# How do you stop thread derailment? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247 "2014-11-10T16:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/41 "2014-11-11T18:39:17Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Damn. Even the Kindle edition is nearly $150.00. Buy it from Amazon UK and it’s only £95. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/42 "2014-11-11T19:07:45Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Also, should I be using organic? Oh, absolutely. Inorganic flour tastes like crap. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/43 "2014-11-11T20:20:59Z")
I like ice cream.\* \*\* \*I hereby certify that I made this post. At no time did I leave my computer unattended while signed in to The Straight Dope, so that a co-irker could sneak in and post suggestive things under my name. \*\*But not in that way. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/44 "2014-11-11T20:53:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I won’t even click on that. King Arthur flour is too expensive. Why should I buy that instead of the generic stuff? For making Brownies, there’s no real reason to use King Arthur, but theyre bread flour has a really high protein content and is a lot better than generic. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/45 "2014-11-11T23:40:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Does he spell derailment differently than we do in America? Like deraolment or derailiment? Or maybe the British have a different word for it like unrailment or trainfobbing or churleywonkery. I had some fantastic churleywonkery at a pub outside of Weston-super-Mare, once. _Just_ the right amount of nutmeg. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/46 "2014-11-12T01:07:59Z")
Many if not most thread derailments are caused by poor phrasing in the OP. I don’t start that many OP’s anymore because most of my questions were answered a long time ago but, the ones that I do start have some carefully selected criteria in them and the entire description of the question is much longer than most others. I almost always get lots of good responses to the ones that I do start because I put some real thought into how to form the question in the first place in a way that everyone can understand and head off potential problems. I find that most people will listen to your rules in your own OP if you just spell them out specifically in advance. Most undesirable message board behaviors are very predictable but can be circumvented if you address them right up front by telling people what you are looking for and, sometimes more importantly, what does not constitute a good answer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/47 "2014-11-12T03:38:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Many if not most thread derailments are caused by poor phrasing in the OP. I don’t start that many OP’s anymore because most of my questions were answered a long time ago but, the ones that I do start have some carefully selected criteria in them and the entire description of the question is much longer than most others. I almost always get lots of good responses to the ones that I do start because I put some real thought into how to form the question in the first place in a way that everyone can understand and head off potential problems. > > I find that most people will listen to your rules in your own OP if you just spell them out specifically in advance. Most undesirable message board behaviors are very predictable but can be circumvented if you address them right up front by telling people what you are looking for and, sometimes more importantly, what does not constitute a good answer. I think another problem is some posters want to only have one half of a debate on a topic. They’ll post an OP like “Let’s talk about Obama’s health care package. But don’t bother posting if you’re one of those people who only has negative things to say about it.” Well guess what? Your thread is going to be derailed (or churleywonkered as they say in England) because people are going to post opposing views on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/48 "2014-11-12T06:23:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > And you can always take another shot. Nothing stops you from reframing the question, and trying again, it’s been done before. Just own, in the OP, it didn’t go the way you’d hoped, and you want to try again. That’s not so hard. > > But some of the threads I’ve enjoyed most were conversations that wandered away, and back around, finally settling where no one could have guessed! Sometimes, it’s part of the fun! Cite? Because I’ve not seen it done. I’ve very occasionally seen it happen after a thread is closed, but never just because the thread has been hijacked. Anyways, I’m not sure people really recognized the difference between a hijack and thread drift or a tangent. Thread drift is organic. No one person leads it in any way. A tangent is a short digression that still remains mindful of the original topic. Both happen because people in the thread genuinely want to discuss those things. A hijack is when someone posts something contentious, that demands a response, and, when giving that response, tries to steer the thread their way, saying more and more things that demand a response. It’s not a natural outgrowth of the thread. Yes, in theory, the people who don’t want to discuss the contentious topic could just not discuss the contentious topic. But that’s about as realistic as not feeding the trolls. A contentious topic cries out for a response. And people just naturally don’t just want to leave a turd hanging there without addressing it and cutting it off. Finally, a derailment is when a hijack completely takes over the thread, and everyone who wants to discuss the original topic leaves. It is essentially an unrecoverable hijack. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/49 "2014-11-12T09:17:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think another problem is some posters want to only have one half of a debate on a topic. They’ll post an OP like “Let’s talk about Obama’s health care package. But don’t bother posting if you’re one of those people who only has negative things to say about it.” > > Well guess what? Your thread is going to be derailed (or churleywonkered as they say in England) because people are going to post opposing views on the issue. That is fine by me, opposing views that is. What I would object to is people starting to criticize Obama in general, cheer Obama in general, start another birther debate, democrats rule republicans drool! etc. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/50 "2014-11-12T12:51:34Z")
Well, the OP has been answered and we are starting to drift off topic. Thread closed. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/51 "2014-11-12T15:00:30Z")
Wait a minute, isn’t there complaint that we close threads too early? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/52 "2014-11-12T15:11:08Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Wait a minute, isn’t there complaint that we close threads too early? > > 🙂 Damn right. Threads should never be closed before noon. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247/53 "2014-11-12T15:41:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Interesting Wikipedia article discussing derailment.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derailment) Linky no workee. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > …I don’t start that many OP’s anymore because most of my questions were answered a long time ago… Quoted for impressiveness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-stop-thread-derailment/704247.md?page=2)