Tangents or thread drift

[linguafood (Natascha)]

It’s the immediacy of response - in the heat of the moment, so to speak (and no, plz don’t expect a correlating musical youtube link, I’ll leave that to other posters), that people can get testy or misunderstand things, and often type before letting things settle in their own minds. Instead of stepping back and trying to look at whatever topic at hand from another perspective… which is really what a discussion board is or at least should be about: a different perspective.

If everyone here agreed on all the things all the time, well - it wouldn’t be much of a discussion board.

That said - and @Saregama has hinted at it, different personalities have different posting styles. Some join in a conversation to participate, to maybe even learn… others have their set of opinions & have to be right at all times or simply argue for the sake of arguing. Some people are better at focusing on the topic at hand, others are easily distracted >SQUIRREL<, or think of this site as their personal journal / diary.

In the end, hopefully everyone takes away something valuable for themselves, even if it’s just the fun of discussing random topics with complete strangers

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

Tangents are fine. It’s what happens in real life round the dinner table or at the pub. I’m generally fine with that.

But tangents can become a whole new focus of the thread, rendering the OP meaningless at worst or no longer relevent at best. I can think of a couple of recent threads like that, which no longer interest me and which I’ve now marked as “don’t show again”. And I was the OP of one of them. It’s the forum equivalent of starting to tidy up the kitchen while others continue to chat, or deciding to have an early night from the pub.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

I think it might be a lot more frustrating for the OP when their thread takes on a life of its own, especially when the original post/question is lost in what I like to refer to as ‘white noise.’

For those who merely joined a discussion, there’s thankfully always, always the option of unfollowing/ignoring.

[LindaWhit]

@bbqboy

Thread drift is one of those unexpected bonuses from fun folks interacting, sort of like the really crispy bits of potatoes and bacon at breakfast, or burnt ends.

THAT.

The WFD threads have been thread-drifty since way before HO came into existence.

It’s like a conversation at the Thanksgiving dinner table where you have 25 people there, plus a table of kids.

People haven’t seen each other since the last holiday meal, they’re passing dishes and enjoying the food, catching up, half-listening to other conversations and joining in on occasion, making sure the little kids aren’t throwing peas and mashed potatoes, talking about now surly teenagers who used to throw peas and mashed potatoes, pouring more wine (a LOT more wine for those adults dealing with thrown peas and mashed potatoes), arguing about football teams, cleaning up the dishes, sacking out on the couch after eating too much turkey dinner, drawing with a marker on Uncle Joe’s face while he’s snoring on the couch…

Thread drift. It’s a given. Unless the entire thread’s original purpose is completely shot to shit, just SOB.

[LindaWhit]

@Saregama

But I do also think there are some posters who prefer a tangential discussion to actual thread topics — you can spot them when there’s little or no contribution to the topic itself, they’re just there because it’s what’s active at the moment, To me those are intentional, not organic, drifts. There’s a better place for that (usually somewhere in Not About Food).

And

@linguafood

different personalities have different posting styles. Some join in a conversation to participate, to maybe even learn… others have their set of opinions & have to be right at all times or simply argue for the sake of arguing. Some people are better at focusing on the topic at hand, others are easily distracted >SQUIRREL<, or think of this site as their personal journal / diary.

That’s probably what I dislike the most. If you’re posting in a thread, at least make some semblance of a response to the OP. But often they don’t, and that’s unfair to the OP, in many cases, especially if they’re asking a specific question. There are some who use a thread as a platform for their brain dump that has little to do with the original post. That’s frustrating to me, and scrolling past copious amounts of blah blah leads me to often leave the thread.

[small_h]

@LindaWhit

If you’re posting in a thread, at least make some semblance of a response to the OP.

Came here to say pretty much this. When I open a thread, it’s because I’m interested in what’s being said on that topic, not whether someone randomly remembered this thing their Great Aunt Martha did that one time.

So I don’t mind tangents that branch off. I feel less warmly toward the ones that spring up a half mile away.

[LindaWhit]

@small_h

someone randomly remembered this thing their Great Aunt Martha did that one time.

Great Aunt Martha and Uncle Joe have a tendency to dislodge a straight and narrow thread with their antics.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Well, there appears to be a good catchall thread for those, though, judging from the 1.6k+ posts in What’s on your mind?.

I don’t think anyone goes there expecting to learn about knives, the best way to soft-boil an egg, or recos for their next NOLA vacay… so in a way it’s the perfect dumping ground for all that is peripheral

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

@Saregama

But I do also think there are some posters who prefer a tangential discussion to actual thread topics — you can spot them when there’s little or no contribution to the topic itself, they’re just there because it’s what’s active at the moment, To me those are intentional, not organic, drifts. There’s a better place for that (usually somewhere in Not About Food).

Well put. I agree.

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

@linguafood

think of this site as their personal journal / diary.

I see this as well.

[small_h]

@linguafood

Well, there appears to be a good catchall thread for those

Agreed. But it doesn’t quite catch all. Is my point.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

It seems to quite literally be about what’s on posters’ minds, so who are we to define whether it’s still OT or tangential?

[gaffk]

The thing about that thread is that the topic itself is OT.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

But occasionally it’s even about food!

[gaffk]

Occasionally being the key word there.

[small_h]

What I meant was that all the random stuff should end up on What’s On Your Mind. But it doesn’t. It often finds its way elsewhere.

[Olunia]

I do rather enjoy thread drift and am guilty of it myself.
Also try to follow some parameters as to when it is okay and when it’s not to keep peace on the platforms.
This my interpretation:

When thread drifts are a good thing:

After the OP’s question has been answered

Once the thread has developed roots

When the thread drift is not preferable:

If I don’t know the OP

Trashing professional’s personal lives

Authentic or traditional vs unconventional or Modern

Some of us have debated answering the OP’s question at all, on another thread, because it probably is not a good idea.
I always answer the OP’s question followed by I don’t recommend it and present my side and let the OP make the final decision.

Sometimes we don’t understand a poster’s posts and that’s okay scroll on by and come back you just might like what you see and want to join in. Just give the thread a chance to blossom.

Perhaps PM/DM the poster and explain what you don’t understand and a light bulb just might go off for them on how to explain and clarify more because others may have the same question as you do.

On the WFD thread there was a controversial off topic (that well I brought up) and I chose to create a new thread to open it up to another audience.
Also not to create havoc and chaos on “their” thread out of respect for them and everyone else.

Trashing a professional’s life is not ok if personal attacks are not allowed here. The same rule should apply to the former.

My experience with Authentic and Unconventional is it never plays out well because people are very proud of their heritage(understandably) and are easily offended. That is better left on a separate thread as to not yuck on a cooking thread’s yum.
With of course, the chain link can be added to that thread if anyone wishes to read it.

I was recently a part of something very exciting because I was shopping for a new knife. I decided to create a thread Misen vs Mercer Knives after 2 days I couldn’t believe the views. At the 5 day mark I think it was over 900 views. That was awesome to see.

From that thread @Vecchiouomo decided to create :
*How is a Home Cook Different from a Pro? Does Professional Instruction benefit a home cook?

*Knife Talk was the new topic that was separated into a new thread from Misen vs Mercer

From knife talk this thread was created:
*How Do You Stop From Tearing Up When You Cut A lot Of Onions

And someone got Excited from all the Knife discussions (there are many more) and made a comparison thread:
*My “One Knife” Recommendation

Wow to think that I was a very small part of that is extremely rewarding.

Thread drift is wonderful in the right situation.

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)]

@small_h

all the random stuff should end up on What’s On Your Mind.

Now there’s a thread that I deactivated a long while back so it doesnt on my list of “latest” threads. Just not interested.

[bbqboy]

That’s where all the fun is

[CCE (Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)]

@Miss_belle

Years ago, someone told me that once you start a thread you never how it will turn out.

Life Is Like A Box O’ Choco-lates.

• F. Gump

More seriously, @Phoenikia - I don’t mind thread drift in my own threads. I try (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to propagate it in others’ threads. Especially in the case mentioned by @Midlife where a very specific advice is requested.

As for

@Phoenikia

I don’t remember people talking about thread drift until the past week… …Should we be creating new topics every time a microdiscussion starts up or a tangent takes off?

I tend to stick only to the cooking and cookware threads, so I can’t speak for the regional ones, but in the cooking/wares threads I’ve only seen one person recently asking to get back on topic and suggesting that the OT discussions should be diverted into new discussions. And I’m a bit suspicious there may have been hidden motives for those requests.