When replying to an original post in a thread please try to stay on topic. If you have comments not related to the topic at hand then start a new thread. This will make the threads much easier to read.
Up until now I've felt something approaching trepidation when reminded to "stay on topic."
On one side of the matter is the nature of normal conversation, which tends to be tangential by jumping from topic to topic, as one thing reminds one of other things. Example, with the topic "Transmitter", if someone said, "A transmitter consists of many parts", one might respond, "Oh, that reminds me about capacitors." BUZZ! ILLEGAL TOPIC CHANGE.
Thinking further, what we call "natural conversation" is an informal, casual, leisurely process, compared to the formal discourse of technical and scientific composition which very much stays on topic with footnotes to refer to related tangents.
But the over-riding determinant in the case of a website is that policy set by web masters and moderators. Therefore we, as guests, are welcome based on following house rules.
As a tanked thinker, I mean as a think tanker, I found an excellent cure for the whole question by spotting the way to distinquish between part15(dot)us and the forums at thealpb(dot)com, which seem needlessly duplicative.
Proposed:
Part15(dot)us is the Formal, Semi-Formal forum site...
Thealpb(dot)com is the InFormal, Naturally Conversational forum site.
At last the two websites have a differentiation.
This idea is subject to approval from higher up.
You have stated good points about the nature of conversation and you raise a question about how this forum should operate.
If we want this to be a place where information is exchanged then we need to be mindful that many who view a thread on a topic of interest may not have the patience to wade through many unrelated posts to extract the information from the ones which are pertinent. I know this from my own experience and have also received comments from our members regarding this.
Yes, during casual conversation we do drift off topic and may go back and forth between topics but if the conversation is printed as a thread then it is difficult for a reader using the thread as a reference to do so.
If I visit a site seeking information I appreciate not having to filter through threads to find what specifically interests me. If I am new to the topics on a site then seeing the various topics organized into titled threads is very helpful.
Many times there are very good "off topic" posts placed in a thread where such posts deserve their own prominence in a new thread. Unfortunately, as configured, this site does not allow moving posts from thread to thread so the only moderator option to keep things from drifting is to delete posts, which has not been done. The best option is to have our posters help by self organizing their posts.
Rather than trying to place a label (formal, etc.) on this forum it seems better to explain the rationale and ask for cooperation.
Neil
Absolutely, Neil, we are speaking the same language and that's why my SOLUTION reached in my posting above is PERFECT, because it upholds STAYING ON TOPIC as the brand for this website, and the meandering and consciousness streaming over on thealpb(dot)com forums.
We do away with labels like "formal","casual", as you suggest, because they become invisible just as we needn't say "we are posting in English."
This means one website agrees with my proposal for BRANDING which leaves only the ALPB. There's a meeting soon, it'll come under "New Business."
Things are going well, don't you think?