Forum dynamics 1 - Drown it with banter

Forums:
Email this Topic • Print this Page

This is number one in a series of disjointed observations.

I noticed that many times when a substantial number of members disagree with a thread they will avoid the topic and drown it in banter, rendering it useless for anyone else. It usually only happens when it's a thread that's from a position diametrically opposed to that of the hive. And it usually happens when that position is abrasively posited.

Now I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, it usually happens on threads where the obvious alternative is flaming and/or a lynching and the thread is usually something idiotic to begin with. But it is an odd way to hijack a thread. Instead of shouting someone down they are bantered into oblivion.

Do you do this? Do you find yourself drowning a thread with which you disagree with banter? If so, why?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,451 • Replies: 37

No top replies

I just watched it happen. I don't do it on purpose, though I'm sure I've been party to a drowning or two in the past.

0 Replies

Yeah, I just watched it happen too and wondered if it's irritating to the person having their thread hijacked.

I think it "just happens" most of the time. And the thread usually has to be polarizing enough that nobody wants to take it seriously.

0 Replies

i agree with lil'k, she banters alot :wink:

0 Replies

{hey Pueo!}

It is irritating. I've had threads unintentionally high-jacked before I was done with them. {edit oops}

0 Replies

if it's my thread, i don't mind the banter. as far as the polarization factor, sometimes you can see it coming just by the title of the post/question/statement.

0 Replies

Not only threads get bantered into oblivion, people do too. I've got banter marks to prove it.

0 Replies

I'd find it a lot more of an annoyance if I stuck with the more serious threads, I suppose. There can be a lot of nattering on a thread too. This is opposed to banter where the posts are not meant to add anything on the topic and just act as 'filler' (wait, that's every damn post of mine!). Nattering is when two members just go off on a tangent, like a meeting at the water cooler - I always want to tell them to invest in a friggin' phone call!

Of course anything of Slappy's is fair game....

0 Replies

Bantering
I turned off the automatic notification of responses to my posts because of the bantering.

0 Replies

I think you could say that I'm guilty of doing that every now and again, but I really don't mean too. If it's a serious question I try not to go off track, but if it's not a serious question, I tend to be all over the place, LOL!

If I post a serious question (which is not very often), depending on what the topic is about, I could see myself getting frustrated if it was hijacked.

0 Replies

I plead not guilty my lord. For the simple reason that I dont go on serious threads !!

0 Replies

Any thread, any conversation, gets sidetracked over time.

It's a byproduct of this little world of yours, Craven, that all of the occupants like each other (mostly). Isn't that what you set out to do when you started recruiting?

For example, on the fifth entry one this thread is a "{Hey Pueo}" from littlek. Nothing, and everything, to do with the topic. We haven't seen Pueo around much. It's like he popped into the room while we were talking about something else, but we want to celebrate a sighting.

By the way... I KNOW I'm guilty. Sometimes on purpose, although not as much as I was on aBuzz.

How's the weather out where you are anyway? And how about them Red Sox?

0 Replies

Hey , how about them Eagles.

0 Replies

LOL Farmerman!

What do you think is worse; an atmosphere of animosity, or post hijacking. As Sealpoet said, it happens everywhere, in real life and on the Net. If we were to keep to the one topic all the time, posts would die quickly. Imagine if, in conversations with friends, we talked JUST about one issues. It would be monotonous. I don't mind my posts being 'hijacked;' I enjoy how conversations evolve.

Sometimes, the nature of some posts warrant that other people keep to the lines of that post, for example on the Relationships boards. I have never seen a plea being hijacked there. Personally, I think that A2K is fine as it is; it has a true atmosphere of community, fun and good discussion, of which most sites cannot boast. Although I can appreciate that people might dislike their topics being diverted, it is better to have a living board that does this once in a while than a dead one.

0 Replies

Most of the time this kind of thing seems to happen in threads that, while ostensibly new, are really just continuations of past threads or past notions -- earing new makeup or new clothes.

McG new thread which contains the word "Hitlery" in its title (referring to Hillary Clinton) is an example of that -- and it went into a hijack (if you will) mode almost immediately.

I'm less concerned with threads that are hijacked the way that one was -- and less concerned with threads like that being hijacked -- than with some of the bullshit that comes in more subtle fashion in other, more serious threads.

In any case, threads that have truly run their course and have become nothing more than echo chambers almost always devolve into banter eventually.

Who cares?

0 Replies

I'm probably guilty of doing it a few times myself. I'd have to go back and look I guess.

If the "serious" portion of the thread has run it's course I usually don't pay the banter much attention. Like SP said, it seems to be the nature of the beast.

0 Replies

As long as things don't get personal and/or ugly, I don't mind diversion in threads. Keeps things lively.

0 Replies

Guys I'm not talking about all banter, but specifically banter that's designed to hijack a thread and purposefully render it useless for anything other than the banter.

I think it's markedly different from a thread that simply delves into diversion.

Frank named the thread I had in mind, the "Hitlary" thread was immediately and purposefully hijacked with banter. That usually happens when a polarizing opinion not popular with current members is posted.

I'm not talking about the inevitable evolution of a conversation, I'm talking about a tactic that's the equivalent of shouting someone down and destrying their thread on purpose.

0 Replies

Well, one thing we can all be happy about is that the threads here are hijacked with a bit of humor and even a sense of purpose.

Over in Abuzz, they've got to deal with the person called the "something or other bot" who simply pastes yards and yards of posts that truly do render the thread unworkable.

Here, when one of those hijackings go on, some of the people who take the thread seriously are at least able to continue despite the banter.

I guess it is best that we all watch ourselves on this issue, though.

Forum dynamics 1 - Drown it with banter

Quick Links

My Account

able2know