george 53 Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 Fellas, There seems ta be ALOT of confusion about what IS off topic and what IS NOT! I think we should have ANOTHER vote, already accepting the fact that Religion AND Politics are VERBOOTEN! Pardon my german, I learned it from Hogan's Heros! But guys we DO need to come to SOME sort of an agreement here. Do we WANT an off topic thread,where we can discuss matters POLITELY and with mutual respect or JUST NOTHING BUT model cars? I myself think it WOULDN'T hurt, but I don't make the rules here. That's for Gregg an Harry to decide. I AM biased as I LIKE Gregg an Harry, an WON"T go against their wishes. Harry was VERY democratic in letting us take a vote, and he's JUST trying to be fair. If the rest of us can't appericiate that fact, then MAYBE we're in the wrong forum. If enough of us ASK VERY POLITELY, MAYBE Harry will consider it, but if it's NOT to be, then we should all just accept that fact. I'm just tryin to keep the peace in my home, an it bothers me to see all my Brothers up in arms with each other. Maybe we should just ask Gregg an Harry again, they might understand, and NOT dump any of us rabble rousers! I just LOVE this place, an DON'T want to see it become LESS that it is, caz to ME, IT'S THE BEST PLACE ON THE WEB!!! BAR NONE!!!
Zoom Zoom Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 Keep MCM drama-free and quit bugging Harry with new skirmishes and about old ones. Let him do his job, which right now cannot be easy with everyone pointing fingers and whining.
george 53 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Posted November 2, 2009 Well fellas, that's ONE opinion, anyone else?
Jairus Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 The software on which this forum is based has the ability to create a section that can hidden, sort of. In other words..... most of us use the "View New Posts" to see what is hot regarding topics and threads currently active. Am I right? But that can be disabled on any specific section! That way an off-topic, political or whatever (yes, yes I know you think political is verboten but trust me, it is just under the surface for most of you guys) discussion cannot be seen unless the reader goes directly to that section of the forum and clicks on the thread! Those with Delicate sensibilities won't be offended when they click on the View New Posts link and those who want an off topic section to discuss Tires, minibikes and the like can get it out of their system. The only way any one can see what is going on in the Rants & Raves section (or what ever section is choosen) is by clicking directly into that section. Harry and Gregg, the simplest method, if this is your course of action is to change the Rants and Raves section parameters by unclicking the New Post Update option. I am not advocating this course of action as I have no dog in the fight and care not either way. When I was a mod here I suggested this a long time ago and received no response. But since this problem keeps rearing its head I believe the only course of action is to create a new "OFF TOPIC" section. ***Warning*** Personal opinion: Incidentally... I feel the "Is it a model or real" thread is actually off topic but... I never said a thing about it either way. I have also never taken part in that game. I also feel the discussions about music, a new car you just purchased, pictures of your kids and discussions about your health.... do not belong in this forum! Therefore I never take part in the discussion of any of these subjects. However, I believe that this forum belongs to the readers and members of MCM forums. With-out members, you have nothing! We are the forum! All of us, poor spellers included, make up the forum! So because of this and the fact that we are friends, a little leeway regarding off-topic discussion should be allowed, even with-in a thread. How far off topic... should be determined by the author of the thread. Not the moderator!!! It's not his job to keep all threads on-topic. It is the author or the guy who started the thread job to police his own thread. All he has to do is hit that "report" button and a mod will pop up with a PM and ask what is the problem like a perky stew asking "Coffee or Tea?" So... with this in mind I don't think a vote is required. We just need Gregg or Harry to make the right decision and then WE ALL abide by that rule. Rant mode off, have a nice day!
Jon Cole Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 NO MORE VOTING! Hell, the Afghans can do voting better (and fairer) than this board! Unless you plan on e-mailing EACH AND EVERY registered user, then... PLEASE! NO MORE VOTES! Instead, try something different... Common sense.
Harold Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 I don't mind the thought of an off- topic thread as long as it relates somewhat to building. Music, TV and movies can be on topic as a source of inspiration for a build, and some bizarro personal experience from oneself or another member can get the juices flowing. Let's just leave religion, myths, politics, talk radio hosts and other such nonsense where it belongs- between our own ears or a PM to an interested party.
Guest promodmerc Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 here's my opinion, ya ready for this? NO off-topic section or discussion period. you want off-topic go to Spotlight Hobbies combine the NASCAR and Drag racing sections into one and make it a "Racecars" section that covers anything and everything racecar or racetruck. make a new "Other models" section for anything anyone wants to post that is NOT a scale car, truck or motorcycle. Dave I agree on the no off-toppic discussions. That is what is causing the majority of the problems lately. I totaly disagree on combining NASCAR & Drag Racing sections together. SA is that way and I hate it. Two totaly differnt forums of racing. It's bad enough that short track dirt & asphalt cars are combined with NASCAR (though I somewhat understand) But throwing drag cars in is a whole other story. It would become too cluttered up.
Jordan White Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 In my revised opinion, I think there shouldn't be an off-topic section. However, I do believe that certain topics should be allowed in the General section. Topics such as something car related, other builds/projects you're working on, something going on in your life (new baby/spouse/etc.), and maybe tv/movies/music. The topics I don't want to see are ones that deal with politics/religion (goes for most here) as well as any sort of news story/current event/conspiracy theory/what have you. I think it's nice to share certain things that aren't model related with other members, especially if you know them really well. Granted you could PM it to everyone, but sometimes it's much easier to share out in the open.
Aaronw Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 I agree with 2/3 of Dave's post and like Jairus' idea of a separate controlled OT forum. Dividing up the models into too many areas tends to have an unintended negative effect on the subject matter due to a lack of activity. A few broad areas (race cars, trucks / commercial, customs, factory stock etc) makes more sense. Also the multiple race categories can give the impression the site favors them over other builders (who do they have multiple categories and my stuff is lumped in with "everything else"). Personally I'd be just as happy with everything lumped together. I also like the idea of an "other" category where someone can show off the combine model the scratched together, aircraft etc. Many of the builders on this site build more than model cars and its nice to see the full spectrum. As far as off topic I've seen it done on several sites where the forum is locked, members have to agree to abide by the rules of the OT section to access it, and they can be banned from that section (but not the rest of the site) if they can not handle the forum but are not a problem outside of the OT area. This has two benefits, one if you don't want to see it, don't sign up, second it keeps the OT stuff off the rest of the site so those who are not signed into the OT forum don't have to see it. If a seperate OT site is set up "the rules" can be debated there and not bother everyone else, so if it allows / does not allow politics, religion, video clips, photos of your pet salamander etc will only be a matter for those who sign up to worry about. If Harry doesn't want the headache then maybe one of the people who wants an OT forum will step up and offer to be a mod. Without an OT area we will continue to see OT posts and flames about OT posts.
Harry P. Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 Here are my thoughts: I personally like the idea of an off-topic section. I admit I'd be the first guy in there on most of the posts, as I like the "off-topic" stuff as much, if not more, than the next guy. But even if we set up things where the OT section was a separate, "opt in" type of thing, and even if we set it up so that those who didn't want to take part or even see the OT section were accounted for, we'd still have problems, because the people who do take part in the OT section will inevitably wind up in some pretty nasty arguments... I can guarantee that! And I can also pretty much guarantee that the bad feelings will spillover into the rest of the site, members will start getting angry with other members, nasty PMs will be sent, and in general there will be an undercurrent of ill will that will inevitably spread throughout the forum... no matter how "self-contained" the OT section was. I think the best idea is for each of us to simply think before we post. Let's be honest here, we all know what's off topic and what's not. Let's each police ourselves and keep the OT stuff for another site. If we all make just a small effort to keep our posts on topic, we can avoid 99% of the problems we've been seeing here lately regarding what's off topic and what's not. And if after all this, a few questionable topics do still get posted, I'm simply going to delete them... because there's no way I can make you all happy. Accommodate group A and group B gets mad at me... accommodate group B and group A gets mad at me... do nothing and both group A and group B get on my case. So since I simply can't keep you all happy, I'm going to stop trying to be Mr. Nice Guy and start running things here the way Gregg and I want them to be run. If anyone has a post deleted, you can PM me for an explanation, but I'm not going to keep trying to explain things here on the forum. Consider this the official explanation of how things will go her from here forward. BTW... this isn't going to turn into some sort of police state. There is room for a certain amount of "off topic" stuff, and common sense should be your guide. If you don't have enough common sense to make your own decision, I'll make the decision for you when I see the post.
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