Off topic conversations

[happysnapper]

My DH and I really enjoy cruising every couple of years since retiring. Thus I enjoy catching up on current news, ideas and relevant information on Cruise Critic. However, I get a bit frustrated when I click onto a thread only to see it has been taken over, pages before, by almost personal conversations between members that have absolutely nothing to do with the thread they are on. It is a waste of everyone's time to open up a thread, which we think will be informative, only to find it has nothing to do with the topic. Come on guys try and keep it relevant. Please don't shoot the messenger but a number of cruisers I know personally have commented on the same frustration and have given up on CC.:)

[Brisbane41]

Exactly how I feel. A lot of threads get filled with irrelevant rubbish from jokes, and garbage that is not cruise related at all. This site could be good for cruise related information sharing but it has become a major disappointment. It is probably why there are only a small percentage of cruise critic members on cruise ships at any time like 1% of cruise critic members on a cruise ship at any time is hardly something to be proud of and that is why this site is losing its relevance. I get 1% from less than 30 members on a 3000 passenger ship for those who cant do maths.

[clairebearinaus]

I'm going to have to disagree.

 

There's no doubt this is a great site for information sharing, I have learned so much. But it's also a *community* of like minded people, some of whom have had shared experiences and built friendships in real life.

 

Many people are socially isolated for one reason or another and forums like these are an invaluable way of building connections with people, in some cases it's a 'safe' way to interact for those who have anxiety and other barriers to regular social participation.

 

So I think forums like these can serve both purposes. It's easy enough to spot the threads that have derailed by the size of them, and easy enough to click away and unsubscribe when they take that turn.

 

I actually think it'd be a pretty boring place to hang out if we all just stuck to the facts.

 

Yes it's a minor irritation if you were expecting more from the thread, but weigh that up against the benefits to the wider CC community that humour and a sense of belonging can bring :)

[clairebearinaus]

PS: now I've backed you up, can all you wafflers in the Sydney thread come and help me with my tipping conundrum??! :D

[gbenjo]

So Three Cruise Critic members, one English,one Irish and an Australian walk into a bar .........oops sorry wrong forum:o:o

[happysnapper]

I really was not referring to the addition of humour in posts. As a true blood Australian I love a good joke in the correct context of the discussion.:D

[cassamanda]

I really was not referring to the addition of humour in posts. As a true blood Australian I love a good joke in the correct context of the discussion.:D

 

I agree with your thread. The term is used in the CC guidelines as Thread Hijacking and is discouraged. Jokes are always appreciated and can show off our Aussie humour.

Very annoying when the discussion of the original topic is changed to some thing totally unrelated and makes searching for answers on a particular topic difficult.

 

If you have an unrelated question, just start a new thread - simples.

[Swissmiss6253]

I like an organic conversation that includes jokes and chit chat and a bit of banter but winds in and around the original topic. It makes the posters human and builds up a sense of community. Helps you assess if their subjective experiences may match yours if you feel you have an affinity with them on the boards, maybe you may like the same things onboard. I haven't noticed it here (but I have only been here five minutes) but I don't really like in-jokes that only serve to exclude the newbies, pretty much anything else is fine.

[gbenjo]

I really was not referring to the addition of humour in posts. As a true blood Australian I love a good joke in the correct context of the discussion.:D

 

No problem, comment was aimed more at I am better than most Mr Sutho/ Karateman/ Brisbane 41. Don't think he has ever laughed at a joke in his life :D:D

But really if some of the threads did not get "hijacked" occasionally they a would dissappear rather quickly.

[GUT2407]

PS: now I've backed you up, can all you wafflers in the Sydney thread come and help me with my tipping conundrum??! :D

 

Which thread.

[GUT2407]

One of the things I love about the AUS NZ forum is that they do drift, the question is almost invariably answered (usually with the first reply) and you don't hear "Off Topic". It's a bit like a group of mates having a chat, but answering the issue first.

 

 

To be honest 99.9999% of threads are worthy of two posts, a question and an answer. Sounds boring to me.

[GUT2407]

So Three Cruise Critic members, one English,one Irish and an Australian walk into a bar .........oops sorry wrong forum:o:o

 

Nope looks like the right onetime me.:D:p

[clairebearinaus]

Which thread.

 

It's ok thanks Gut, you've already been there at least once.

[Adidas4fun]

I hate the post pruning 1940s german moderators, but clearly they are responding to the anally retentive culture majority.

 

Dont blame me when the trumpets sound for the president the rest of us dont deserve.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Adidas4fun

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've found that even though threads in this forum sometimes wander off in odd directions they always end up back on point and a lot of very useful information is usually shared. Sometimes some of the most valuable information comes out of those detours - things that people may not think to question but when you see the comment you go "oh yeah, that's something I need to know".

 

Sure, there is some banter between regulars but in most cases that doesn't happen until the original topic has been well and truly answered.

 

I would hate this forum to become too sterile. I enjoy both the information-sharing, the friendliness and, especially, the lack of entitlement and feralness that often appears on thread in some of the other boards.

[Brisbane41]

The topics need to be more cruise related and intellectually stimulating. People will lose interest quickly when things go off topic. You will only have regulars on here with no new members.

 

By rights there should be 1000's of members in Australia but there is not and that is saying something about the quality of what is already here that the majority find it not what they are after.

 

If you want to know what a real internet forum in like then I can point you in the direction of forums related to warships and naval topics where there could be several pages of friendly conversation. There has never been any reason for moderators to remove or delete posts from those forums because everyone has a vested and similar interest.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Brisbane41

[OzKiwiJJ]

By rights there should be 1000's of members in Australia but there is not and that is saying something about the quality of what is already here that the majority find it not what they are after.

 

 

I don't believe it has anything to do with the quality of posts here. Most people tend to use Facebook forums these days.

[goodycruising]

Intellectually stimulating? Talking about cruise stuff? I have kinda had a scroll through some people's posting history. Short answers often part of the ongoing banter. I don't see examples of being intellectually stimulated, but maybe I am not comprehending it.

 

In jokes that exclude newbies? Don't feel like if I don't know exactly what people are talking about that they are trying to exclude me, but if that is how people feel, that is how they feel.

 

1% - are you basing that on the amount of people that are going to meet and mingles, or joining roll calls? I have gone to a few and would probably give them a miss from now on, and many people have stated that. I don't think you would really be able to calculate how many people on a ship are CC members. I am more reluctant as time goes on to advertise when I will be away from my home.

 

I just want this Aus/NZ part of CC to stay nice and friendly, like it has been.

 

We all have our point of view, and sometimes we can't see the other person's. I am sure missing some points here.

 

Maybe a short visit on some other sections of CC will have you bolting back to this bunch. There are some vicious and nasty people over on the cruise line specific boards, and I am going to say it, lots of them have USA towns/cities beside their name. Lots of nice ones there too, but they get drowned out by some serious meanness. That concerns me more.

 

Don't even get me started on how quickly I get real turned off the behaviour on some FB groups.

 

Nothing to see here, move along.

Edited March 16, 2016 by goodycruising

[GUT2407]

Intellectually stimulating? Talking about cruise stuff? I have kinda had a scroll through some people's posting history. Short answers often part of the ongoing banter. I don't see examples of being intellectually stimulated, but maybe I am not comprehending it.

 

In jokes that exclude newbies? Don't feel like if I don't know exactly what people are talking about that they are trying to exclude me, but if that is how people feel, that is how they feel.

 

1% - are you basing that on the amount of people that are going to meet and mingles, or joining roll calls? I have gone to a few and would probably give them a miss from now on, and many people have stated that. I don't think you would really be able to calculate how many people on a ship are CC members. I am more reluctant as time goes on to advertise when I will be away from my home.

 

I just want this Aus/NZ part of CC to stay nice and friendly, like it has been.

 

We all have our point of view, and sometimes we can't see the other person's. I am sure missing some points here.

 

Maybe a short visit on some other sections of CC will have you bolting back to this bunch. There are some vicious and nasty people over on the cruise line specific boards, and I am going to say it, lots of them have USA towns/cities beside their name. Lots of nice ones there too, but they get drowned out by some serious meanness. That concerns me more.

 

Don't even get me started on how quickly I get real turned off the behaviour on some FB groups.

 

Nothing to see here, move along.

 

 

Can only agree about what goes on in some other sub-forums and it's pretty clear that some of them absolutely hate each other and wouldn't be able to agree on what day of the week it was.

 

Sure we don't always agree on everything here, but it is seldom nasty.

 

And when we tuen to alleged in comments, I've only been here a bit over a year, and really have only once or twice been unable to figure out what was going on, and then concluded it had nothing to do with me anyway and scrolled on.

 

About 18 months later some might accuse me of making some insider comments, if you don't understand either ask or scroll on.

 

 

Really not all that hard.

 

I have probably only seen two threads in all hat time that really got off track, one was about a ferry to White Bay, about a year before it happened, the first two pages dealt with the reality of the need and possibility the rest jokes basically about why it wouldn't happen in the near future, the other was a thread started to attack Australians and Kiwis over tipping, the thread was probably over and done with by the end of the first page and OP never returned to defend heir position (to be fair I think they may have been banned from CC). Now that thread then went all directions without tipping getting another mention but by then the topic had been killed anyway.

[OzKiwiJJ]

A few people might have been confused by some of your recent posts, Gut. :p

 

I assume you've had your computer fixed, I can understand 99% of them now. :D

[GUT2407]

A few people might have been confused by some of your recent posts, Gut. :p

 

I assume you've had your computer fixed, I can understand 99% of them now. :D

 

Some might say that post is off topic and in "in" joke.

 

But no, looks like I'm going to have to dig deep and buy a new 'puter, but eyes are improving a bit ( I put it down to Pav with ice cream) and I am adjusting to using this stupid iPad.

Edited March 16, 2016 by GUT2407

[happysnapper]

Can I please say I have never come across any personal or nasty responses and this was never the reason I started this thread. I was just respectfully suggesting members try and keep to the topic by posting interesting and helpful information (plus a sense of humour) . In addition I also agree meandering around it can produce some helpful information. I appreciate CCs taking the time to express their own point of view.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just an afterthought - perhaps it is actually the fact that topics take the odd detour occasionally without any rancour that makes this forum a friendly place to share information.

 

Also normal face-to-face conversations in the real world often go off-topic, into what could be called side-bar conversations, before getting back on track. Even newpaper and magazine articles have side-bars. People are used to this and think it is normal. Usually the off-topic part of the thread can be directly traced back to a post on the original topic, but a word or phrase that is then commented on may lead the conversation in anotehr direction for a while.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Its also called thread drift.

Its very easy for one thing to lead to another, what one person means can be taken to mean something completely different by others.

It has always happened and I am sure it will continue to happen.

 

Its the same sort of thing as the same questions being asked over and over again....it happens and that the way it is babe.

 

One thing I would suggest is that sometimes a thread can drift to a different topic which deserves its own thread. ....so dont be afraid of starting a new thread and relating it back to the one that gave you the idea.

[MicCanberra]

Its also called thread drift.

Its very easy for one thing to lead to another, what one person means can be taken to mean something completely different by others.

It has always happened and I am sure it will continue to happen.

 

Its the same sort of thing as the same questions being asked over and over again....it happens and that the way it is babe.

 

One thing I would suggest is that sometimes a thread can drift to a different topic which deserves its own thread. ....so dont be afraid of starting a new thread and relating it back to the one that gave you the idea.

 

Not quite thread drift but they look like threads drifting.

Edited March 17, 2016 by MicCanberra