Evan Prodromou
So, changing the subject is inherently hostile. You're telling someone that the topic they want to discuss doesn't matter, and you're going to hijack their thread -- and their reach -- to talk about something you care about instead.
I think it makes sense when replying to powerful people who are not paying attention to an urgent crisis -- telling a politician that Black Lives Matter, or telling an oil executive that climate change is real. This is good and necessary work.
Evan Prodromou
You can also do it to less powerful people, but realize that it's hostile and you're likely to get negative reactions. When the maintainer of your favourite Open Source software package posts their vacation photos, it's a bad time to try to get them to look at your bug report.
Evan Prodromou
If you have something you want to talk to a friend about ("this reminds me that I wanted to talk to you about..."), they might understand, but it sure is a lot nicer to just send a DM, or start a new public or followers-only thread.
If you're talking to a stranger, and it's not your goal to be hostile, don't do it.
I'd say: rarely.
Brooke Vibber :blobcatcoffee:
@evan hehe this poll wasn't about what i thought it was about :D
Evan Prodromou
@brooke honestly I really thought "changing the subject" was a common idiom and clear in context but apparently not!
Evan Prodromou
@dneary there's an implicit "Who cares?" at the beginning of every reply that changes the subject.
Dave Neary
@evan Wow! Self-awareness trigger for me. I do this frequently, and had never considered it hostile. I will need to calibrate based on this perspective.
Brooke Vibber :blobcatcoffee:
@evan i think using "subject" (a term of art in computer posting) and "post" (also a term of art in computer posting) together confused me :D
Evan Prodromou
@brooke no, absolute fair. I really should have whistled this question.
Evan Prodromou
@dneary perfectly reasonable! Do you notice at all when people do it with you?
Dave Neary
@evan I had never thought about it like this.
Archnemysis
@evan you definitely have given me something to think about. I chose often, but I think that’s because I look at the social web more like a party. Yes, it is rude to respond to someone’s statement and completely ignore what was said and start something unrelated. But part of what makes conversation happen is the ebb and flow. If I were having a conversation in real life, I wouldn’t walk away from one conversation to start talking about a different subject they might be interested in
Evan Prodromou
@Archnemysis Oh, absolutely. I think what I'm most concerned about is changes of subject that just ignore what someone brought out and skip straight to your own priorities. Uncool!
Evan Prodromou
@Archnemysis I definitely think it's less of a big deal when you include the OP in the topic, and you do it in a way that flows from what they just posted. When they put up photos of their vacation to Greece, and you ask, "Wow, didn't you say you were going to Spain next year?", that's not really hijacking their thread. Collaboration and continuity.
Evan Prodromou
@dneary ha! No, it's fine. We're friends.
Dave Neary
@evan I did it again, didn't I? Sorry.
Dave Neary
@evan Incidentally, the point was about setting incentives to get the results you want. Paul Doumer's Indochinese government offered a bounty for dead rats, but only required the tail as proof of death. They immediately saw two phenomena: tailless rats and rat farms. 150 Vietnamese died in a Bubonic plague outbreak at the time.
Dave Neary
@evan It took several minutes for us to figure out why the side story was related to the thing we were trying to figure out before.
Dave Neary
@evan One example comes to mind where I was talking to someone about measuring progress towards a goal and started telling a story about a rat problem in Hanoi in 1902-03. There was a connection, but by the time I finished the story, I had forgotten where we started.
Dave Neary
@evan I do not, usually. I just roll with the new subject. I do have occasional leaps that make me think that a new subject is related to the old one.
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