[dogscoff]

I still think we should have a boarding party thread. It would go something like this:

The boarding party thread itself (the one on Shrapnel) would be nothing more than a list of URLs. I'll call this the master bp thread to avoid confusion. No conversation at all would be permitted in the master bp thread, except where it relates to the technicalities of the boarding concept.

-Each day, a different boarding party member shall be nominated "hijacker" according to some not-yet-devised system.

-The hijacker will then post to the master bp thread the URL of a random public forum, preferably one with absolutely no connection to se4 whatsoever. That will be the "host forum" for that day. Any forum, whatever its topic (gardening, buddhism, motorbikes, the A-Team, 19th Century bridge-building, anything) is fair game.

-The hijacker must then open a new "Off Topic: Boarding Party" thread in the host forum. Remember this is different from the master bp thread.

-The day's party will be held in the new, non-Shrapnel Boarding Party thread. Anyone wanting to take part in the boarding party must follow the URL in the master bp thread to the hijacked forum and post there, preferably picking up the previous day's conversation without interruption (just to make it all the more confusing for any hijacked-forum regulars who happen to stumble in=-)

-We would have to observe certain rules, so as to minimise the aggravation caused to regulars of host forums:

1- Wherever possible, the hijacker must place the thread in an appropriate area (ie one labelled "off topic" or "general chat") and label the thread as "Off Topic".

2- The Boarding Party thread in a host forum may only be active for one day - 24 hours after the first post to a Boarding Party thread (with the exception of the master bp thread, of course), that thread must be considered out of bounds to all boarding party members. If we can get a friendly host moderator to shut the thread down for us (assuming it survived that long at all) then so much the better.

3- A Boarding Party member may only post to the Boarding Party thread in a host forum. All other threads on that forum are out of bounds unless (a) the member is already a regular in the hijacked forum or (b) the forum regulars specifically invite bp members to post elsewhere.

4- Boarding Party members shall at all times be polite and jovial with host forum regulars, no matter how provoking their flames, threats and taunts. No swearing, unless that is clearly the norm on that forum, and don't be disrespectful to the host forum's topic. We are guests at their party, after all (albeit uninvited ones).

Remember, as long as we are polite and keep to our own off-topic thread we aren't really doing anything wrong by posting to public forums. If ppl start to complain about us being off-topic, we just start token conversations about whatever the forum requires. Topic-drift will soon bring us back round to whatever we were talking about.

I think most host forum regulars will either (a) not realise what's going on in time or (b) have enough of a sense of humour to accept us for just one day. Any regulars who still get upset are to be politely made aware of our code of practise and placated with the fact that it will all be over by tomorrow. Furthermore, any like-minded individuals from invaded forums are welcome to join us in our forum-hopping, gate-crashing adventures. With luck we can snowball this into an infamous, parasitic, uncontrollable web-wide scourge and party our way into internet legend=-)