tasadam wrote:Keeping replies on topic.
I would like to make a reminder about rule 21 -
Keep replies relevant to the subject of the initial post. If you wish to change the subject, consider posting a new topic separately, and linking to it from the old topic.
Several posts about leaf blowers here have been split off into a new topic, viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13659
Sorry if I missed any, the topic is 5 pages long and it's Saturday morning...
If the moderation team were to split all posts from topics on this forum just because they are off topic, they wouldn't have time to go walking (or do anything else).
However, occasionally, some off-topic replies get reported and so we are compelled to take the time to read the topic, get a grip on what it's about, find posts that don't fit, find another place for them and move them (or remove them completely), and wait for the backlash of people accusing us of over-moderation.
The rules are designed so that if they were followed, moderation would hardly be necessary.
Reminder (with a touch of rant) over. 
Agreed and apologies for my rambling. But forum posting is usually a response to a section of a reply to a response to a section of a response to a reply to a quoted section of a reply ....etc, so branching (irrelevant) responses are always going to be part of the beauty and ugliness of forum correspondence.
If it is necessary to read backwards 6 (or more) responses from your last post before replying to ensure you are still on-topic then it may be necessary to modify the forum rules but especially the "Inform me when someone replies to this forum" email option.
I click on the link and reply to the post that is displayed from the email, I don't always read backwards to make sure I'm still on-topic or even sometimes to verify which topic I'm on.
I have been on some topics that stray
wildly from their original theme with no moderator intervention so I suspect it's only those that cause
some sort of offence to
some members that are moderated. Would it be unreasonable to suggest that reader personal offence is as great a cause of moderator intervention as genuine infringement? I would certainly want to increase the Mods walking time over Web Time.
I'm kinda new here so sorry if I'm kicking a few shins.
That being said, the Mods do a great job and I'm certainly not offended if I get pulled occasionally. Just be aware that it's the nature of the forums (and human nature) to stray.
cheers
Steve