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Pastimes : SI Beta Site Launch - 7/01/99
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To: John Biddle who wrote (1610)8/9/1999 9:55:00 PM
From: RTev  Read Replies (1) of 2340
 
re Off-topic button:
Granted this idea is not of huge value, but who is hurt by it? There would be positive for some and no negative for others.

The various negative consequences have been dealt with in a few upstream posts. The greatest negative is that a button like that would encourage off-topic posts. It would make it virtually impossible for the thread to maintain the kind of self-policing that's so common on SI.

Let me restate one of the things I said up-topic: If such a button existed, the response to anyone who complained about the volume of OT posts would be something like, "Well, then, filter them out!" Some threads would probably become overwhelmed by the off-topic sub-thread.

That would be an unfortunate turn of events for SI. Everyone would suffer. Those of us who enjoy an occasional flurry of off-topic posts would probably miss them because we'd have to filter out all the banter that would be encouraged by this button. Instead of starting a new thread in coffee-house for the sub-thread, posters would be more likely to keep it in unpredictable threads. That makes it difficult to find the kind of light banter that one can easily spot now by glancing at a few CoffeeHouse subjects.

Such a button would in almost every way be a bad idea. If you don't like off-topic posts, then do what is so common: complain about them. The complaint will cause a flurry of responses about the complaint, but eventually, they'll usually die down.

Here, to make it easier on you, are a few of the posts that deal with this issue:
beta.siliconinvestor.com
beta.siliconinvestor.com
beta.siliconinvestor.com
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