Before permanently closing
Some abiogenesis considerations, I've posted some topic
post mortem comments. Some might wish to comment on those comments, here in this topic.
Oddly, not responding at all is in error as is stating over and over to remain on topic.
Percy/Admin really frowns upon members acting as formal moderators, and indeed doing such can be problematic. But to some degree (IMO) such is sometimes needed.
Now, if there is some on-topic message content, a member can properly reply to that content, and then say "the other content is off-topic". RAZD is pretty good at this, including supplying links to relevant topics.
Now, the case of the totally off-topic message. Ideally, an admin will flag it as being off-topic, and maybe even "hide" the content. But admins are not omniscient, omnipotent, etc., and may well not get the job done in time for it to really help. As such, ideally members should still recognize the message as being irrelevant and thus not respond to it.
BUT, the ultimate judgment of on-topic vs. off-topic probably must fall upon a formally designated moderator (aka an admin). And for whatever reason, and admin may not get that job done. Then there's the problem of members noticing and heeding the admin message.
Or something like that.
Adminnemooseus