Just a thought; is it possible to hide off topic posts in a thread if they're appropriately marked with the symbol? We all know of threads that get a bit side-tracked but still have useful contributions once one's trawled through the inane dross/funny interludes.
It is possible but will require a bit of work to do, and thus would need to be added to the list of future developments when looking into improvements on the forums in the future. Cheers for the suggestion
symbol?