In article , Janet Tweedy
wrote:

In article , Stan The Man
writes

And no excuse for poor netiquette.


I use Turnpike Stan and that allows me to see which posts are being sent
in reply to which postings so if the thread goes off topic on one line I
can usually see if anyone posts in direct reply to the original enquiry
rather than responding to the off topic bits.
I don't know if OE can do this, but it is certainly useful in picking
out the main points and saves me time sometimes.

No, everything is very linear on Mac newsreaders: if following a
thread, every article has to be opened in order to determine its
content/relevance. But there are other advantages...

Sometimes I'm afraid I rather enjoy the discussion, off topic doesn't
necessarily mean NOT about gardening

All I ask is a compromise -- that someone pursuing an off-topic
discussion has the courtesy to start a new thread with an appropriate
subject, eg "OT: Naturism (was Hosepipe Ban)". This is the universally
adopted guideline for the rest of usenet and I can't see why it's such
an issue.

I use this group as I would a social chat, if the discussion becomes
over my head or about something else entirely I drift away and look for
better topics

janet