I doubt I am alone in my opinion that the modding of “off-topic posts” and “hijacks” on this board is strict to the point of stifling discussion.
It’s to the point where I see posters openly stating their fear that they will be modded on an otherwise innocent post: “I hope this isn’t a hijack, but…” It’s like on YouTube, where the creators are always saying, “I’m going to be demonetized for this,” or, “I’m not doing xyx in order to avoid a copyright strike,” etc.
Shit-posting, thread-shitting, and hijacks intended to derail the discussion are bad. But IMHO, 90%+ of modded “hijacks” are posts that involve no bad intentions and are actually adding to the discussion. Sometimes, yes, they end up being fairly major digressions, but if the participants are digging the discussion, I don’t see the harm (especially if the OP is involved and doesn’t mind).
Now I am sure there are those who will argue back and say that things are absolutely perfect as they are now, and I’m just wrong. But I have a proposal that could perhaps please most everyone: Why not allow a “freer discussion” option?
There would be something put in the title (such as “free discussion”) that would indicate that this is the intention of the OP, and then that thread would not be modded for hijacks that don’t involve a bad intention. This would also free up the mods to focus on things of a more (IMHO) serious nature. And if posters do not like such free discussions, then they could avoid such threads.
I will also note in passing that I’ve been here since the early 2000s, and I don’t remember hijack modding as being anywhere near as strict as it is now, I remember it as mostly focused on genuinely bad behavior, and I don’t recall this as being a problem (there were lots of other problems, to be sure…).
I do think hijack modding is significantly hurting the board, and I think the above proposal would go a long way to solving the problem.
All IMHO and respectfully submitted for the mods’ and posters’ consideration.