Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

@CrashandDie: lol
i love uncharted 2... that game has insane level designs... (and great characters, script, cinematography, etc... oh it's fun too.)

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

Ok... back on topic.

Wait--

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

While I'm opposed to censorship as well, what do you propose as that learning mechanism?

;)

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

I guess I'd be a nobel prize winner contender if I know how :p

Unfortunately some people are just content being in an infinite loop of suboptimal actions for years... (look at us, forum junkies!)

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

It's kinda amazing that a discussion of a current impending release was moved into Off Topic, and that a moderator has the authority to do that and add Chuck Norris to the title even though the vast majority of the messages didn't mention Chuck Norris.

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

amazing? i'd find stronger words for it. while moving on-topic-threads to "off topic" isn't a new phenomenon and was used in the past to punish individual community members, changing the thread title in such a way is a hostile act i haven't experienced before. we've reached a new level.

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

I can't agree with either of you guys. I didn't move the thread or change the title, and was at first surprised over both, but after examining the thread I saw it had gone off the rails. I don't see any problem in moving a thread at that point... would closing it be better? And the title change looks to me like a harmless bit of fun based on some of the posts that started showing up. I'm certainly not opposed to kidding around here... after some of the issues we're dealing with blowing some steam is needed.

Unless I'm missing something you guys can help me understand?

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

@Texrat:
You see, the problem I have with both - changing the title and moving it to off topic - is that it's clearly against the original intentions the thread was opened with.

If a thread goes "off the rails", as you call it, then - well, then it does. All long threads have this tendency. If now, after everything related to Chuck Norris has been posted, people start discussing an older version of an application that was available for the N800, what are you going to do? Move the whole thing yet again, to Maemo 4 or N800 or applications or whatever? Or are you going to put each single posting into a different category?

My perception is that the/some moderators think people use this forum like a book: click through the table of contents, find a thread, read the whole thread and expect it to be consistent and on topic from the first post to the last, like a chapter in a book.

I don't believe people do this. I think they use the search function if they need information. I think they follow threads for the same reason you follow a conversation: for social reasons, not to gather information.

The PR 1.2 thread was a serious thread in the beginning and some postings still are. Some others are "while we wait"-jokes, but as it's "while we wait for PR 1.2", they're still related to the original topic.

Changing a thread title that somebody else chose for his original posting only because some 100 pages later people laugh about Chuck Norris is... no, I'm not gonna say this. Just this one thing: Does it make sense for somebody who starts reading this thread *now* to have it in off topic and to find Chuck Norris in the title? Go to the first page and answer this question.

Re: What exactly is "Off Topic"?
 

You know well that if we use that approach, taking a snapshot of any given thread's state at one particular moment, then moderators will be constantly busy changing the titles of legitimate threads that wander off, on and around a topic.

Again, I just see the "PR1.2/Chuck Norris" thing as a harmless diversion that's actually healthy for a forum and not the fatal, oppressive act you and geneven seem to be making of it.

But if there's a huge outcry over it, I'll reconsider my opinion.