I have a question on etiquette. What separates a contribution to a thread from a hijacking? I read wherever my curiosity takes me and make posts in threads that are related to other content in the thread but not always to the original post. One major difference I note between BLF and cpf is the lack of "your thread has been moved" here. That always grated a bit even though a thread had been poorly situated. I don't see that here and think it worth noting. The point is that residents here seem to self monitor better and the goal of this thread is to ask what that means to you and how you decide whether to contribute to an existing thread or start a new one. This is not about rules, more like guidelines, and curtesy.
I am posting in this sub-forum as this is where I do most of my reading/posting
I'd like to request that this thread be moved to Off Topic Chatter.... J) :bigsmile: :p
Just kidding. Actually, off topic comments are often one of the most entertaining things about BLF. I like the fact that we don't take ourselves too serious here.
It's hard for me to draw the line for myself, sometimes in retrospect I wish I opened a new thread, but often it starts with a simple question which doesn't seem thread-worthy in the beginning. Sometimes post ping-pong totally overwhelms the original topic.
Well tbf most of the time it makes little difference but some people do it to such an extent it makes further items not make sense or others look silly. Useful updates are cool but personally I try to add an edit tag. Edit; anyone who edits a post over say, 29times has a real edit problem ;)
Yes received, nice and compact so it sits in my day bag and may actually get used. I have had cheapo binoculars since a child but never use them as to carry them is impractical. I don't think I have anywhere near enough experience to give a verdict but I am not disappointed and certainly think they are good VFM.
To me, there's a bunch of reasons for posting or not posting off topic. The rule is to not post off topic in a thread. Of course, here is a different story from other forums.
If the topic is very serious, I would probably not go off topic.
If I know the OP is going to be upset, I probably won't go off topic, (unless I want to make the OP upset )
If I know the OP well enough to feel they would understand, I might go off topic.
I mean, if someone is doing a build thread and they are taking time to add photos and a lot of info, then I wouldn't go off topic, but if it's about some fluff, than I probably wouldn't think twice about it.
If others have already trashed the thread, without getting flak from the OP, I probably wouldn't worry about it.
It's very lax here though...
and really, could you move this thread to the "proper forum"! LOL.
EDIT: Sorry, couldn't resist! Principally I agree with old-lumens, but thinking back I believe that at least 1/4 of my (relatively few) posts have been off-topic/non-contributing and the fact that nobody seems to care too much about it is one of the things that make BLF such a great place to me. I read a lot more than I post and the threads I find best (i.e. interesting and entertaining) are the ones that are wildly zig-zagging around an imaginary straight line of strictly on-topic postings.
I apologize in advance for being an off-topic, thread-stealing heavy post editor... it has happened/will happen many times. If I do edit posts, it's because I want to make them "better" not to discredit other members. I have posts that I edited or "refined" well over 30-40 times.
Use common sense, try not to bring up the same subject in a new thread. The AA section has 5 different active threads about one flashlight. No one seems that upset about it. Sometimes a thread will start out about a different topic and become similar to an existing thread (CPF bashing).
If it's really a new topic or if you would otherwise have to revive a really old thread, then there is nothing wrong with starting a new thread. If the information is somewhere else, hopefully someone will link to that thread.
There's almost no moderating going on, so it's really up to you. And don't get upset if people take your thread in an unintended direction, because it will happen. The downside of minimal moderating is it can be really hard to use the search function and find what you are looking for. We don't have the vast number of threads that CPF has, but it is still a lot. In my very biased opinion, stuff that is really important needs to be in a wiki where it can be updated by anyone, while discussion threads are more ephemeral, well, except sometimes . . .
And you are doing a great job of maintaining the wiki.... if I only I could motivate myself to contribute more. Maybe you should do a "to do list" of what's missing or what articles should be improved.... maybe a raffle for entries would help.
