This thread is pretty old already, but anyway… Sometimes these 2-3 people aren’t driving trollies or anything, but they are pushing out others who may also want to talk on the topic or they force the topic in one direction where fewer posts would allow a broader discussion. I like the trend in the last couple of months for discussions to break into two where one side issue is taking up a lot of the thread (say, MRAs vs. gun control vs. specific discussion about the actual topic). Having a second thread without an expiry date gives a third option aside from letting a comment or sub-discussion stay or deleting it. Rather than saying “go away, you’re derailing”, you get this:
You’re still welcome to talk and you aren’t being ignored; this is just basic housekeeping and allowing a discussion that usually gets derailed to keep going (this may be an unfortunate example as the conversation pretty much died shortly afterwards). I like Sun Tsu’s quote:
“When you surround the enemy
Always allow them an escape route.
They must see that there is
An alternative to death.”
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Cloud Hands edition
I’d interpret this statement in this context as giving someone an honourable way out - if they don’t start their own discussion, they literally have no justification for feeling bitter. If others make similar posts, they are directed to the second thread and the basic discussion can continue without interruption. The various flagging options and option to start a new topic are great for this, imho.
WRT the discussion in question, I think one of the problems was that discussions on BB usually go in all sorts of directions and usually involve quite a bit of questioning the premise of the OP. With gender, there are specific directions that these discussions always seem to go, and (here for example) some people disagree on whether DV is better explained as a result of patriarchy or in less gendered terms. It’s not necessarily off-topic, but it’s not a bad idea to nip this in the bud before it takes over the discussion. On the other hand, placing too many limits can kill a discussion, as you can end up with the statement “Men abuse women because of patriarchy. Any other opinion is off topic and will be deleted”. At that point, there’s very little left to discuss. I’m not sure what the answer is here; the relatively unmoderated and polarised threads about gun control recently don’t give me much confidence that a completely free discussion would be that helpful either.
