www.ditl.org

The current way the Mod Team deals with off-topicness is basicaly to just let a thread meander along its natural course. If something interesting or a new debate springs up in that thread, it will be split to allow it to be located easier and to try and keep some semblance of order. If it's just general chatting and joking around, the thread'll be left alone. You may have noticed we've already started enacting this policy lately, with several debates being split from unrelated threads (the Israel V Gaza thread, Snoopy's GCS debate, etc).

Captain Picard's Hair wrote:OK, seriously, how would you propose to enforce such a "rule?" It's just like in real life, where you just have to let conversations flow as they will. Everyone brings their own perspective to a thread and may post something nobody else may have thought of; threads will then follow these unpredictable paths.

Besides, unpredictability makes this place more fun.

Whoa, whoa. I didn't say anything about enforcing rules or enacting rules or anything like that. I'm just... curious is all. It's legit fascinating to me. Hell, I'm guilty of it. I've participated in it...

It's just... fascinating.

Teaos wrote:Striker I hope you dont mind but I'm gonna edit in a poll into this. I'd like to see where the numbers stand on this.

lol, I was wondering where that came from.

Really, I'd have to say I like the fact that we--yes, even I have with just, what, three posts to my name?--do go off topic. I don't chat half as well as I type, and it's really nice to have DITL to air my thoughts more freely. Granted, I'm not saying we ought to abolish topics altogether or anything of that sort, but it's a lot nicer to have a decent discussion that evolves, becoming a talk on something we want to talk about, than to sit around turning out ticker-tape arguments in a debate that maybe nobody really cared for in the first place.

After all, anybody can debate the merits of saucer separation. Very few can do it like Tsukiyumi can ; to me, everybody's own individual input is more important than just the issue(s) its(them)self/v(es). What it comes down to is that the off-topic-ness, and quirkiness, give DITL its own special flavor--we're not just a Star Trek forum, we're a Star Trek fan's forum and, more than that, a Star Trek peoples' forum.

Besides, who would it be left up to, to decide what was off topic or not? I don't think the mods would even WANT to go there.

Ivan Ivanovich wrote:What it comes down to is that the off-topic-ness, and quirkiness, give DITL its own special flavor--

Is it curry?

Lazar wrote: Is it curry?

Meh. More like fruitcake . Except it's easier to chew, and meant in kindness (or at least friendliness) .

, give DITL its own special flavor-

Are DITL cookies made from real DITL members?

Captain Picard's Hair wrote:

, give DITL its own special flavor-

Are DITL cookies made from real DITL members?

Yes, they are basically just Soylent cookies rebranded.

Ah, Soylent green, that was a great movie. I like a lot of the older movies, much better than today's "wizz bang" sci fi.

(Snickers as he waits for the thread to go wildly off topic.)

GrahamKennedy wrote:
Yes, they are basically just Soylent cookies rebranded.

Ah, Soylent green, that was a great movie. I like a lot of the older movies, much better than today's "wizz bang" sci fi.

(Snickers as he waits for the thread to go wildly off topic.)

So that's why the Chakat brand cookies taste like poo...

I love Penguin biscuits. But it can be hard to get them here - they're sort of like Romulan ale.

The less said about any Chakat biscuits.......they better.

lol, perfect example of how we get off-topic. It's so natural and smooth, too!

Mark wrote:The less said about any Chakat biscuits.......they better.

You don't think the biscuits of a freakish man-dog would be tasty? Oh...

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:lol, perfect example of how we get off-topic. It's so natural and smooth, too!

That's the smoothness you can only get with six blades of off-topicness, as opposed to the competitor's four blades.

Tsukiyumi wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:lol, perfect example of how we get off-topic. It's so natural and smooth, too!

That's the smoothness you can only get with six blades of off-topicness, as opposed to the competitor's four blades.

Smooth as an android's bottom?