Bob
Do we have room for yet another Topic?
Something like Off Topic ?
Just something I thought of when this showed up…
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/23229/is-paper-really-dead
I would vote against it. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)
We’ve tried it before and it just devolves quickly. Feelings get hurt, people get mad. Whatever.
I come here to talk about trains. Specifically Large Scale trains. Or central trains. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
There’s LOTS of other places on the internet to see that other stuff.
Heck, I was thinking of maybe consolidating topics…not adding any. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
I’ll second that one, Bruce!
Sean, there was actually a tread a while ago about this same thing. Bruce’s sentiments were the in the majority and agreeing with those of our benevolent dictator.
The request/wish for an “Off Topic” pops up quite regularly, which alway surprises me. There are a gazillion fora on as many topics on the Internet, OTOH there are relatively few LS fora and even fewer where the thread drift is kept within a reasonable limit. Keeping it that way suits me just fine.
BTW to get a bit of background on the theme I’d suggest using the search function with “off-topic” as input. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)Happy reading! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
How short peoples memorys are. The old forum (two editions ago) had an off topic catagory. It got so nasty that Bob finally removed it and made the statement then that the forum for for trains not generating arguments. I totally agree with Bob’s decision to remove it in the first place and second Bruce’s sentimants now. Got along fine with out it, let’s leave it dead.
When you are with your friends, is every minute taken up talking about trains? I hardly think so. A joke or two, or something “off topic” is certain to come up “between friends”. Why should you have to go to strangers to tell a joke?
Well, when I am with my train buddies, most of the time is taken up with trains.
But, I’m surprised that Sean did not remember the recent thread on this, nor the previous ones.
I do remember and it flopped big time, and there’s still enough off topic stuff that it’s not impossible.
But there’s definitely enough train stuff here to keep busy, and enough interesting stuff to not need to see videos of cute cats, building implosions, etc.
Bob has spoken on this several times, and it must be irritating by now to him to hear requests again and again. With all the recent stuff that has gone on, and his clear explanations of his frustrations, I would steer clear of pushing this.
Greg
let the off-topic gadflys write letters to the editor in their weekly rag… oh wait paper is dead.
Senior moment.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)Now I do remeber it Sorry…Never mind .(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
I’ll crawl back into my snow cave untill spring.
Joe Zullo said:
When you are with your friends, is every minute taken up talking about trains? I hardly think so. A joke or two, or something “off topic” is certain to come up “between friends”. Why should you have to go to strangers to tell a joke?
Joe, you are correct, when I am with friends the topics of conversation run around the globe. However first let’s define friendship. Friensdhip is a commodity that usually takes a long time to be real, and as a part of that there is a deep understanding between the two parties concerned. I would say that we all have a large contingent of ‘acquaintenances’ here on LSC, but for a handfull that associate with one another outside the forum, not many true friendships. And you are correct that there is nothing wrong with joke or two among those friends. I have friends I can tell ‘non-politically correct’ jokes to and we have a good laugh, and others I shy away from those same jokes because they are not so well received. Here on LSC you will encounter the full gamit of folks from one end of the spectrum to the other and no way to separate them in a single post.
The second problem with those types of postings is that there is no inflection in the written word. Most jokes I have heard and told require a certain amount of inflection to make the joke work. Try telling some jokes to people in a total monotone and see if they are still funny. Usually they loose a lot in that translation. As for videos, they have all the inflection intended, sometimes too much. Personally I thought the video was cute and I got a chuckle out of it, but I can also see where others did not. Would I post that type of content here, no, I consider it inappropriate for this fourm. Maybe I am older and wiser enough to see the potential for disaster. Just think it through before you post.
Bob, Well “said” on every point. Although I’m glad to say this place does feel awful friendly.