Is there a polite, practical way...

... to keep forums on topic? I have thought and thought and can't think of a way that wouldn't violate the very friendly atmosphere of DG, which I value. But maybe someone else can. Here are my two examples.

First, I really enjoy finding out what people across the country are having for dinner, but the "What's for Dinner" thread in the "Recipes" forum got so full of personal questions/answers/comments having nothing to do with dinner that I just stopped visiting. I really don't want folks to not have an opportunity to chat, but I can't think of a polite/practical way to divert such interchanges to something in the Back Porch area. Ideas?

My other example doesn't really have to do with being "off topic" so much as more clearly defining the topic. This is the forum "Garden Showcase." I'd love to see photos of people's gardens, but that forum got so full of photos of individual plants that I just stopped visiting. I'd like to split it into two forums SINGLE PLANT PHOTOS and GARDEN PHOTOS, but I don't see how DG could "enforce" the topic, again, without being rude. Ideas?

TIA
LAS

LAS14,
What is your definition of "Garden Photos"? Can you provide examples of what you consider "Garden Photos". I mentioned before a better search process for that forum, they were working on more classifications at one time. Did that get scuttled for the new updated look they are working on?

I thought the main attraction to that forum was being able to tag the pictures with the name of the plant. I never could get the tagging to work, the daylilies file was never workable. I tried it the other day again and it still went no further than the "D's" I think.

Seedfork, by "Garden photos," I guess I mean photos with 2 or more plants being featured.

Oh, Seedfork, I didn't realize you'd posted both. If that forum is focused on individual plants, that's fine. Then I would request a forum focused on combinations of plants or whole gardens.

Way earlier than the Garden Show case I had posted photos to the landscape forum. Admins moved these photos to the Garden Show case section so I guess that would be one way to define the Showcase. One thing I noticed perusing the Garden Showcase is that lots of people who dont participate in any other aspect of DG have posted to the Showcase. I perceive that as a good thing and Ive wondered what caused that. I thought perhaps the ease of navigation to it since it's on the tool bar and also the popularity of Pinterest-type websites could have influenced it. I even saw one entry where (Pinterest style) they had posted photos from another gardner's Showcase under their name.

I still check the Showcase often but like you I am more interested in the long shots of beds, paths and sheds vs the close ups of individual flowers. In some cases, I was able to use the close-ups to increase my knowledge of various cultivars of plants like irises, roses or daylilies if they were labelled.

I also thought it was good that people who only have house plants are able to showcase their gardens too. But here again, I would enjoy long shots of how and where they are using the house plants.

Hi, steadycam3,
What is "pinterest"? I guess I could Google it, but then other readers wouldn't see the answer.
I agree that there ought to be a place for single flower shots. There are many forums for single flowers, but not enough. Why not have a forum dedicated to that?

LAS

Pinterest is a site where you have your own area to "pin" any photo off any site that you like or are interested in or would like to save for future reference. Some people use it to pin ideas they see that they might like to implement some day. Others might just pin something because it is beautiful or inspiring. It is meant to be used anyway the person wants to use it. Anyone can pin anything from anyone's site on Pinterest or from any place on the web.

No, I did not mean to imply that the tagging was for single plants. You could have many plants in one picture, the neat thing was that you were suppose to be able to tag each one of them so their name would appear and you could know what the plants were. I tried it on several occasions and it was helping me to learn the names of the plants, but I found it very hard to use and several listings did not function correctly.

This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 3:09 PM

For an example of labelling, you may refer to my Garden Showcases, if you like.

LAS, I started the What's for Dinner thread series, and generally try to steer the conversation back to that topic, but occasionally someone really derails it :-). Long story short, no. If there's a good way, we haven't yet found it.

Maybe there could be an alias person posting, with a name like "000", without any identification at all (perhaps someone like Terry or Melody), who could issue a Back on Track request.

Anyone posting on the thread can ask the straying person to open a new thread for that topic. Just like in real meetings, people free associate and get off track. It is what we do in normal conversation all the time. I actually hate meetings at work for this very reason. Big time waster in my opinion. When people are together to solve a problem, it requires someone to keep the meeting on track. On DG, I think people are more apt to behave like they do in casual conversation rather than in a business meeting. It is, after all, where people go to relax and enjoy. That said, I was asked once on a forum, to start a new thread, and I was not offended. I think "do it the way YOU would want to be dealt with if YOU got off track". It's just a part of learning to relate on line. I think technology is new enough that we are still trying to find our way when it comes to etiquette. Communication is not easy but worth learning. Something like, Spot and Fluffy, would ya'll mind starting a new thread for your topic. It's a good thread and no one would ever be able to find it under "recipes".

We've gotten push-back when we've tried to move entire, intact threads to a more suitable forum. While we encourage members to stay "on topic" (if there is one), we don't try to enforce it as any sort of rule. Around here, it's a lot less like a meeting, and more like a backyard barbeque.

That's what makes it a "family!"

Ya'll got any more ribs left?

This message was edited Jul 16, 2013 9:45 AM

Steadycam3, you have good ideas, and maybe for a lot of threads this is worth trying, but in my example, the whole thread is "what's for dinner?" within the Recipes forum. Terry makes a new version of it (What's for dinner 44, for example). So it would be hard for folks to have their postings moved.

But I think I might post something to that thread just politely making my reactions known.... I'll cogitate on it.

The other piece of my posting, the "Garden Showcases" hasn't received as much attention here. Now I'm thinking, might we have a second forum called "Garden Showcases II" (That's a Roman numeral 'two...') where the purpose of the forum at the top is explicitly specified to include pictures of the way plants work together? All pictures need at least two plants?

Actually.... "Don't respond to this here. I'll put a new post in Dave's Garden with a more explicit title.

And as I'm typing, I'm wondering... Maybe I'll just make a new post of my own in "recipes," explaining why I'd like a second one. That way the first one wouldn't be disturbed at all..... Hmmmm...

Thanks, you all, for your input!!

Thanks all!

LAS, the thing that makes us humans messy, disorganized and un-herd-able is the very thing we cherish because that is where our creativity lies. To think outside the box, which is highly valued in problem solving is not possible if we always follow the rules. We all struggle with it. Some of us lean one way and others of us lean the opposite. Somewhere amidst the chaos, we finally find that 3rd solution, the one that is not either, or but somewhere on the wide spectrum that allows us to get along. Sometimes the answer is "all of the above."

Las14, you may have the answer there. When the posts get too far off the topic just start a new post, and like you say, even state why you are starting a new post and maybe be specific in what you would like for the subject to stick too. . I think that would be fine with everyone. It would be interesting to see how long it takes for the topic to get completely off track again and how many replies you get.

Thanks to you folks, I did it. I made a new "Dinnertime!" thread in Recipes. I'll let you know what happens.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1325433/