# 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:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**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. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-hijacking/964260)._