I think my biggest challenge as a student was my inability to remain on topic. I’d go to the library to work on a Limnology or Population Ecology assignment and leave at midnight with a comprehensive knowledge of Leave it to Beaver (yeah, I’m old - what are you going to do, eh?) or cantilever bridges or whatever. University libraries were pretty much an invitation to go down rabbit holes. I’m over 70 now and I’m pretty sure I’ve retained more of the extra-curricular stuff (only some of which was extremely weird) than my course material.
Okay, so I guess that was all off topic. Oh well.
What were we talking about?
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I think I’ve learned a lot by going down rabbit holes. As a kid I’d browse dictionaries or the encyclopedia and follow words and topics, starting in one place and ending up somewhere completely different. Sort of like research bushwhacking rather than sticking to a trail. I still do that on the internet especially Wikipedia.
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iNat is the ultimate rabbit hole.
We even have your actual rabbits here.
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Honestly, sometimes I find the off-topic conversations more engaging and interesting then the original subject. I’ve even been slightly disappointed when someone reminds the group they’ve drifted and need to address the original idea.
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If we must still follow this off topic policy i really feel like what is or isn’t off topic, how long it can be off topic, and consequences for going off topic need to be defined much more clearly. I feel it’s sometimes used to police the content of the discussion or shoo away dissent from moderator-favored views on debates rather than keep it on topic, and that’s really frustrating.
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I am also autistic and also diagnosed with ADHD (though I think it’s really just autism) but I find it very difficult to understand what is being talked about when I go to a thread on a specific topic and it has “moved on”
We can’t possibly accommodate everyone as much as we would like.
I don’t think “policing” is the answer in all cases either. I think the issue is, when and how far the conversation “developes” into something not directly addressing the original post.
for example: I don’t really care if this whole conversation goes completely off topic anymore, because the original post has been addressed, redundantly.
so, I guess the limits are subjective and undefinable.
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I think the OP has some responsibility, in addition to the moderators, to steer the conversation if they are not getting the discussion they wanted to initiate from their original post. The discussions that really seem to veer off track are often the ones where the OP posts a question then completely disappears.
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