Thread Hijacking for Dummies, or HOW NOT TO

I learned a new term today: "Thread Hijacking"

Thread hijacking is the art of taking a forum discussion thread wildly off topic in the space of a single post. While this can be an intentional act of trolling, it is often accidental - caused by other participants in the discussion responding to a throwaway remark, taking the thread off at a tangent to the original subject matter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_Hijacking

The concept was called to my attention here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...75#post1648175

I Googled "thread hijack site:linuxquestions.org" which produced 793 hits. Folks at LQ.org talk a lot about thread hijacking, so I thought it might be useful to create a thread on the subject, with the goal of steering future newbies clear of this pitfall.

Is there an LQ FAQ somewhere that tells about appropriate forum ediquitte here? Are there other taboo behaviors that should be disclosed so as to be avoided?

I have listed some hijack class samples below to prime this thread. They are denoted by the class identifier in bold: e.g.
[hijack class:blatant-ecommerce]

Check this out!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting

[hijack class:blatant-ecommerce]
Above is a typical sample of a spamomatic, ecommerce hijacking. It is an obvious hijack because the message has absolutely nothing to do with the thread topic of hijacking.

Here's a really good reference on the subject of hijacking.
http://www.hijackingcatastrophe.org/


[hijack class:clueless]
Above is a typical sample of a clueless hijacking. The author of this post obviously doesn't have a clue that there is more than one meaning of the word "hijack" and they are on the wrong meaning.

Wow, check this out. Browsers are subject to hijacking also.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1579

[hijack class:confused]
The author of this post is not quite as far off topic as [hijack class:clueless] but is definitely confused about the actual topic under discussion.

Can you please help me quickly to answer this question. I see that you are somehow creating bold letters in your posts here. Could I trouble you to tell me how you do that?

TIA.

Squeaky.

[hijack class:YouLookLikeYouOrSomebodyHereCanSoWillYouHelpMePlease]
The author of this post believes that whoever wrote the words they are currently reading can probably answer their question. They may or may not know about the concept of thread hijacking, or they may just be looking to cut corners at someone else's expense. This may be the most common form of hijack and education is the best defense. Some might say that since the thread has already been interrupted, that if the answer is short and sweet, it could be given to soften the blow of also telling the person that they should in the future not hijack the thread. Others might say that this just encourages more thread hijacking.

Simplyguides.net's BBCode Tutorial

scuzzman,

You're joking, right? Please tell me this is supposed to be funny.

Ummm... what?

Well, you were helpful in answering the question about how to make text bold, but it was a fictional question to illustrate a type of thread hijacking. If you look at the context you'll see the humor in it.

Cheers,

tough study .........
anyway goodluck to you ......
http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/mainpage.html

hijacking in it highest form , the only ultimate achievment ........

The WTO

They do have a place. Without a hijack some threads may die without the answer. I've seen threads where the discussion goes something like:

1. Question
2. attempt at an answer
3. Hijack
4. Hijack
5. Hijack but some ideas for original question
6. Hijack
7. answer
8. Hijack
9. etc

Btw Alred the link isn't working... You might want to check out this link...

i think they are heavy on javascript .....
you can try this link :

WTO , The World Trade Organisation

i use opera with javascript on , i think opera is the best
if your browser still can't load that page , i think you better change your browser
and i think javascript is no so good for the web

How can I get printing to work in linux?

Originally posted by itsjustme How can I get printing to work in linux?

Classic. This made me laugh -- J.W.