Going off topic

@BlackWidow I agree - it can be a little frustrating at times when you have an interest (personal or not) in the original topic but I think, as others have said, that it's the same as in face-to-face conversations - they can be frustrating in the same way.  As long as people know that they can gently and respectfully pull a topic back, I think it's okay and the nature of the beast.  I posted one recently which immediately went off track from what I had intended but the comments were very valid and it wasn't so important that I needed to jump in and try to correct the course.  What you have highlighted though, is that it's important for members to realise that they can do this if they feel it's necessary as we would in a normal conversation.

I don't recall anybody complaining about this before. As @Dory65 says...it's a conversation...an electronic conversation, with multiple contributors and many detours. My verbal conversations, as well as my digital ones always go off wandering about like a lost fart in a haunted shithouse. I'm sure if the respondents got waaaay off track, someone would tell us to get it together and get back to the topic. I personally don't like it when one or other person writes something like "I've sent you a personal message" as it feels as if there is something to be said (in the group setting), where only two people know what it is that is being said. Kind of similar to a situation where in a group, two people, who can and do speak the language of all others there, suddenly start a private chit chat between themselves in a different language. Not the same as those two going off to the side to share a confidentiality, but out loud...in front of all the others there...makes me wonder what is being said and why others in the group are being overtly excluded. I'm not including occasions such as when a member posts something and an admin mentions in the post that a private message has been sent to that member.

It's a conversation. It's OK to go off-piste, take detours, reverse, park awkwardly, drive in the wrong lane and mix your metaphors B) .

I noticed this too at the beginning, but with a blog like this it’s really hard to avoid. Some women ask a question on another person’s post because they don’t know how to create their own post. Other times, we want to know how someone’s getting along from a previous situation, and it takes too long to find their original post, so we ask a quick question there. But most importantly, even if it’s someone else’s post, the questions posed and the answers received can actually help many other ladies. Some of those questions we want to ask but forget, or don’t have the time, or didn’t think of. The answers are really helpful and useful to everyone. So it’s not diminishing the importance of the original post and poster, it’s actually adding in more useful info. I’m sure all the ladies on this forum are aware that no one would intentionally impose on someone else. We’re all here to help each other.