# How is debating what constitutes "classic rock" a hijack of a thread about classic rock?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [August 4, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237 "2024-08-04T16:46:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/1 "2024-08-04T16:46:46Z")
> [@I love Fleetwood Mac but I would not call them “classic rock.” (hijack discussion)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-fleetwood-mac-but-i-would-not-call-them-classic-rock-hijack-discussion/1005236/13):
>
> **Moderating** : To all, I hope you realize that back and forth was a full-on hijack of the original thread. But I moved it out so you can continue.
From this original thread: [What one band is the epitome of classic rock for you](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-band-is-the-epitome-of-classic-rock-for-you/1005151/1)
You even posted first in that thread with what your definition is:
> [@What one band is the epitome of classic rock for you](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-band-is-the-epitome-of-classic-rock-for-you/1005151/2):
>
> Classic Rock is basically what was Album Oriented Rock (AOR) in the 60s & 70s. So it seems like the **Beatles** , especially with _Sgt. Peppers_ are the epitome.
I get trying to keep threads on track but there needs to be room for organic discussion to arise. This was one such and it seemed to have run its course before you intervened. And the discussion was on topic even if using a specific example…what is “classic rock?” I think that is relevant to the thread.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/2 "2024-08-04T16:48:16Z")
You don’t think 11 posts on Fleetwood Mac constitutes a hijack?
It was a pretty legit flag.
Your title misrepresents what actually happened.
You realize you weren’t warned right? This is a very weird complaint.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/3 "2024-08-04T16:53:06Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> And the discussion was on topic even if using a specific example…what is “classic rock?”
I agree with @What_Exit ; it had morphed into a specific debate about a specific band – and not even much of a debate. It was almost entirely a back-and-forth “yes they are!”/“no they aren’t!” between you and @MrDibble.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/4 "2024-08-04T16:58:20Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> You realize you weren’t warned right? This is a very weird complaint.
I realize no one was warned but you changed the character of an ongoing thread that I think modifies the original in an unfair way. You are putting your finger on the scale.
I do not think it is in need of modding unless you want this to be an Oxford-Style Debate message board.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/5 "2024-08-04T16:59:00Z")
A specific debate about what “classic rock” is which is the point. It is an example.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/6 "2024-08-04T17:00:41Z")
No, no one needs 11 straight posts about Fleetwood Mac hijacking that thread. It was no longer about what is Classic Rock but just a back and forth.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/7 "2024-08-04T17:03:30Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> A specific debate about what “classic rock” is which is the point. It is an example.
Once it became more than a couple of posts, it was more than an example, it was a hijack, IMO.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/8 "2024-08-04T17:04:29Z")
Ok. It is far from the first time such back and forth has happened on this board (without moderation) and I doubt it will be the last. I hope you are as zealous about this in the future to all posters.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/9 "2024-08-04T17:05:28Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Once it became more than a couple of posts, it was more than an example, it was a hijack, IMO.
Perhaps…but it had ended before moderation.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/10 "2024-08-04T17:07:12Z")
Your first sentence is correct.
As to the second, it will not happen, I had stopped following the thread and if not for the flag I would not have been aware of the hijack. Not all will be caught. Not by a long shot.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Perhaps…but it had ended before moderation.
It was literally the 11 last posts in that thread, the most recent being under 4 hours ago. No indication the hijack had stopped.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/11 "2024-08-04T17:08:29Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> No indication the hijack had stopped.
Look at the time stamps between each of those posts. Four hours is no indication it had stopped?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/12 "2024-08-04T17:09:29Z")
I just posted 4 hours. What kind of selective quoting is this?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/13 "2024-08-04T17:10:47Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I just posted 4 hours. What kind of selective quoting is this?
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> …the most recent being under 4 hours ago.
What is selective?
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/14 "2024-08-04T17:10:51Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> You don’t think 11 posts on Fleetwood Mac constitutes a hijack?
No, I don’t.
Why wasn’t the discussion about the Beatles a hijack? Or any of the other bands that had more than one post about them.
It was a CS _discussion_ thread, not an IMHO listicle. Bad call.
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> It was almost entirely a back-and-forth “yes they are!”/“no they aren’t!” between you and @MrDibble.
We were _not_ the only participants - 4 posters in 11 posts is not a lot.
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> it had ended before moderation.
Yep. I’d specifically said I wan’t responding to W-a-M on the topic any more. So where’s the ongoing hijack?
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/15 "2024-08-04T17:16:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> the most recent being under 4 hours ago.
That was neither myself nor @Whack-a-Mole .
So which is it? Just a back-and-forth between two posters, or a broader discussion _ **about the topic of the thread** _ using one specific example?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/16 "2024-08-04T17:30:28Z")
@What_Exit mentioned the Beatles in the first response to the thread. They are mentioned in 20 posts in that thread. I think all of those should be made into a new thread of their own.
Just to be fair.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/17 "2024-08-04T18:48:05Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> You don’t think 11 posts on Fleetwood Mac constitutes a hijack?
I honestly don’t know. A discussion about whether a particular band is a good example of “classic rock” seems entirely on-topic to me. How many posts about one particular band does it take before it constitutes a clear hijack?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/18 "2024-08-04T19:30:28Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> You realize you weren’t warned right? This is a very weird complaint.
And that’s a very weird response. I’ve stated in the past that I don’t like the ‘you weren’t warned’ thing. Not just from mods, other posters will chime in with the same thing. I find it odd that people seem to think you have to be punished in order to be upset about something. That you can’t have a problem with a rule or mod note unless it escalates.
To me, this is exactly the time to make a complaint. No warnings have been issued, no one’s in trouble, no one is trying to rules lawyer themselves out of a corner etc. This always seemed like a good time for mods and posters to recognize they’re on different pages and try to work something out before things get out of hand. Instead, TPTB seem to want us to wait until warnings are issued, people are mad, ATMB threads get started in anger and eventually get locked.
Also, unrelated to this specific discussion, but I think it would be helpful if, when you do split off hijacks, you make yourself the OP. Even if it’s just a link back to the old thread. It’s only happened to me once, but I wasn’t a fan of finding myself the OP of a thread I didn’t start with a title I didn’t write. I know you add a post, but that’s often pretty far down.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/19 "2024-08-04T19:43:06Z")
For me, the problem with moving “hijack” posts to separate threads is that they lose the context in which they were spawned. In this particular case, multiple posters were discussing what made a group “classic rock” to them. All that has been torn loose.
The vast majority of long threads veer from the OP at some point. I often want to scream “Get back to the OP” but I don’t because internet conversations are stochastic, to use today’s buzzword. If the majority of posters to a thread want to go off on a related tangent, then so be it. Either that becomes the thread or the tangent will end. Very few threads are killed or even damaged by most hijacks, certainly far fewer than are modded recently.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [August 4, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237/20 "2024-08-04T20:12:35Z")
I’m not sure where I fall on this issue, except that peeling off a sub-topic shouldn’t necessarily be considered punitive. Mods might want to consider using the term “Tangent” or “Offshoot” in cases where they think an on-topic discussion might be better forked somewhere else.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-debating-what-constitutes-classic-rock-a-hijack-of-a-thread-about-classic-rock/1005237.md?page=2)