Manton's Law - Page 4

If Y and Z are known to not be X and not to be related to X, that's one thing. So are trolls who just deliberately derail things. If A, B, and C are unknown and can be shown to be equal or equivalent to X, then the thread is still about X because being about X implies that it is about A/B/C and vice versa. However, even if A, B, and C are shown to not be X, the determination of that is still about X.

Addressing the question of definition when ambiguity is present - considering only the reason of a lack of specificity within the thread and not that the person posting has not taken the time to familiarize themselves with all of the information previously presented within the thread - is entirely valid. Since this ambiguity will almost certainly be present given the vagaries of natural language communication, this seems like what you are saying is that "Because there is ambiguity in the definition of X, examples of things which are not X arise in a discussion about X."

Inferred suspicion; Acridsheep drives a Vespa.

While the Peacock thread may have a miss or hundred, it certainly has not become a WAYWRN free-for-all.

Also, what is left/right winged?

One persons X is a Y for someone else, or a D or a Z or A. Hence the problem.

Good.

Also... use the powers bestowed upon you. You can delete posts. You can say "hey, stop talking about this or it will be deleted" and then delete the posts if they continue. Maybe some people will get bent out of shape about it, but I bet after a little while the thread has fewer de-railings and fewer BS posts.

This is really the Style Forum Corollary of Godwin's Law rather than O'Sullivan's.

"As an SF thread grows longer, the probability of someone posting a fit featuring a matching tie and pocket square approaches 1."

I think we need a "good taste" thread for cars.

I heard about this in the Fast Track to Business Books audiotapes I listen to every day on the way to work. Bill Gates originally postulated this thread derailing behavior happened in internet forums as part of his "Broken Windows" theory.

But I though he said this was the most important time to clean and monitor threads? Otherwise, it becomes acceptable to graffiti threads and people start becoming pro-abortion and the crime rate falls.

And I don't mean to brag, but since the precedent has already been set: I also own an accord as a secondary driver/garage queen. These are my "dailys":

Liking cars is in bad taste (seriously).

Who are you(?)

And a Cayman S is, of course, always in good taste.