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Four Paragraphs not about Franconian Beer or Breweries, but Discussion Forum Etiquette

Posted by Nick B. on 2013-02-26 23:35:51

AFAICT, this is neither the USENET nor a limited-topic forum of BA or RB, but a privately-owned message board. As such, it's up to the owner to define the rules, and again AFAICT, the only rules Fred's posted are on the left, saying this is a virtual Stammtisch for lively conversation. Now, I'm not a member of any real life Stammtisch(es), so maybe I'm ignorant of how things work, but I have a hard time imagining that a converstaion at a Stammtisch in say, Schlammersdorf, would go something like this, with Helmut posing a question: "Hey, does anyone know about horse meat dishes in Bamberg?" And Günther responding, "Helmut, how many times do we have to tell you to preface any non-Schlammersdorf-related discussions with 'OT'?" I mean, when you see "Horse Meat Dishes in Bamberg" on the subject line, what real good does it do to preface that with "OT"? It's already apparent what the topic is. Your point about editing subject lines to tailor follow-ups is correct, of course.

Followups:

Some things are more Off-Topic than others by Uncle Jimbo on  2013-02-27 11:17:05

Topic Police by Fred Waltman on  2013-02-27 11:44:21