Does this mean they're asserting dominance?

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Reading some NT forums I'm in, I just noticed a weird thing going on all the time.

A newbie or someone unpopular will post a new topic, and the clique of most popular posters (usually the meanest, most sarcastic and venomous ones) will start to "chat" with each other in that thread. They'll just do small-talk that has nothing to do with the topic. Like "Hi, how's your day going" and "Fine thanks gonna BBQ some burgers", etc.

1. Only the most popular posters do it.

2. They make sure the thread goes totally off topic.

3. Their small-talk "crowds out" other posters because there's nothing to respond to except the original post that might have gotten lost four or five pages back.

4. They only do it to new or unpopular posters. They never do it to each other's topics.

So do you agree with me when I think that they're doing this to assert their dominance over the forum's other members?

Do they consciously think, "Hey it's time to take that new guy down a peg and piss on his post with my buddies" or do they do it unconsciously by some sort of pack instinct?

yeah sounds like something a devious nt would do.

It sounds like a way to attack someone without making personal attacks or otherwise attracting moderator attention.

Sounds like a pretty common way to avoid including someone.

Not everything is done consciously

Bands of monkeys may distrust a new monkey

New monkeys are not always aware of group think protocols

sometimes they are, but dont care anyways

Which is also an assertion of dominance.........................

Dogs lift their tails to horizontal, this is not only visual, but allows their butt odours to permeate the surrounding air

It seems as though they were both dominating and avoiding you. It's happened to me many times.

Someone here used the term "bonding through exclusion" - I think it fits the behaviour you're describing.

Or maybe they're just oversocialised postwhores.

Humans. Will they ever grow up? Dominance games belong to animals and children. Adults who play these games need to grow up and act like adults, not children.

Who knows what goes on in their heads? The important thing is that they are guilty of excluding you. It might help to make a post complaining about it - referring to it as "bonding through exclusion" (as somebody has here) might embarrass them out of their bad ways.....I got rid of a troll here just by telling him to stop trolling, so maybe there's hope. If they don't know what they're doing, you're helping them discover themselves. If they do, then at least it's a slap in the face for them. I'd be ready to cut and run though, if they outnumber you.

I believe it happens here too. Perhaps people do it unconsciously. I believe that some people dislike a thread, and may derail it.

Maybe it's not asserting dominance as such. But asserting that they think the original intent of the thread is of little value.

I'm sure I've done this before.

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