Why are threads about threads not allowed?

[curlew]

Just the really. Never understood it, personally.

[AlbertGiordinHoHoho]

Is this a thread about a thread (about a thread (about a thread))?

[ButThereAgain]

It always used to be an informal matter of etiquette, cited by users themselves, rather than a formal HQ prohibition. And everyone understood that what it meant was not that threads about threads were forbidden but that threads newly started to rehash antagonisms on other threads were poor form -- you were told to raise your points on the original thread itself (which in those days was very likely not a deleted thread).

Then newer people gradually started to misunderstand it and imagine that for some reason the very notion of one thread about another thread was unacceptable.

Not it seems that HQ make that mistake too.

[DeckTheHallsWithBoughsOfHorry]

My understanding is that freds about freds are a bit like carrying on a conversation with not all the participants present - so just a bit rude and possibly divisive rather than anything else.

Spinoff threads are a different matter though.

[AnAdventureInCakeAndWine]

The guidelines don't even say that you can't have a thread about a thread. They say "If a thread is deleted, please resist the temptation to start a new one repeating and rehashing everything that has been deleted". They say (AFAICS) nothing at all about threads about non-deleted threads.

It's perfectly possible to have a thread about a thread without its repeating and rehashing everything that has been deleted.

[Fairenuff]

There are loads of thread about threads actually. Some of them have been going for years.

[Golddigger]

What about a thread about a thread about a thread about a thread about a thread about a thread....
[that was fun to type. Theraputic!]

[garlicbaubles]

Can I just hijack this thread to say how much I enjoyed "Message from MNHQ: Thread deleted for and reasons."