# Tips for using Discourse to avoid hijacks **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [February 17, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712 "2024-02-17T22:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/1 "2024-02-17T22:09:26Z")
Apparently Discourse has nifty tools to create offshoot threads for exploring tangents. I request a tutorial. Is it just a matter of posting a link to another post in your new thread? Bonus: There’s a details option under the gear icon. It might be a good place for tangential discussion. There’s no option for it when making new threads so I’ll show it in the next post. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/2 "2024-02-17T22:14:01Z")
This thread is devoted to hijack management. A little about hijack etymology: > **Summary** > > According to the Manchester Guardian, the word hijack comes from the US Prohibition era. > > > [@](#): > > > > Supposedly a member of one gang would approach the driver of a rival gang’s bootlegging truck with a smile and a disarming ‘Hi, Jack!’ before sticking the muzzle of a gat [sic] in the face of the poor unfortunate, and relieving him of both truck and its alcoholic cargo. > > Confusingly, they also claim that the word can be traced to per-revolutionary France. > > > [@](#): > > > > Impoverished peasants attacked and robbed aristocrats travelling in coaches through the countryside. The word they employed for this practice was ‘échaquer,’ which, sharing a common root with ‘éjecter’ in the Latin word ‘eiacere,’ meant primarily the physical removal of the aristocrat from his carriage and of his possessions from his person, but also, through its onomatopoeic second syllable, contained elements of the peasants’ anger, expressed in the guttural spitting sound used to pronounce the word and also possibly the sound of a knife entering and twisting up through the aristocrat’s intestines. Wider implications of the word were explored in the revolution of 1789. But I’d still like to know more about how Discourse handles inter-thread linking. > **A little discussion about threads.** > > noun > > 1. a fine cord of flax, cotton, or other fibrous material spun out to considerable length, especially when composed of two or more filaments twisted together. > > 2. twisted filaments or fibers of any kind used for sewing. > > 3. one of the lengths of yarn forming the warp or weft of a woven fabric. > > 4. a filament or fiber of glass or other ductile substance. > > 5. Ropemaking. > > - any of a number of fibers twisted into a yarn. > > - a yarn, especially as enumerated in describing small stuff. > > 1. something having the fineness or slenderness of a filament, as a thin continuous stream of liquid, a fine line of color, or a thin seam of ore: a thread of smoke. > > 2. the helical ridge of a screw. > > 3. that which runs through the whole course of something, connecting successive parts: I lost the thread of the story. > > 4. something conceived as being spun or continuously drawn out, as the course of life fabled to be spun, measured, and cut by the Fates. > > 5. Digital Technology. a series of posts and responses on a message board or electronic mailing list that deal with the same subject and are grouped together. > > 6. threads, Slang. [clothes](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/clothes). This creates some moderation issues (maybe better discussed in ATMB: > **Details option: Moderation issues** > > On the one hand it creates a mechanism for presenting tangents/borderline hijacks. On the other, the mod has to click the link to mod it. It’s sort of like a spoiler box in that excessive use could cause issues. Unless! Unless, the mods have a way of setting things up so they automatically see all spoilers and all Details without clicking. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/3 "2024-02-17T22:14:33Z")
I wrote the step by step up before, but it isn’t in my bookmarks. I’ll try to track it down again. I know @Max_S uses this feature so I’ll page him to your thread also. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/4 "2024-02-17T22:23:06Z")
Thread Splitting or Reply as linked topic. - Click Reply to the post you’re using as your jumping off point for the new thread. - In the upper left corner click the Right Arrow button. - Choose Reply as linked Topic. - This will open the Create a new topic interface. - Type in your Title, select the forum and optionally the tag(s) - Then add to the Continuing Discussion for the body of the post. * * * * * * Ah, I have it as one of my macros. Well now I have this post bookmarked. * * * * * * ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/5 "2024-02-17T22:26:44Z")
Thanks! That’s a nice feature. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/6 "2024-02-17T22:40:52Z")
Ok, upper-left-hand-corner arrow feature is good for creating new threads to respond to posts. But if you want to respond to a post within another thread, I’d use the url bar or the triple-dot button at the bottom of each post. For example: > [@Test thread — to test things out. Do not lock!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/505): > > Hm. Click arrow, choose linked topic reply option, copy and paste in another thread (this one): Continuing the discussion from [Tips for using Discourse to avoid hijacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/3): Discuss. Discuss. Discuss. Now just paste the link from the post: Paste link from Url bar: ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2024, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tips-for-using-discourse-to-avoid-hijacks/997712/7 "2024-02-21T07:58:21Z")
For goodness sake don’t tell the people over in Thread Games about this. Things could get out of hand.