mattmatt32

Is there a term for when a web page's "Comments" section goes immediately off topic, such as when the most frequent posters just chat with each other through the comments forum, or trade jokes? I don't just mean the occurrence of "firsties" posts, though they are usually there, too.

One place I noticed this was at the AV section of "The Onion". I will read a recap/review of a TV show, or a review of a movie, and will have to skim through dozens of unrelated comments until I can actually get to some feedback that was written about the article.

For example, here is the review of "Inglourious Basterds": http://www.avclub.com/articles/inglourious-basterd... . It isn't until the 23rd comment that someone actually gives their opinion about the review or the movie itself.

So is there a term for this? I wanted to see if any articles had been written about the phenomenon, but I don't know what term to use.