Hi all,
Yesterday techguy57 (Mike) did some venting on the forum. He titled his thread OFF TOPIC and even opened the post with an off topic icon. Then some ***** piped in calling him stupid. That really pissed me off. It also got me thinking about the boundarys of this forum. Although there are many threads that are off topic, are they really? We are all brought together on these forums because of our common interest in trains (or in my case obsession). While the majority of off topic threads usually do have a tie in with railroading in some way, some are totaly off topic. So what. I personaly think it embeds the human element into these forums. It also alows us to get to know more about eachother beyond just our discussions about our interest. When someone gets mad and makes a post demeaning someone for being off topic, especialy when it is clearly labled as such, it clearly shows there intelegence. Those members of the forum could just go away as far as I’m concerned.
I’m just wondering what everyone has to say about the subject (off topic topics).
I find the off-topic posts quite interesting. As someone said in an off-topic post, by having these it gives us an opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better.
In addition, as long as the post’s title refer’s to it being off-topic, then I say, post away. Having a disclaimer about it being off-topic is, IMHO, sufficient to cause any complaints to be unjustified.
So let’s just have fun here. And maybe we will become more educated about life in all of it’s permutations.
Chad- Couldn’t have said it better myself. The forum allows us to communicate with others who have a shared interest in trains, but in no way does it have to be about trains at all times. I like getting to know the people and personalities here as much, if not more than I like learning about train and rail operations. I like to think of a number of the folks here as my railfanning friends.
Thank you guys for verifying my belief that there are others who feel the same way.
Yep, I tell you what, those “OT”'s are usually very entertaining!
A related story: Last year, being a major election year, I had added some political content to my website (it’s still there, FYI, but ya gotta dig for it…), namely a picture of a creative political sign I found. In my usual shameless self-promotion (see http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken [}:)]) I always posted a link at the end of my messages, as can be seen below. Well, one of the members of a Y! Group that I regularly contribute to wrote me a nasty message on the group, saying something to the effect that I should put a “disclaimer” along with my www address, mentioning OT content as it related to that particular group. Having a strong BS detector, I realized that his political views did not agree with my picture on my website, but I diplomatically responded and said that the “content he was looking for” was indeed on my site, not just some political fluff, and besides other people’s websites on the same group also held OT content. While several people sent compliments about that picture alone, his complaint was the only one about my website in its entirety to date.
Sadly, I found out that this “gentleman” passed away recently. Nonetheless, he was a wealth of knowledge on other related subjects, and he will be missed by many.
So the moral of the story is… Don’t mess with Fuzzy… [:(!][:(!][:(!] Just kidding!!! [}:)][:O]
I followed a link to your Web site from some other forum sometime last year and found the photo I’m pretty sure you’re referring to. Did it have anything to do wtih railroading? 'Course not. Was it downright funny? Heck yeah. Still on my fridge.
Yeah, we all love trains or we wouldn’t be here. But there’s more to each of us and it’s important to recognize that and appreciate it. No, we won’t always agree. But that’s half the fun of being human, right?
I like off topic topics. I think they add variety to the forums. In fact, video game forums have several different OT forums, like music, TV, and cars. Not that I’m suggesting we do that here, but OT’s never hurt[:D]
BTW this is’nt the first time I’ve heard the H word out of that posters mouth.
Off topic? Who made this about OT stuff? Were suposed to talking about bassfishing here… Chad, you got something against bass?
Ok so Im a bit of [:o)]
But I have to agree with the above posters. OT stuff can be great for all the reasons. Granted, it can get annoying [:(!]when you post about decal sticking to your fingers or something, and the thread walks into political correctness or something out there, can be annoying when your trying to learn. But if it is OT, then read, post and be freindly[:D].
And here is another thought, If you meet someone in the train/model train world, and they are cranky, dont trust 'em. How can anyone be cranky or rude if you play watch or play with trains?
If you are reading this, and you are cranky and still play/or watch trains. Sell your stuff to the local kid cheap and take up golf.
People can judge for themselves if they want to pursue a topic by its title. But, what I have trouble comprehending is off subject posts. A “signal” discuss, for example, may go to SD70ACe’s to boxcar paint schemes to wage issues to meteor showers. Of course, statements off topic way be a sign of a sleepwalk mode setting it …
I learned a very long time ago that if you want to avoid any sort of argument you stay far away from two subjects in conversation…POLITICS AND RELIGION!
So perhaps we should add an Off Topics Forum to the Railroads and Site forums here. The new forum could cover nonrailroad politics, religion, computers, shoe size, all topics not related to trains. Thread hijacking does seem to be more of a problem here than at other forums I visit. I wonder why someone would want to change topics instead of starting a new thread. It seems that limits participation with your ideas.
Anyone wonder why Kalmbach decided to divide up these forums according to the magazine themes that they publish? Then within those themes, there are more ‘sidings’ available for postings of this 'n that …
What I’m driving at is, there is “off topic,” then there is “OFF TOPIC.” If someone posts a thread about REAL railroads on the MODEL railroad forum and it has NOTHING to do with model railroading, that would make me wonder …
If one posts a “funny” or something just to liven up the group - regardless of the forum - great.
And by the way, the way one expresses one’s self generally says it all!
I’m a retired sailor - been there done that - heard it all before … now that’s what really bothers me - people who simply cannot express themselves beyond the level of the gutter.
As long as we don’t end up with the first two or three screens being all “off topic,” go for it! There are railroad threads I never read, because the topic doesn’t interest me. By the same token, an off topic thread ought to be something people would be interested in. Unless your dog Fluffy has done something we all can relate to, we probably don’t care, to attempt an example (actually, most of us can probably relate to something Fluffy did…). We’ve got a humor thread and the Diner for the random short story - no need for a new thread.