How do you prevent derailing on threads?

[Afrodyte]

There's a pattern I've noticed in several threads I've started on this forum where instead kicking around ideas or sharing things people like or want to play, someone has to sort of contort it into a debate about statements I never made or completely ignore the actual things I said I want to talk about in order to make comments that completely undermine the purpose of a thread.

It wouldn't bother me in a thread that already has dozens or hundreds of comments, and things just naturally progressed. But it seems that I can't even get a dozen or so comments in before someone makes a comment that undermines the very purpose of creating the thread in the first place. It makes me reluctant to start conversations about anything other than mechanics, which is a shame because I like to imagine that storytelling, worldbuilding, and so on would be interesting to players and DMs.

I don't report the comments because they do fall within the guidelines of behavior for the site. No one has ever been outright nasty about any of this. I don't think anyone is being a jerk. It's just a pattern that tends to inhibit different kinds of discussions I like to have.

So, in the interest of being able to participate productively on the forums: how do I keep my threads from getting completely derailed before they start getting good?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You don't. It's a community forum, not a blog.

That said, the more focused the original post, the more likely it'll stay "on topic." If you put a lot of extraneous things into a post, you're giving them more off-topic things to respond to.

 

[Morrus]

There's no real way to do it. A thread is a conversation; although you start a conversation, you don't own it and can't control where it goes once you've started it.

That said, certain types of thread will tend to stay more focused then others. Specific rules issues; crowdsourced lists; threads whose intentions are clear in the original post. You could even make a -polite - request in your OP that folks stay on topic, though you can't enforce it.

I would definitely like to see more plot / world building threads!

 

[Afrodyte]

Ah, OK. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

The only way I can see to do it is to keep participating, stay on topic yourself, reply to on topic posts, and relate offtopic conversation back to your original topic.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Can't be done.

OTOH, kitten!

 

[diaglo]

agreeing with everyone else who has answered.
i will also add if it tends to be the same 1 or 2 people derailing over multiple of your threads with comments you can use the ignore feature under their names. it removes their posts from your sight. it will mean you don't reply or respond to their derail.