Here are some illustrative definitions of thread hijacking from the Urban dictionary Hijack definitions
As you, David and Eric have noted, most hijacks here are not mean spirited nor intentional. This is an issue that bedevils every forum I've ever seen. Gamers forums are notorious for it, so much so that one site has in its loading pages and the FAQ page this dire warning. The moderators dropped the kind and gentle OCF practice of moving the questions to a new thread after consistent violations.
[quote]Hijacking a thread is when you post a new question in an already established thread. It takes focus away from the original poster's question...
never hijack someone else's.
On the same token, do not bother responding to a thread hijacker. Hijacking posts and their responses will be deleted.
Hijacking is a form of spamming and is not allowed, as per the Board Rules. Up until now, the board team has been moving these posts to their own threads. From now on, however, hijacking posts and their responses will be deleted and the user who hijacked the post will need to create a new thread. Users who repeatedly hijack threads will receive infractions.
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I've been guilty of responding to hijackers, especially when i used the Active posts feature and did not scroll back to the OP so mistook the hijack for a subsequent related question. I try to be more careful since many times that is the last we ever see of the OP. Got to hand it to our wonder admins who keep the sandbox clean instead of being a kitty litter alternative.
Keep the Faith
Charm