I've been noticing what happens to some of our threads in spite of our best intentions and I believe that drift, hijack temper flares, etc are all the fault of Murphy. So I have begun formulating, and subsequently postulating, Murphy's Laws of Threads. I will begin with a few of the more obvious.

1) All threads will take on a life of their own far beyond what the OP intended.

2) Even this most innocuous thread will piss someone off.

3) If you have examined the thread topic and determined that there are 5 ways it could derail and take measures to prevent those 5 ways, a new and unforseen 6th way will appear and cause thread derailment.

4) A wiseass will always pop up in a serious thread to derail it, usually with consequences. This is a corollary to Law #2.

5) The goofiest thread topic will result in the longest lived thread.

6) Any decision made by staff, mods or admin will be subject to criticism, condemnation and ridicule. Corollary: if said decision is not subjected to criticism, condemnation or ridicule, it is clearly wrong!!

And as always: Murphy was an optimist.