In a message dated 2/21/01 3:03:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, ragan@sdc.org writes:
<< So I honestly, truly, don't understand why people get annoyed about it (well, except when the subject lines don't get changed, which I fully understand can be annoying). Somebody explain why it bothers people, please, so I know what I should avoid doing... >>
Yes, I have the same exact question. I, too, have seen complaints about "thread hijacking" elsewhere and I never understood it there, either. Everyone on this list has the ability and the right to a) make posts b) respond to posts or c) ignore/delete posts. If someone responds to a post, taking the conversation in a different direction... and more people respond to THAT direction than the original direction, then obviously the changed direction was of more interest to more people. So, frankly, the conclusion I came to on the other list where I saw these complaints is that some people were annoyed that the attention had shifted from *them* and their ideas/points/conversation/whatever to someone else. As Betty pointed out, there's no reason why the original conversation can't continue... unless it is simply for lack of interest by enough list members *to* continue it.
Annie