# Help Me Out - Hijacking **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 10, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260 "2022-05-10T22:23:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/1 "2022-05-10T22:23:05Z")
So over in the P&E Roe thread: > [@Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade (No longer a draft as of 06-24-2022.)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/draft-opinion-by-alito-supreme-court-has-voted-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/963862/673): > > Moderating: Lots of hijacking and almost-hijacking going on in this thread for awhile now. Please drop the discussions about relitigating the 2016/2020 elections, Elizabeth Warren’s role in the current composition of the SCOTUS, student loan debt and all else except what pertains to the subject in Alito’s draft opinion. Thanks. We were advised that the hijacking was getting a bit much. Which, OK, likely it was. But traditionally, after 675 posts, things were generally on the loose side. I mean, how many times can we argue over whether they had cell phones in 1787? Is this just a drift in the approach that I’ve somehow missed? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/2 "2022-05-10T22:54:14Z")
In this case, I don’t believe the subject is exhausted on its subject matter. It may be for some participants, but not for others. Some threads are ongoing for far longer than 675 posts. Defining a thread hijack can be very subjective and is usually up to moderator discretion. If you’re looking for a diagram that tells you exactly when you’re engaging in a hijack, I don’t think that’s possible. But as you pointed out, you kind of know when it’s happening. Right? I think if someone is going so far afield as to litigate past elections, single out politicians for complaint or drift off into a discussion about student loan debt, these are easy calls re hijacking. We have so many other threads where these specific things are being or have been discussed. Use those threads, or start a new one, please. From our most recent specific rules in P&E: > [@New Rules for Politics and Elections – January 2020](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-rules-for-politics-and-elections-january-2020/845727/1): > > **Hijacks.** This is, perhaps, the single largest and most important change to the rules in Great Debates and Politics and Elections made in 2020. Staying on topic is a strong goal of Great Debates and Politics and Elections moving forward. Threads exist for a reason. Presumably, the original poster wants to discuss a specific topic. Posts which pull the thread away from that topic are hijacks. Some of these are inadvertent, some are not. Posts that seem intended to steer a discussion away from the original topic may be sanctioned. Hijacks may be, but are not limited to, posts that lead away from a topic, endless questioning, repeatedly asking the same or similar questions once they’ve been answered, and other maneuvers. Whether or not such is occurring is at the sole discretion of the moderation staff and may lead to official sanction. Hope this clarifies. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/3 "2022-05-10T23:27:02Z")
Just wait until a thread about plane hijackers goes off-topic. Then you’ll all be **really** confused. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/4 "2022-05-10T23:31:15Z")
Fair enough. And to be clear, I wasn’t so much arguing/complaining, as surprised that we were being so focused. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/5 "2022-05-10T23:36:51Z")
I know. You made that clear in your first post, and I hope you didn’t feel like I was bagging on you. Posting the specific rules here will hopefully be helpful to others, too. * * * > [@Atamasama](#): > > Just wait until a thread about plane hijackers goes off-topic. Then you’ll all be **really** confused. Gahhh! Put it in MPSIMS… oh. Wait. I’m _already_ confused! Plane hijacking isn’t mundane or pointless, is it? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/6 "2022-05-10T23:38:10Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Gahhh! Put it in MPSIMS… oh. Wait. I’m _already_ confused! Plane hijacking isn’t mundane or pointless, is it? Could easily be breaking news though. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/7 "2022-05-10T23:39:38Z")
… where we also don’t tolerate much hijacking. 😉 But you’re right, it could. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2022, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/8 "2022-05-11T05:38:46Z")
I get what @Aspenglow is on about but I would say there are natural digressions that can occur in a thread…especially a long one like that. The Elizabeth Warren “hijack” in that thread I think resolved itself. Someone made a comment, some posts about that were made and then it ended. Had it gone off on whether Warren is a good or bad senator or how much control she has or whether she is in the leadership and so on would certainly be a hijack. But, I am not sure a thread veering off into a side-bar and then getting back on track is really a hijack. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2022, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260/9 "2022-05-11T10:54:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Just wait until a thread about plane hijackers goes off-topic. Then you’ll all be **really** confused. I demand that you take this thread to Cuba!