Parsing vs. derail

July 18, 2011 7:19 AM

This request for sources on a comment I made is valid, but I don't want to derail the thread. Could it be appropriate to put sources and specifics in here, and let the thread continue on the content of the post?
posted by dragonsi55 to Etiquette/Policy at 7:19 AM (21 comments total)

No, starting a Metatalk to toss out a response to a question in the context of the thread is overkill bifurcation of the conversation; if something really needs to come here, it's fine to make a post about it and explain why, but as just casual splitting of the conversation it's too much.

Your practical responses:

- add a comment with the cites but leave it at that and maybe just step away if it's looking like it's turning into a derail after all

- send mefimail to the user or users you're directly conversing/arguing with so that you can talk about it without taking up space in the thread, if you're concerned that any engagement about it in the thread is going to make for a derail

- drop it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:24 AM on July 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

The thread is a day old and doesn't have a whole lot of comments. I don't know why it wouldn't be more appropriate to post them there.
posted by phunniemee at 7:24 AM on July 18, 2011

Thanks, will do.
posted by dragonsi55 at 7:55 AM on July 18, 2011

Why not just ask on Askme?
posted by Ideefixe at 11:30 AM on July 18, 2011

Why not who ask what?
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:37 AM on July 18, 2011

Where?
posted by found missing at 11:43 AM on July 18, 2011

MetaFilter: Third base!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:46 AM on July 18, 2011

Can I derail this thread?
posted by infini at 12:05 PM on July 18, 2011

Can you or should you? The answers to those are different.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:12 PM on July 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: Can I derail this thread?
posted by nooneyouknow at 12:14 PM on July 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

So it turns out cortex is my fourth-grade teacher.

May I go to the bathroom?
posted by griphus at 12:26 PM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would have appreciated a heads up about this Meta, dragonsi55, not just a note in the thread itself.
posted by jokeefe at 12:47 PM on July 18, 2011

Just, you know, by the way.
posted by jokeefe at 12:48 PM on July 18, 2011

Definitely naming my next Metal Band "Overkill Bifurcation." Just FYI.
posted by TomMelee at 12:54 PM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can I derail this thread?

If you have to ask, the answer is no.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:24 PM on July 18, 2011

infini: "Can I derail this thread?"

Come here and have some punch.
posted by zarq at 1:33 PM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

So you wanted examples of what you started a post about excluded from the thread? That is asinine.
posted by longsleeves at 1:47 PM on July 18, 2011

So it turns out cortex is my fourth-grade teacher.

May I go to the bathroom?

Sam Krichinsky: In the old days, if you had to pee, you peed on a tree - with no "may" or "can". That's progress.
posted by Bonzai at 2:50 PM on July 18, 2011

I want a shirt that says "Derail This Thread."
posted by SMPA at 3:48 PM on July 18, 2011

zarq that link rocks. Today was monday night and a friend texted me after 10pm for 'coffee' but we ended up in a gay bar where i got the full details of his threesome from the night before. whoa a derail! but what a derail!

No. the t-shirt really should say "Can I eat this?" and be this icky green which will make me look like a tree since the rest of me is brown.
posted by infini at 3:58 PM on July 18, 2011

[Wondering if a mod might close this up? Given that the original thread posted was about rape victims, all this flippancy seems extra crass, even for MetaTalk.]
posted by bluedaisy at 9:55 PM on July 18, 2011