moderators, what's the "sin" in changing subjects?

[oleschoolaggie]

honestly, i don't get it. what's the "harm" of changing subjects within a given thread? i mean, it is "natural" for certain topics to take a turn left or a turn right on occasion. but what is the "harm" in that?

reason i ask is because in recent years (for some reason) certain moderator(s) make such a big deal when another subject "naturally" pops up under a thread and folk begin discussing the other subject. what's the "harm" in that? how does it negative impact bdv, if at all?

cuz i can tell you for a "fact", that not that many years ago on bdv, subjects often changed under a thread and no one (including moderators) complained, nor was anybody "harmed" by it. all i'd like to know is why has it (all of a sudden) become such a "sin" to do something like bring up another subject that is perfectly "natural" in a conversation/discussion? different subjects almost always come up in most discussions. why is it such a "no, no" on bdv?

[Bornthrilla]

Generally speaking, the conversations here tend to be more fruitful when the subject matter remains consistent throughout the thread. Folks might be engaged in an interesting, well-thought out exchange of ideas that could suddenly get derailed when a different topic is introduced in that same thread by another poster. It also helps our ability to archive and reference past conversations when those thread topics remain consistent. Grouping similar subject matter together makes a large message board like this easier to navigate.

Posters here have the freedom to create discussions about almost anything they want. We should all try to stay on topic as best we can when responding to someone else’s thread.

[oleschoolaggie]

i can agree that folk should "try" to stay on subject, but it is "natural" in a "normal" conversation for other subjects to come up. most folk can find whatever they're looking for by doing a search on a keyword or phrase. if ya created a new thread every time a new topic comes up under a thread, you would likely have 1,000 times as many threads.

but hey, i'm a team player, i follow the rules no matter whether it makes sense or not...