# Topic Hijacking is getting rampant!

**URL:** <https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217>\
**Category:** Meta\
**Tags:** guidelines, off-topic, hijacking\
**Created:** [May 5, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217 "2017-05-05T16:47:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DanRathbun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/danrathbun/32/500_2.png) [@DanRathbun](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DanRathbun)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/1 "2017-05-05T16:47:58Z")

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I am getting weary of seeing the guidelines ignored especially by forum sages, **who should know better by now**.

* * *

In the following topic discussing the value of and use cases for extension signatures :  
[What is the value of a current signature on an extension? - #20 by RTCool](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-is-the-value-of-a-current-signature-on-an-extension/43911/20)  
the thread was hijacked from post 20 on down.  
I flagged it for admin to prune off into a new topic.  
But feel post 20 should have flagged by the readers as off-topic, and ignored, so that the poster would be notified by the Discourse system to clean it up.  
At the least, the sages could have link-replied in a new topic thread. Instead more and more sages chimed in “off-topically” and a secondary off-topic discussion about pruning this hijack thread is also begun in that thread.

_Moving my responce from that here:_

> [@What is the value of a current signature on an extension?](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/what-is-the-value-of-a-current-signature-on-an-extension/43911/29):
>
> (sigh) I have already flagged admin to prune off the off-topic thread when it was only 4 / 5 posts long. (Now it’s double the size.) I feel that the first off-topic post should have been flagged as off-topic by sages and ignored, then the poster would have been notified by the system so they could clean it up. But instead, we have at least 4 sages contributing to the off-topic mess.

* * *

In the following thread about whether there are or should be new major SketchUp features :  
[No more new features? - #91](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/no-more-new-features/37534/91)  
the thread is hijacked at post 91, and I had to flag **14** posts as off-topic, 6 of which were by a sage.  
This 14 post mini-thread has nothing to do which the subject, and is about a user’s specific model needs.  
I need to say that this is the fault of @DaveR who as a sage should have replied in a new linked topic.

* * *

It does not matter to me if you are sage or not, a friend or foe. If you earn a flag, I’ll not hesitate to give it. (In fact I’ve flagged SketchUp Team members, some more than once, for breaking the guidelines.)

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**Author:** ![DaveR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/daver/32/7601_2.png) [@DaveR](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DaveR)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/2 "2017-05-05T16:50:10Z")

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Mea culpa, mea culpa.

I’ll try to avoid posting in the future.

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**Author:** ![DanRathbun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/danrathbun/32/500_2.png) [@DanRathbun](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DanRathbun)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/3 "2017-05-05T17:06:17Z")

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> [@DaveR](#):
>
> I’ll try to avoid posting in the future.

**PLEASE** , … Just avoid off-topic posting.

Instead, use the link button, and the [**+ New Topic**] (“Reply as linked topic”) button on it’s popup panel.

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**Author:** ![Anssi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/anssi/32/105_2.png) [@Anssi](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Anssi)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/4 "2017-05-05T17:10:06Z")

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I confess, too. I have been looking for the “Reply as linked topic” button but missed its location. Now I will try to remember.

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**Author:** ![DanRathbun](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/danrathbun/32/500_2.png) [@DanRathbun](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/DanRathbun)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/5 "2017-05-05T17:24:48Z")

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[details=IE: the “Reply as linked topic” button location …][quote=“Anssi, post:4, topic:44217”]  
I have been looking for the “Reply as linked topic” button but missed its location.  
[/quote]

It was moved.

When the SketchUp forum was first implemented with Discourse, it had it’s own major button.  
But a few months in, the Discourse folks moved it into the link (“chain” button) panel.

(I just guess that newbies didn’t know what it was for, or were starting linked threads that shouldn’t have been linked. Ie, they thought it was the same as the main “New Topic” button at the top of each category.)[/details]

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/f/2/f2a121500b085ed60806607a82720b092d800bb3.png) [@system](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 9:02am UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/topic-hijacking-is-getting-rampant/44217/6 "2017-08-05T09:02:56Z")

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Closed on August 5, 2017, 9:02am UTC

This topic was automatically closed after 91 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
