[Python-ideas] A bit meta

[Random832]

Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> writes:
> How do you change the subject line to indicate that the topic has
> drifted (or is a spin-off), while still appropriately quoting the
> previous post?

You're free to quote any post anywhere, even if you make a new
thread. In general to do this you have to start your reply in the
original thread, then copy/paste the quote markup (which includes a
magic link to the post you are quoting) into the post new thread form.

It would be interesting to make a forum with a "spin-off thread"
feature, which would automate the placement of the reply in a new thread
and a note in the old thread with a link to the new one.

But in most cases this can't be automated because on better-managed
forums once a digression has grown large enough to need a separate
thread, the forum's moderators will move earlier posts about it
(originally made in the first thread) to the new thread. (it might be
interesting to make a forum that provides a way to have a post live in
two different threads at the same time)