into line with your own contribution, don't cry about it.

Exactly, I don't hear people complaining down the pub if someone steers the conversation in a different direction.

+1

I bet I could name a few who would.

I have to admit I've seen a couple of instances recently of people posting what would generally be described as 'trolling'. There's a post in the football thread for example. It's a thread about football. It's called 'the football thread'. All the previous posts in it were by people who like football, about football. Yet this person decided to post something along the lines of 'I hate football. It's rubbish'. What was the point of that? It's not going to stimulate an interesting discussion. It's patently obvious nobody else reading the thread agreed with it. It's either people needlessly looking to upset other people or desperately stroking their own ego. Either way, it's entirely negative and unnecessary.

In the MJ thread I can see why people are feeling sensitive and I know there's the maxim 'never speak ill of the dead' but I do think if you're going to discuss someone's life you have to discuss all of his life. Jackson was a talented artist but he was also quite a divisive public figure so some polite discussion does to me seem fairly reasonable. However it might be best to have created a 'Michael Jackson jokes' thread rather than start them up in there.

Jon

It's understandable that people aren't going to like it. But rules are rules. End of story.

If you don't like to follow them, then that's completely your option to do so. However, the people who follow your derailing are also as bad as you, so how far you get with that I don't know.

I'm not pin pointing people here.

Rubi and Nick. In a pub, it's a completely diffrent atmosphere, it's general chat, you could call it, something like the random [LIFTED] thread. IT had no structure.

When someone makes a thread, purposly to discuss that matter. They want to only discuss that matter.

Like I said, your responsible for your own actions, and how to take actions are your responsibility.

Thanks, mum.

It's funny tho, I seem to remember some trolling in the Mac forums and then some whining from the perpetrator when it got slapped down.

Glass houses and all that.

Anyway, back on topic. How about this weather?

No problem, son.

Like I said earlier. I held my hands up. I didn't actually see it was in a Mac forum. Not that that reinstates my innocence because it dosen't.

Either way, I got slapped down, I stood up to it, like an adult. Some people can't even do that.

Sigh.

One reason why I've not been on here so much, people seem to be over precious about threads and what is said in them.

Conversations aren't a regimented recital of predetermined responses, people have opinions and tangents are a necessity in the evolution and expression of ideas and thoughts.

Take the MJ thread. I wholeheartedly support anyone expressing their opinion be it good or bad whether I agree with it or not. It seems when anyone dies that there automatically has to be an expression of "they were loved by everyone, heart of gold, did so much good.... yada yada yada".

That's just not life and by restricting peoples comments is nothing more than burying your head in the sand from the reality of the world.

So, I shall leave many of you to do as such.

Whoop whoop

+1

++

"

< Insert-any-other-cliche-used-on-this-forum-here >

I think people are missing the point. Yes, some people don't like other people speaking ill of the dead, but the real problem was the personal attacks and discussions on forum policy. These should have been boxed out into a new thread.

As said earlier, opinions are human rights.

Your choices are your own.

Actually, you seem to be missing the point - in fact it looks as though you edited out the real point from adidan's post.



It's a discussion forum. Discussions move on and change tack. Deal with it or only discuss things with yourself.

I can see a solution:

Seeing as moderators exist to enforce the forum rules, why doesn't somebody set-up a poll to see if people want it added into the rules that threads should be kept on topic?

If the majority do want it added, then we can add it and it can be enforced by the mods. If the majority don't want the rule added, then things should stay as they are.

Simples *slants head like a meer-cat*

I'm more than guilty of taking threads off topic, but I do try and use some discretion. There's a time and a place for everything. That MJ thread clearly needs to be treated with a bit of respect, but as has been said above, there's no reason why it couldn't have been branched. Threads where people are asking for information are obviously not ideal candidates for a re-direction of topic, but I'll quite happily start a discussion on a related subject once an answer has been provided. Why can't people just engage their brains?

Edd