And now that Ashcroft has revealed the full scope of the Anti-terrorist act, I have even more major problems with it than the wiretap issues. (Search and seizure issues, etc) So, my question is, do I continue the same thread, despite the tangent to only related issues, or do I start a new one? I’m not entirely clear on the policy for continuation, especially relating to a slight change in vector on the topic. But I had noticed that it was a problem in a couple of areas, so I figured I’d ask before I screwed up.
Well, do you wanna talk about wiretapping, or about the Anti-Terrorist Act?
If you wanna discuss the Anti-Terrorist Act, and not wiretapping, then start a new thread with a descriptive title. And it would be polite if you included a link to your wiretap thread, so if stuff comes up that was discussed previously, everybody’s on the same page.
The main reason to start a new thread is that since the original thread title deals with wiretapping, it will be difficult to get anyone to come into it to discuss the Anti-Terrorist Act. We aren’t mind readers–“hmm, Miss Cleo knows that Stiletto has bumped his wiretapping thread, so that means that he really wants to talk about the Anti-Terrorist Act…”
Starting new threads for tangential topics is more of a problem in General Questions, which is SO crowded, and every new thread bumps a potentially wonderful question off Page 1 into the depths of Page 2. But the Pit doesn’t usually have that problem. Indeed, sometimes we’re all grateful to see some Pit threads slide off into oblivion.
Nonetheless, you have obviously been around for a while. I thank you for the info.
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That’s about what I figured. But I had seen different points of view on starting a new thread vs. continuing an old one, so I thought it would be safer to ask first, rather than just forge ahead and screw up.
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Right. I had actually figured that part out. Was planning on referencing the original thread, if I started a new one.
nod Makes sense. Again, thank you for the info. I will go ahead and start a new thread, which was my first impulse, but I’ll keep in mind that for GQ I may want to tread more carefully.