On topic / Off topic ?

[MrGongGong]

Just a thought

Some people seem to be immensely irritated by exchanges that go "off topic"
Some people enjoy long rambling conversations that might or might not return to the start

Is this reflected in the music that people listen to?

[P. G. Tipps]

Just a thought

Some people seem to be immensely irritated by exchanges that go "off topic"
Some people enjoy long rambling conversations that might or might not return to the start

Is this reflected in the music that people listen to?

Funnily enough, I've recently developed a keen liking for the Mahler Symphonies after decades of avoiding them for their tendency (imv) to suddenly go hysterically 'off-topic'. I now find them really interesting and even exciting. How wrong can one ultimately be proved to be ... ?

So your theory could well be right though I don't know if I've actually answered the question!

[Beef Oven!]

I'm not an Arsenal supporter, but the calls for Wenger to resign are ridiculous. The fact that they lost to United at the weekend, disguises the fact that they completely bossed the first half, had the lion's share of possession in the second, and limited United to one shot on target.

Given the number of shots on target that they had themselves, they need to work on their finishing, not change their manager.

[ahinton]

Just a thought

Some people seem to be immensely irritated by exchanges that go "off topic"
Some people enjoy long rambling conversations that might or might not return to the start

Is this reflected in the music that people listen to?

I cannot answer that with any certainty but I do think that there's off-topic and "off-topic" - i.e., on the one hand, posters who seek to drive the direction of a thread off-topic for the purposes of undermining and/or derailing it and, on the other, those who perceive certain relevant byways to a thread topic down which it might be interesting to go without actually intending to dilute the substance of the thread for the sake of so doing. I sought to illustrate this by mentioning on another thread, for example, that references to UKIP were not off-topic when the subject under discussion is the state of the UK political parties in the run-up to the next General Election bedcause UKIP is one of those parties.

[Beef Oven!]

I cannot answer that with any certainty but I do think that there's off-topic and "off-topic" - i.e., on the one hand, posters who seek to drive the direction of a thread off-topic for the purposes of undermining and/or derailing it and, on the other, those who perceive certain relevant byways to a thread topic down which it might be interesting to go without actually intending to dilute the substance of the thread for the sake of so doing. I sought to illustrate this by mentioning on another thread, for example, that references to UKIP were not off-topic when the subject under discussion is the state of the UK political parties in the run-up to the next General Election bedcause UKIP is one of those parties.

A huge number of UKIP references were "off-topic". Some, like yours, Jean's, ff's and mine were not.

[jean]

...those who perceive certain relevant byways to a thread topic down which it might be interesting to go without actually intending to dilute the substance of the thread for the sake of so doing...

Brilliantly put. I do it all the time.

[Beef Oven!]

Brilliantly put. I do it all the time.

A very good example of which, was your (the) posts on PFI, IMO.

[amateur51]

A huge number of UKIP references were "off-topic". Some, like yours, Jean's, ff's and mine were not.

I offer posts #s 680, 682 and 684 in contradiction plus a whole swathe of other posts demonstrating an obsession with MrGG's underpants - well off-topic.

[Serial_Apologist]

I accuse this thread of being off-topic for being posted under "Politics & Current Affairs".

[Infuriatingly banned smiley]

[Beef Oven!]

[Infuriatingly banned smiley]

I wonder if they can be reinstated.

[ahinton]

A huge number of UKIP references were "off-topic". Some, like yours, Jean's, ff's and mine were not.

Well, to whatever extent that this may have been the case, it would seem fair to suggest that anyone's references to that organisation in a thread about the state of UK political parties in the run-up to the next General Election presumably have at least the makings of being on-topic - or would you disagree about that?

[Beef Oven!]

Well, to whatever extent that this may have been the case, it would seem fair to suggest that anyone's references to that organisation in a thread about the state of UK political parties in the run-up to the next General Election presumably have at least the makings of being on-topic - or would you disagree about that?

I haven't the energy to agree or disagree at the present moment.

[Richard Barrett]

I've recently developed a keen liking for the Mahler Symphonies after decades of avoiding them for their tendency (imv) to suddenly go hysterically 'off-topic'.

I can't really think of an example of a Mahler symphony "going off-topic", it's just that the "topics" are somewhat more complex than arguing about whether UKIP should have "the" before it...

How wrong can one ultimately be proved to be ... ?

You said it.

[P. G. Tipps]

I can't really think of an example of a Mahler symphony "going off-topic", it's just that the "topics" are somewhat more complex than arguing about whether UKIP should have "the" before it...

You said it.

I've always been a very simpleminded soul.

There are so many confident, complicated intellectuals around here I often feel like a duck out of water, though I am encouraged by FF's old colleague who believed that one can be silly and right at the same time ...

Therefore hope springs eternal in the simpleminded soul of one, P. G. Tipps.

[teamsaint]

I wonder if they can be reinstated.

I hope they emotican.

anyway, back off topic, no doubt there is one of those tricky philosophical paradoxes about whether one can in fact go off topic, in a thread about being off topic.