# The history of HIJACK?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 29, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283 "2000-07-29T00:16:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baglady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baglady)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/1 "2000-07-29T00:16:00Z")
Hi folks;
I come from a long history of Usenet newsgroups. At least in my areas when we changed the subject of a thread we usually called it “OT” or “Off-topic”. While I see use of the OT reference here periodically, I see a far higher instance of the use of the term “HIJACK”, usually bracketed to look like html or vB code:
[HIJACK]
```
Like this
```
[/HIJACK]
Can anyone tell me if this is a SDMB-specific quirk? Where and how did this tradition start? I can see the imagery; you’re basically “hijacking” a thread and saying something unrelated. But it’s an unusual term and one I would not associate to mean “off topic.”
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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### Author:  [@\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_D)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/2 "2000-07-29T01:05:33Z")
I think that was tshirt’s, (my father the programmer) but it’s too hard to search for.
The search system seems to ignore “/”.
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### Author:  [@Fonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fonz)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/3 "2000-07-29T21:11:49Z")
It seems a search for /hijack only returns threads since the software change.
But here’s some old ones I found.
5/8 beakerxf uses [/newbie hijack]
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23538](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23538)
5/5 red\_dragon60 [/hijack]
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23631](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23631)
5/5 radar ralf [End of hijack]
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23631](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23631)
I first saw the hijack expressed as a coding thing when I first got here, but hadn’t seen it elsewhere.
(Somebody else might like to search more, but I’m done for now.)
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### Author:  [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/4 "2000-07-30T03:23:04Z")
Have you read this one: [Hands Up, This Thread is Going To Cuba](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=14324). That one was started on 10/14/99, so the “hijack” term was definitely in popular use before then.
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### Author:  [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/5 "2000-07-30T05:03:38Z")
i’ve seen hijack in use ever since i’ve been here. i don’t recall much from the aol board. did we have it then?
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### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/6 "2000-07-30T11:43:41Z")
I’ve seen the term “hijack threads” on a rare occasion in USENET, usually in non-computerese, like the example from [an evolution group](http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology/archive/september-1996/0171.html), going back to **4 Sep 1996** :
Bryant: _Um, because the Pleistocene knew no sugar cane (and hence no soda, candy, etc.) and because there were not yet laws designed to control domestic violence?_
Lenny: Sugar receptors only for Pleistocene humans? Jealousy arose because of the lack of human laws?
Bryant: _If you don’t understand the basic points I was making, why **hijack the thread** in the manner you have, Lenny? Why not just ask for clarification?_
* * *
This is the only board I’ve seen express it as code but I wouldn’t be surprised if the term popped up on other boards that allow tags. _Hijack_ is much more readily understood than OT (you write OT and someone comes along to ask what it means and now you’ve got another hijack).
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/7 "2000-07-30T12:00:56Z")
I was gonna post some smart-ass comment about guys in masks storming an airplane with guns and demanding a ransom, but… oops, too late!!
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### Author:  [@7\_of\_7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_of_7)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/8 "2000-07-30T15:45:09Z")
The " /hijack " thing is really cute. I’ve never seen it, and I’m on lots of boards.
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### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/9 "2000-07-30T15:57:04Z")
If you’re on lots of boards **7 of 7** , I trust you will introduce the term to the others, since it it _is_ cute and pretty much self-explanatory. A meme, 'twould seem.
Welcome BTW.
picmr
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### Author:  [@7\_of\_7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_of_7)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/10 "2000-07-30T17:55:07Z")
Sure, and I’ll mention SDMB too. Seems pretty nice for a lot of different moods, serious to down to flighty.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/11 "2000-07-31T22:42:35Z")
If you check with the _Jargon File_ (sorry, I don’t have the bookmark here at the lab, or I’d provide a link), it says that among computer nerds, the usage of pseudo-HTML is fairly common and widespread. The useage of [hijack] and [/hijack] isn’t any more notable than [sarchasm] and [/sarchasm], for instance.
One of my favorites, though, is the combination “Hi, Jack” and “Bye, Jack”, although it doesn’t really fit my style.
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### Author:  [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2000, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-hijack/27283/12 "2000-07-31T23:57:24Z")
I’ve been seeing and using pseudo-HTML coding in mailing lists and newsgroups for years–almost since the beginning of the Web. I also occasionally use C conventions, such as heading a post _#include \_.
It’s kinda cute, if not overdone, and allows me to be a little arrogant in my geekdom.
As for the actual usage of “hijack,” I’ve always seen it used a little differently from “OT.” A hijack takes a thread completely in another direction, while “off topic” posts are off topic without too much disruption.