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To: Peter Dierks who wrote (12139)12/9/2009 7:41:53 AM
From: Lane31 Recommendation  Respond to of 42652
 
One can go back as far as one wants in the thread and declare that to be the point.

We posters have a protocol for framing the point to which we are responding with a quote from the post to which we are responding. That segue is thus implied to be the immediate point. When, as occur in this case, no segue is offered, one can conclude various things based on context.

On is to determine by word usage the point being addressed. If I post about "losers" and someone responds using the word, "losers", it's reasonable to conclude that the response was to my point about "losers," not something from miles back. Duh.

Another is that the poster is offering an entirely new topic. That's usually easy to spot although not always. Some folks take logical leaps or are simply unfocused so they think they are responding on point when they're really off in left field. But for the most part you can tell when the subject is being changed although not necessarily why the new subject was addressed to you.

Then there are the snipes, which by their nature need not be on point. When in doubt I address them as genuine comments rather than risk offending the genuine.

In this case we have what is obviously an inapt analogy. It will remain characterized that way until someone offers a plausible explanation for its aptness or until someone identifies just what from way back on the thread was actually the point and how it is that readers were supposed to have known that.