Where did the Off Topic go???It was the most entertaining aspects of the site.
N
Noel,
It went where Bob promised it would go if his message wasn’t “understood”. For my part, I won’t miss it a bit! The “General Discussion” will do just fine for things in some way related to trains. 
Our next door neighbours at the business run a dog grooming salon, the notice on their door reads: “Which part of WOOF did you not understand?” 
Perhaps I could drop by and ask what the general reaction to the sign is, eh?
I want my jokes.
Sob, sniffle, dang it!
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Noel,It went where Bob promised it would go if his message wasn’t “understood”. For my part, I won’t miss it a bit! The “General Discussion” will do just fine for things in some way related to trains.
Our next door neighbours at the business run a dog grooming salon, the notice on their door reads: “Which part of WOOF did you not understand?”
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that I don’t see things like the man behind the curtain does.
This is how I understood it.
“Anyone, and I mean ANYONE violating any of these rules, will get an public warning from me. A second offense will result in loss of posting privileges to the forums and chat. A third offense, and I will remove your account access.”
Show me where any of this took place.
Yes, this is Bob’s site.
I am Bob’s customer, as well as one of his many contributors.
I think that many of his customers as well as many of those who contribute regularly where against banning topics.
How many people chimed in to say thanks…never to be heard from again?
I may be wrong, but I believe this site grew because we were free to talk about whatever.
Time will tell if I am right, or wrong.
Ralph
Actually, its still there and postable - {URL REMOVED}
Just hidden from view.
Of course, I can’t blame Bob for not wanting to spend his free time babysitting you lot.
-Brian
Brian Donovan said:
Actually, its still there and postable - Just hidden from view. Of course, I can't blame Bob for not wanting to spend his free time babysitting you lot. ;)-Brian
Precisely!
And for those who somehow missed Bob’s message in the “Whoooooooo…I’m in somebody’s bad books now…” thread
Bob McCown said:
DING! Enough.Go read my “read this” rant. Off-topic is about to get closed if this keeps up. I’m sick and tired of hand holding supposed adults. I dont have TIME to deal with all this extra crap.
Frankly I’m (was) always surprised how little people miss(ed) in the “Off-Topic” section, except things that were (are) more than just marginally relevant! GRRRRRRRR!
So now it is just trains.
Plus Gardening and Other Hobbies.
Whoopee!!! No more nastiness and disrespectful attitudes.
Perhaps, finally, LSC will be about trains;-)? If I remember correctly, off-topic forum was formulated as a kind of an invitation by Bob the site Admin and Owner, as if we could come to his place, have a drink and talk. There is no such thing as a 100% freedom of discussion, especially in a global, international sense. Many concepts do not translate well, and do not sound right, when viewed by a person of a different cultural background or political, moral, spiritual, etc. inclination. For this reason, I guess everyone who offers such an invitation, expects that people who visit their place will show enough restrain, culture and ability to correct inevitable mistakes, so as to maintain decency of discussions. If this does not happen, it is not very surprising that the invitation will be withdrawn. I would do the same if my friends would get drunk, beat one another and demolish my place… and I would try to do this before police comes to intervene… The thing which I think Bob Admin and Owner of this site does exceptionally well and for which I admire him, is that he applies the same rules to everyone (as he also explicitly stated in his “Read This” posting). I believe, this is also why locking topics has been so rare here. Although not fully avoidable, IMHO, locking topics is in general a bad idea because someone always has the “last word” on the topic locked, and you cannot really dispute this. topic removal is better from this perspective and this is more or less what perhaps happened to Off-Topic forum in its totality;-)… Fair and equal treatment has been what attracted me to LSC, and I believe the same can be said about a few other people. Rules, or no-rules, both approaches are OK as long as consequently applied, to every posting/topic and to every Poster in equal measure. Personally, I am not sorry to see the Off-Topic forum go, but, if Bob thinks of keeping it anyway, why not split it into invisible to others, “R-rated Off-Topic Forum” plus “X-rated Forum > /dev/null” for those really Off-Topic challenged;-) and appropriately charge for using these;-)? I believe this would rather quickly restrict the number of Posters participating, to those who really need it;-)))
Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi
I didn’t notice many of you complaining before it was hung .
Mike M
Now we can all return to railroad modelling.
How very naive .
Mike M
TonyWalsham said:
So now it is just trains.Plus Gardening and Other Hobbies.
Whoopee!!! No more nastiness and disrespectful attitudes.
I’ve seen plenty of nastiness and disrespect from some of you right on the front page topics.
I can’t even post some LGB coaches for sale without snide remarks from the peanut gallery.
Some of you are just assholes and limiting the topics isn’t going to change that.
Ralph
Well said , Ralph .
We know who they are , they probably won’t change , they use other threads instead of Off Topic to initiate nastiness . At least nobody is forced to read Off Topic . I read it and contributed to it because it does attract more people to the site . And the claim of it now being only railroad-----if it becomes that , I’ll be off . Think , if it is ONLY railroad . Think .
Mike M
Jesus jumping Christ.
ENOUGH
Everybody take a step back, a deep breath, and SHUT UP!