Why disrespect the wishes of a thread's initiator?

As a proper Canadian I too find Americans too bawdy for my sensitive cyber-palate. This site needs to button up its collective shirt and put its pants back on.

Montana, are you not an American citizen who is also a landed immigrant in Canada, or have you actually become a Canadian citizen?

Chumly wrote:

As a proper Canadian I too find Americans too bawdy for my sensitive cyber-palate. This site needs to button up its collective shirt and put its pants back on.

I suppose this is intended to be humorous. However, i long ago tired of a penchant so many Canadians seem to have of trumpeting their "holier than thou" superiority to Americans in matters of courteous behavior. As with all such nationally idiosyncratic self-perceptions, it is shallow and can never be said to be universally applicable.

Quite apart from that, it is not germane to the topic of this thread.

Quite apart from that, it is not germane to the topic of this thread.

Montana, are you not an American citizen who is also a landed immigrant in Canada, or have you actually become a Canadian citizen?

...And speaking of tangents and changing direction of threads..pardon my temp diversion...


thanks, for explaining...I had wondered about that.

So when you travel to US..are you still covered medically under Canadian insurance?

BTW, I meant to ask you this for years, how did your son's ADD/ADHD problem resolve. I recall way back that you had problems in US with Waltham MAss school system. Do I have these details right?

As to humor? I never joke.

edgarblythe wrote:

quote: Just to repeat: I have no problem with digressions in general. I was making a much narrower point about threads whose initiators explicitly state they want the thread to stay on topic. What's the point of derailing them? I wouldn't even bother asking the question if it was just the idiot fringe who derails perfectly reasonable threads on purpose. But it's not. Many of the derailers are otherwise interesting and agreeable posters. If they don't want to focus, why don't they just let the focused treads be? That's what I'm trying to make sense of.


This is a very reasonable request, in a thread that is well thought out and has engaged serious responses, at least until it has reached a logical end of purpose.

So, if, according to you, a thread is not well thought out (read conservative), you are justified in intervening with the purpose of derailment. Nice philosophy.

edgarblythe wrote:

quote: Just to repeat: I have no problem with digressions in general. I was making a much narrower point about threads whose initiators explicitly state they want the thread to stay on topic. What's the point of derailing them? I wouldn't even bother asking the question if it was just the idiot fringe who derails perfectly reasonable threads on purpose. But it's not. Many of the derailers are otherwise interesting and agreeable posters. If they don't want to focus, why don't they just let the focused treads be? That's what I'm trying to make sense of.


This is a very reasonable request, in a thread that is well thought out and has engaged serious responses, at least until it has reached a logical end of purpose.

So, if, according to you, a thread is not well thought out (read conservative), you are justified in intervening with the purpose of derailment. Nice philosophy.

Chumly wrote:

As to humor? I never joke.

Is that so? In that case, when you once alleged that you were indulging an inside joke with Joe (who stated that he hadn't the least idea of to what you referred), you were lying? Or is now that you are lying? It's so hard to keep track.

As to humor? I never joke. Just ask georgeob1. He'll set you straight.

Brandon9000 wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:

quote: Just to repeat: I have no problem with digressions in general. I was making a much narrower point about threads whose initiators explicitly state they want the thread to stay on topic. What's the point of derailing them? I wouldn't even bother asking the question if it was just the idiot fringe who derails perfectly reasonable threads on purpose. But it's not. Many of the derailers are otherwise interesting and agreeable posters. If they don't want to focus, why don't they just let the focused treads be? That's what I'm trying to make sense of.


This is a very reasonable request, in a thread that is well thought out and has engaged serious responses, at least until it has reached a logical end of purpose.

So, if, according to you, a thread is not well thought out (read conservative), you are justified in intervening with the purpose of derailment. Nice philosophy.

Do you have one shred of evidence that I disrespect a thread just because it is started by a conservative?

edgarblythe wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:

quote: Just to repeat: I have no problem with digressions in general. I was making a much narrower point about threads whose initiators explicitly state they want the thread to stay on topic. What's the point of derailing them? I wouldn't even bother asking the question if it was just the idiot fringe who derails perfectly reasonable threads on purpose. But it's not. Many of the derailers are otherwise interesting and agreeable posters. If they don't want to focus, why don't they just let the focused treads be? That's what I'm trying to make sense of.


This is a very reasonable request, in a thread that is well thought out and has engaged serious responses, at least until it has reached a logical end of purpose.

So, if, according to you, a thread is not well thought out (read conservative), you are justified in intervening with the purpose of derailment. Nice philosophy.

Do you have one shred of evidence that I disrespect a thread just because it is started by a conservative?

"Well thought out" is obviously just your personal opinion, and not a suitable justification for derailing threads. In fact attempting to derail a thread, as opposed to trying to show that its thesis is nonsense, is probably just about never justified.