# Why do so many posters have trouble staying on topic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-posters-have-trouble-staying-on-topic/1027125>\
**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")\
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**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:** [January 28, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-posters-have-trouble-staying-on-topic/1027125/3 "2026-01-28T17:20:16Z")

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As it is we have two forums where staying on topic is mostly not a thing.  
#Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share & #The BBQ Pit  
With the exception of #breaking-news which often has the strongest stay on-topic requirements. Even the pit has two threads, where we Mods will often break out the hijacks. The [Trolls R Us Resurrections](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trolls-r-us-resurrections/950518) & [What were you THINKING?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532) threads.

Loose standards for #In My Humble Opinion & #Cafe Society

In #Factual Questions you need to stay on topic until the question is answered and usually explored, but then drift is allowed.

#Great Debates & #Politics & Elections are stay on topic and no omnibus threads allowed.

#About This Message Board is suppose to stay on-topic and not argue stuff from other threads, but moderation is light.

_Crap hit reply too soon:_

So what I think I’m saying is it is often hard to remember which forum you’re posting in or which rules apply. This is why, if the poster is not a serial hijacker, we try not to do more than a modnote and maybe hide the off-topic post or move a hijack to its own thread.

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And remember: we encourage the sharing of anecdotes and opinions but as a new topic instead of a hijack.

**If you are responding to something in a thread that is basically off-topic or likely to lead to a hijack, try this:**

How to **Reply as a linked Topic** :

Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, _looks like a curving arrow point to the right_.

Choose **Reply as linked topic** and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it.

That is actually the best method.

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