# Why do so many posters have trouble staying on topic? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 28, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-posters-have-trouble-staying-on-topic/1027125 "2026-01-28T17:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 114
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-posters-have-trouble-staying-on-topic/1027125/114 "2026-03-31T23:07:35Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > No, you don’t have to figure out how to pack anything into the new thread. > > If you start a linked thread as recommended above, it automatically includes a link to the one you started from. Yeah, the OP can literally just be whatever you would have posted if it was a standard reply in the original thread. The only thing “extra” is just picking a name for the thread. And since it links back to the original thread, and it can even link back to a specific post in the thread, all of the connection is done for you. And that link goes both ways; the post you started the new thread from, as a reply, has a link to the new thread. And the new thread OP has a link back to the original. Here is a real example of one I did just a couple of weeks ago: > [@How large would be a drone that can drop a bomb, and what kind of boat could it launch from?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-large-would-be-a-drone-that-can-drop-a-bomb-and-what-kind-of-boat-could-it-launch-from/1028407): > > Continuing the discussion from [Speculation for Consequences to the US for Engaging in the Bombing of Iran and Other Targets](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speculation-for-consequences-to-the-us-for-engaging-in-the-bombing-of-iran-and-other-targets/1028210/79): I’m concerned that this is getting much too far from the topic this was posted in, as this doesn’t really have anything to do with the discussion about consequences to the US for bombing Iran. But I still think it’s worth an answer, and maybe a larger discussion, so I thought it best to spin off a new thread. Here is a web page talking about what size of a drone can ca… That whole OP was originally going to be a reply in a P&E thread, but I was worried that going into what kind of drones were needed to drop bombs would be too much of a tangent. And since it was no longer about anything political, but was just about technology, I decided to put it in a different category other than P&E. But really, all I did was choose to “Reply as linked topic” to a post rather than a normal reply, changed the category, gave it a thread title, and posted the same thing I was going to post as a reply in the original thread. It wasn’t much more of a hassle than a normal reply. And there was no _technical_ reason for changing the category; it will default to the category you are already in, that was just a choice I made. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-posters-have-trouble-staying-on-topic/1027125)._