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3.0 KiB
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20 lines
3.0 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>topic drift</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../T.html" title="T"/><link rel="previous" href="top-post.html" title="top-post"/><link rel="next" href="topic-group.html" title="topic group"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">topic drift</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="top-post.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">T</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="topic-group.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="topic-drift"/><dt xmlns="" id="topic-drift"><b>topic drift</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Term used on GEnie, Usenet and other electronic fora to describe the
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tendency of a <a href="thread.html"><i class="glossterm">thread</i></a> to drift away from the original
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subject of discussion (and thus, from the Subject header of the originating
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message), or the results of that tendency. The header in each post can be
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changed to keep current with the posts, but usually isn't due to
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forgetfulness or laziness. A single post may often result in several posts
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each responding to a different point in the original. Some subthreads will
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actually be in response to some off-the-cuff side comment, possibly
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degenerating into a <a href="../F/flame-war.html"><i class="glossterm">flame war</i></a>, or just as often
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evolving into a separate discussion. Hence, discussions aren't really so
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much threads as they are trees. Except that they don't really have leaves,
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or multiple branching roots; usually some lines of discussion will just
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sort of die off after everyone gets tired of them. This could take
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anywhere from hours to weeks, or even longer.</p><p>The term ‘topic drift’ is often used in gentle reminders
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that the discussion has strayed off any useful track. “<span class="quote">I think we
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started with a question about Niven's last book, but we've ended up
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discussing the sexual habits of the common marmoset. Now
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<span class="emphasis"><em>that's</em></span> topic drift!</span>”</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="top-post.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../T.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="topic-group.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">top-post </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> topic group</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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