forum etiquette

[Bobthenurse]

I am new to this forum business and am unsure of the rules and regulations. So I was reading a thread in which puffers were recommended to eat snails for the author of the thread. The author stated that she might consider that and asked a question about puffers. A few posts later another person also asked about puffers and a moderator reply in a very kind and diplomatic way that this was the authors thread and that the second person's question should be on a separate thread.

So the question I have is can threads evolve over time? Was the author also overstepping boundaries by asking questions not pertaining specifically to the original topic? And if the author of the thread can ask questions off topic wouldn't another poster be able to follow that train of thought?

I'm not trying to be picky I sincerely want to know what the culture calls for.

[CHoffman]

I would say no one was overstepping any boundaries..Allot of times if you have a question of your own it will get more responses and better quality answer if it has a thread of its own. Threads do evolve, and get off topic and hijacked but IMO as long as its' ok with the author, and their question has been answered its fun.....

[sirdarksol]

In general, the originator of a thread has quite a bit more leeway with his/her own thread than others.

Basically, it's okay for the thread creator to hijack his/her own thread with another question, but it's rude for someone else to hijack a thread in this way. Edit: Such a question is also much less likely to get attention. I think a lot of people ask questions in established threads, thinking that their question will get more answers, but this usually isn't the case (and if it is, then the original question will get lost, and the thread will become confusing). Most of the time, a question gets the most answers when it has its own thread.

However, threads can, indeed, evolve. This most often happens with the off-topic threads (take a look at the Nascar thread. FLCommunityFan and I had a discussion about video games in it), but it can also happen in other threads, especially if the original question was actually just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, someone with an uncycled tank is having ICH problems. We'll walk them through the ich problems, but we'll also work on the cycling procedure, because that is likely the source of the ich issues.

Of course, the forum is huge, and stuff gets missed, or is close enough to the original topic that it is allowed to slide.

[Butterfly]

We don't want to skip over/not see/ignore anyones questions so a new thread is usually suggested so that question can be asked and answered and that thread can change however it needs to get all that persons concerns addressed.
Our threads tend to have a life of their own and develope as they will The author usually has free rein as to how they develope.
Good question! Thanks for asking.
Carol

[sgould]

Threads do evolve...a question asked by one person sparks a related question from someone else, or an answer generates additional questions or the need for clarification if something was not completely understood. I think what we want to avoid is a thread being completely hijacked and taken off topic, leaving the original poster with no answers for the stated purpose of the thread. In those cases, it would be more polite to simply start a new thread of your own rather than to "take over" someone else's. Usually if a thread does drift off subject it will either be after answers have been given, in which case no big deal, or else other members will step in and try to bring the thread back on topic. Occassionally, a mod will step in and seperate the topics, giving the new subject it's own stand alone thread, but it usually doesn't get that far. We have lots of great members who are pretty "self-policing"!

Edit: Ha! Great question...got a 3 mod response!

[Lucy]

I agree with SDS. However, if the OP has an additional question not pertaining to the original question and the participants of the original thread cannot help I usually suggest that the OP start a new thread.

An example being the orignal thread's title is about compatabilty. But another question arises about an illness. It might serve the OP better to have a new thread with a new title to alert those who know more about a particular subject.

Edit: Oooops, make that 4 mods. 'd by everyone. That's what happens when you answer the phone in the middle of a post.