It really helps discussions if you start a new topic to ask a new (or only slightly-related) question. Likewise, keeping discussion about a subject in one topic is also helpful.
You'll notice I've been splitting the odd topics recently... ;)
Even if it's connected to the previous question?
Carole
If it's asking for elaboration on an earlier answer then it's continuing the discussion and should stay in the same thread... up to a point. The longer a discussion gets the more difficult it becomes to go back to it later and find information. You can see the questions I've split out of the monster Digital Photography thread. They were obvious new distinct questions. The rest of it is less easy to split up, but it might well have been easier if there'd been one about connecting a camera to a laptop, and another about what processing software to use, and so on. I'm kind-of hoping someone will extract the useful information and write some "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions" articles. The trick is to figure out which question is being asked... ;)
There is a loose, badly formed and very high level plan to extract key info from the forum and store it elsewhere for future reference. Breaking the threads down now, while we're working on them, means less work unravelling questions and answers, and tips in the future.
Well, that's the plan as it stands today anyway. Tomorrow may well be different...
I am (slowly) working on a bunch of pages with all kinds of basic information on how to do astrophotography for my own website, with graphics, etc. You are more than welcome to have them once they are done.
well it's daft if we're all doing to same thing independently. I set up a Wiki yesterday to play with. I like Wikis. I'll post a link here, but at the moment there is no info in it...
Stop hijacking my thread. Go away you bunch of reprobates. You're like a crowd of Carole clones.
QuoteYou're like a crowd of Carole clones
Oi!! I'm turning over a new leaf.
Quote from: Mike on Feb 27, 2010, 11:01:14
Finally after hunting for over a year I have found somewhere that can provide a replacement worn and gear set for my damaged EQ6.
Quote from: Mike on Jun 06, 2010, 15:51:49
Although my mount is now working perfectly again. A problem has now arisen on the camera.
Quote from: Mike on Jun 09, 2010, 21:42:56
Stop hijacking my thread. Go away you bunch of reprobates. You're like a crowd of Carole clones.
Pot.................................Kettle ;)
Tony G
QuoteOi!! I'm turning over a new leaf.
Doing some gardening then Carole ;)
Surely posting stuff in your own thread is not hijacking?!
Well... technically... (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=2650.0)
My point is the first two quotes of Tony's above of mine were still on topic.
You could also argue that the problem with the mount and the problem with the camera were different topics...
But surely for a forum to work, you require people to reply to your comments, and if each comment relates to a previous one on that thread, then it would not be classed as hijacking...................................unless your name is Carole, and you answer people's comments on a forum. :D
Tony G
There are helpful comments and not so helpful ones. This thread has headed firmly into not-so-helpful territory more than once, which is less-than-ideal, particularly in this section of the forum...
:roll:
Does it really matter, this is suppose to be a club chat forum not a policitally correct court of law. This is why I often go off meandering as I can't really see why we need to be so strict.
I agree with Mike, if it's his own post he should be allowed to post things on his own thread.
Carole
N.B. Will you all stop picking on me!!! I'm getting a complex.
The thread belongs to the topic, not any particular person.*1
Sometimes threads wander, and up to a point there's no harm in it. In, say, Chat (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?board=3.0), long meandering semi-random threads are usually fine, but in the more focused sections like PC Helpline (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?board=14.0) and all the bits of the Astronomy block it makes information harder to re-discover a while down the line if the threads drift too much.
...and meta-discussions like this one are prime thread-splitting stuff, as they have absolutely nothing to do with the original topic.
*1 ...and any thread (outside Chat (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?board=3.0)) which has its topic defined as something deliberately self-referential like "My stuff" will quite likely get edited.