Jamie,

Since I'm guilty of "hijacking" threads, at times. I thought I might offer the following. When I insert a comment that changes the subject it is normally because I'm wanting to direct a question or comment to a specific person and since the auto-notification feature should notify that person, I'm reassured that they will read my comment to them. An alternative would be to email the person directly, but if I do that then others cannot "insert" their response, which might be more informative or better researched than the person I've responded to.

Though the ideal of not hijacking threads should be observed, might it also be forgivable, if at the very least, the Subject Line is changed notifying readers that the subject of the message is NOT in common with the rest of or the main topic of the thread?

Ken Holcombe got a little testy with me earlier this week, because "I" had hijacked the "Abraham Lincoln" thread with an admittedly off-subject posting directed antagonistically at someone, Ken openly admires. As Ken stated, he thought he was reading a thread on Abraham Lincoln and was shocked at what he had gotten himself into. I presume, had Ken had some warning, by a subject line change, clearly notifying the reader of the change of direction of a branch of the thread, he would have been less surprised by the content of the resulting messages/sub-thread.

So, in a nutshell, I'm asking if you feel comfortable with a stated ideal of not "hijacking" threads, but if their is a change of subject, making it clear in the subject line?

Jim