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Edited by: Admin Feb 19, 07, 21:37 #1
No Thread Hijacking (Polish Forums Important Etiquette)
Hijacking a thread is a bit like having a drunken, boorish person interrupt a coffee morning in a local café. It is really bad manners; it usually upsets the people who were already there and it is very 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 Polish Forums users be concerned about hijacking threads?
Generally, users sign up to our website because they are interested in a Poland-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.
So we ask all forum participants for a little more consideration for other users and take some bad manners somewhere else, 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 Polish 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.
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 Off-Topic section.
Thank you for following the Polish Forums No-Hijacking Etiquette.
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 Admin
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