I’m getting really tired of reading about ebay stupidity and hairballs in the sink fixed by a drunken landlord.
Bob, please bring back the off topic forum so I can ignore all this junk easily, i.e. not pollute the general forum.
Or maybe make it a rule that nothing related to trains can be posted in General Discussion, so I can ignore this forum completely.
I thought this was a place to talk about trains, not a replacement for facebook or twitter.
Greg
I thought the general forum was the catch-all for anything not specifically appropriate for the other forums.
TOC
Wait a minute, my post WAS ABOUT TRAINS, large scale ones at that, so was JDs, which happened to be being sold on ebay, which is where alot of us buy our trains from, how is that not “train” related???
I have to admit I am a bit flustered as to just what in the heck are we allowed to talk about ???
No one is forced to read every thread, if you start reading and realize its going somewhere else, do what most us do, hit the ‘back’ button and move on to the next thread. How hard is that?
I have to agree. If one person is PO’d because he doesn’t like something why does that effect the rest of us who are interested in the topic?
If we need an off topic group to do it then by all means.
This is supposed to be informational AND recreational isn’t it?
Not sure I like the whole censorship thing.
You have to remember that there are thread police everywhere…
Its tough being Bob…
And it depends on who you are…and if you’re a really nice guy or not…and if someone listens to your complaint.
Who knows…maybe someone here was trying to sell that POS for three hundred clams and got upset with facts.
There are other forums that have whole threads, some started by moderators, on that particular auction site.
Some of the stuff is quite humourous.
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?147897-More-eBay-Humor-HO-Scale
16 pages of it.
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?149242-More-eBay-Humor-O-Gauge
7 pages of it.
One can always go there and talk freely about it.
TOC
I thought the “General” was jsut that as long as it had to do with trains or our community. Recently I have seen some death notices here. I didn’t add to them since I didn’t know the poor fellow but I felt for the folks who did and the thought that they may have had some solace from posting was a positive thing.
I think we have all used Ebay at one time or another to buy, sell be it a good or bad transaction we all have stories to tell and it is fun to check out adn comment on the ridiculous as well as the deals.
Sometimes it is tough to decide where to place a post and the “General” is the catch all.
I really like this forum ove any of the other ones for its friendly folk and easy manner. I come to read and see what other train Nutz are up to, ask questions and answer some too. I like this forum and I don’t think it should be censored.
I actually like the 2 ebay threads, the one this morning was a good laugh, the most recent one was not about price, more about WTF is it, lol
If one looks under the “General Discussion” Forum header one will find this -
“Talk about anything and everything else that doesn’t fit in another forum”.
I can understand emotive topics like religion and politics being taboo, but eBay???
Some well healed modellers are able to pay cash and purchase all new items from retailers, while others must resort to other methods of purchasing. EBay is the ONLY medium I have to purchase used items and see it as a valid topic for “General” discussion.
Off topic discussion really is not required when one sees the General discussion topic as “Talk about anything and everything else that doesn’t fit in another forum”. Nothing in the header description about being “train related”.
I do not like topics like “Gee I have a railroad and I need suggestions for a name for the railroad” or suggestions for which locomotive to purchase or what track diameter or gradient to use to use when they already know the answer. People like this need instructions and reminders on when to breathe and how often. I see topics like this as nothing but spam, but alas, such topics are allowable. I see a topic heading and if the potential content discussion heading is not to my liking then I ignore it. I do not have the need to read a topic and then complain about its content.
Seems like too many like to watch “R” rated movies and then complain about the violence within.
I have to make this observation… whining about the “content” of a thread, when that content actually conforms to the title of the thread, is much like moving in next to a major railroad and calling the newspaper to complain about all the trains.
Now, when the thread gets WAY off topic, then there is some value in restricting its growth… maybe.
Then again once censorship starts, its hard to contain it.
But on the flip side, this is a private forum and the owner has every right to say what is allowed.
I don’t know, I just wanted to use that analogy 
Thus the conundrum.
It’s Bob’s site.
But we want a little more freedom.
But it’s Bob’s site.
So far I have seen fair and impartial with a light touch on interference.
But it is Bob’s site.
To me complaining about the eBay threads - and a few other threads - is on the same level as complaining about the stupid stuff on eBay. Why? Because the way I see it it’s out of our control, OTOH it is very simple to just ignore certain threads.
I usually do random sampling and then “mark all as read”. Really simple! 
Bob is doing good…and it is his site…
I’m going to follow Mr.Smith’s lead and post pictures of my dogs.
I’m still waiting for some explanation to me of how the topic wasn’t train related or how it violated the expressed written description of the General Discussion forum and if we are going to be restricted I want a printed statement of what is and is not allowable discussion material so I am not risking treading on another here before unknowingly forbidden topic.
My cat just hucked up a freaking hairball.
TOC
Did you guys break MLS again?
Is this the wrong time to ask for a pony?
It doesn’t matter what anyone other than Bob thinks about a thread. Only he can end a thread and only he can change things or leave them the same. Complaining about the complainer is the same as complaining about content after all.
Bob has done just fine so far and that in all probability is why we’re here (aside from in my case not having a life).
And TOC, I really am sorry about your cat’s hairballs. hehehehe!
Bob is always right.
if Bob does not interfere, the theme is right.
if somebody else is trying to interfere with contents, he has to be wrong, because Bob did not interfere.
and just for the odd occasions… if Bob is not right, automaticly No. 1 has to be applied.
