To ask people to read posts before replying to them

If all forums behave like that, wouldn't it be sensible just to accept that that's what happens, rather than getting in a stew about it? One can always go back to the OP. I've noticed that happens sometimes. And then, one can always start again with a new thread if there are still things one wants to talk about but the thread has got sidetracked.

Just chucking out ideas, since it seems to me to be less bothersome to accept "what happens" and cope with it than otherwise.

Gracesmum definitely has a point. I have several times made a comment only to find that I have done so at the end of page 1 without noticing that there are 5 pages. It then turns out that my comment bears no relation to the end of page 5 where it duly appears. Sorry.

My personal opinion is that it is simply good manners to read a thread thoroughly if you are going to add your own comment to it.
It is also extremely frustrating if, as the OP, people 'reply' by asking you something you have already addressed (and especially so if it is something in your OP )
This isn't just an issue with GN by the way. As a veteran of a couple of expat forums, I know it is true across forums.
I tend not to post on many topics, and that is generally because on the whole they do get side-tracked, and usually by a handful of 'regulars' (again, true of all forums, so not making this 'personal' to GN). As soon as I spot the old familiar pattern emerging, I stop reading, as I know the thread will be unravelling and rambling down the 'chatty' route, or all too frequently the 'in-jokes' of a small group who have got to know each other very well and treat most threads as their own personal chat room route.
Chat rooms are a different animal, and I do find it frustrating when forums are treated in that way. My view is that, if someone has started a new post on a particular subject, it is simple courtesy to stay on topic - and to read it properly!
I will just add again that my observations apply to all forums I have followed, so nothing 'personal' to GN

Goodnight.

And stop being so holier than thou!

Very soon at this rate I'm going to have something else to apologise for.

Big time.

Shall we knock all this apologising on the head right now?!

And the commenting on whether people should or should not post what they do on which threads.

IYSWIM



Look to your own posts, never mind all the criticising.

Kitty, I am glad to see you have apologised, like JO4. I am not sure what you mean by saying you were goaded into your comment- by whom?

kitty

It was not you, don't worry. The thread was shifted by a few G.N.'s. I saw what you wrote and I agree with you, you were simply responding to the way the thread had been trivialised by others.

I admit to saying what I was having for tea on the Annecy thread and I apologise if anyone thought it was insensitive. I was goaded into it, entirely unlike me, but sometimes enough is enough! I think I was probably among the least offensive posters on that thread.

Anagram.

That's why I thought I had gone bonkers.

I genuinely thought I had posted on the wrong thread, then I realised the same point had been raised on both threads. Made me feel better.

Glad you can see it too.

See my reply on Other Thread, POGS!

Am I going mad or has this thread morphed into:-

Other Subjects. I for one don't know where this website would be without.

Anagram.

Thank you, you are quite right.

It just goes to show how many threads turn nasty, they are all moulding into one.

All too silly.

No, POGS, it was the thread started by AngieBaby which was deleted. The Annecy thread is still there, if you search.

Wasn't the Annecy thread deleted by G.N?.

JO 4 did have comments deleted but to be fair she did also apologise. It was a few other comments made by some other G.N.'s on the thread that tipped the balance of so-called Forum Etiquette. I think the thread became silly and quite personal that's why it was deleted.

No, soop of course not.
No, vampire of course not.
A newspaper once recorded me as being "uncharacteristically robust" bags so perhaps I should do something about that.

gracesmum I was referring specifically to replies directed at me. I knew they were directed at me because they began absent or absentgrana. I appreciate that, if it is a long thread, people don't always want to trawl through the whole thing.

Yes, kittylester, it is a shame. Thank you for a a vote of confidence.

Whatever Alison MA

I have to post now because if I move to the next page, I lose what I have written (for what it's worth) [tee hee emoticon]

No, it was necessary to return the thread to the proper subject. You had the grace to admit you were wrong to post inappropriate banter about it, Jingle , but other people did not.

Was it necessary to point it out to them? Could that be taken as being insensitive in itself?

Read the thread about the Annecy tragedy.

Someone who didn't take kindly to having it pointed out to them.

Who did that?

I agree.

Lilygran - flippancy is fine on many threads, but I feel it is inappropriate and insensitive to chat about what you are having for your dinner on a thread about a terrible tragedy.