When a topic starts out, it tends to stay on track most of the time. But as the days go on and the initial question or point is discussed, topics tend to 'derail' or break off into tangents. They could very well be focused, not-spam discussions but not entirely related to the original point of the topic either.
Do you see this a lot on your forum? Do you allow these tangents, split them up, cut them off?
Derailment can be tricky. A lot of times it is very natural, and suppressing it can make you look like a jerk, although one form of derailment I generally do not tolerate is when a heated argument begins to derail from the main topic. When facing those types of situations, I typically use the "line in the sand approach" (as I call it) which is something which I was taught how to do on the RuneScape Forums. Basically, you make a post saying "Stop arguing," and any further off-topic posts after that, you delete. If arguing persists, you issue short term "cool down" bans of maybe a day so that all parties can calm down. 😛 Only really necessary for really heated stuff though.
I typically allow a bit of derailing, there is often only so much you can say about a topic before it gets redundant and you have to branch out. If it gets too far out, I'll split the posts into a new topic and leave a note but I don't often tell people stop unless the discussion gets too heated and turns to bashing/insulting or if it's just too spammy.
I see these sometimes. I don't normally cut them off as long as it is not spam because while it is off a tangent, it is still very good discussion and serves a good purpose. However on forums, I see that moderators would cut them out which is good for the thread to stay on topic but at the same time, the forum could of lost some quality discussion.
I don't mind if a topic goes off on a tangent. Okay, I might sometimes split the topic and move the other part into the right section, but hey, at least people are discussing something.
I allow discussions to go on a tangent because that's how conversations tend to go. However, I do make it a point to steer the discussion back to the topic at hand. Cutting out posts may make the topic look choppy. People are discussing I wouldn't want to discourage that. However, I am very quick to moderate if any insults or offending material is posted but I think that's a different matter.
