Dig Channels Instead Of Raising Dams

MichaelFeathers redirecting BradAppleton's comments from XpFreeZone:

: Is there no realistic possibility of respectfully asking potential page contributors to be mindful of being especially combative or antagonistic while discussing strengths and weaknesses of the ideas therein (or else expanding those to a separate page)? Does it necessarily become more of an issue of censorship and control rather than simply of courtesy or respect? Is there a way to do this that manages to DigChannelsInsteadOfRaisingDams? --BradAppleton

So you move their comments elsewhere (Ive done this before myself). Then do you delete all subsequent comments on the other page (or have you been doing that unintentionally, unaware of the fact that youve removed my last two followups on each of these pages)? Do you continue to move all such comments over to one or more other pages? Doesnt that eventually start to seem equally controlling? Does it actually prevent others from continuing to add more discussion along the undesired lines back to the original page? If not, then doesnt the underlying problem (and the question of whether its feasible to make a respectful request) still remain?

Might it not be advisable to throw in a few words with the new page reference to explicitly clue someone in that something was moved, or (if it was deleted entirely) removed? Leaving no indication of what's happened seems likely to offend IMHO, making the person feel they're being treated like one of Pavlov's dogs instead of as a person deserving the courtesy of an acknowledgement. --BDA

Definitely advisable to throw in a few words. Not doing so would be discourteous. It might also be ineffective as someone might presume that the remove/moved part had been accidentally stepped on.

If the discussion was diverted off a path someone wanted to pursue, either branch (maybe even both) might be moved to a new page. I think which depends a lot on the context and what makes the best natural fit. (Whatever that means. Various issues have previously been raised in other discussions about renaming and otherwise refactoring Wiki pages.) Whichever is chosen, the "pointer" left behind should be stated in a positive manner, focusing more on the desired direction the discussion should follow on the page than on what is off limits. --KielHodges

Good way to deal with ConversationalChaff and allows continuation of the interests of the originator and the diverter.

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