Suggestion - MODERATOR

part of being a swimmer is the social aspect friendships develop because of swimming all kinds of conversations between swimmers take place on the wall betwen sets, on easy kick sets, in the weight room, in the locker room after practice at parties, bars, coffee shops and restaurants after practice, in the stands at meets and many other places and situations some swimmers are chatty, others show up for practice and don't talk to anyone can't we all just get a long? ande

So maybe sometimes a thread get's highjacked. I think if someone said in a polite way could we please get back on topic, or could you please take it to another thread everyone would oblige. Out of the people I have met here I can't imagine anyone making a big stink about being asked NICELY to please take it somewhere else. I for one, have so much fun on these boards I would hate to see that disappear. I often find chatting here with friends a great stress reliever (aside from the pool of course:)) Having been on both sides of the issues, I can see where both sides are getting frusturated. The highjacking can sometimes be overwhelming and a mess to get through, but you also get an overwhelming response of on-topic respones from extremely knowledgable resources. And on the other hand, the people I have met here are some of the most, entertaing, fun, awesome people ever. If we can't get a new forum made, why can't we just condense everything non-swimming related into one massive thread? I know that would be HUGE and would take a while to sift through, but I have so much fun with stuff here I would not mind digging through hundreds of posts if it keeps the general public and moderators happy, and I can still keep posting about who's sleeping with who, what island we're stuck on, and what new species is appearing next. As far as people wasting time here posting I don't think that's anyone's business but the posters. If they feel they have the time to post things, that is their choice. If they feel they can work and post that is their decision. If you feel you need to work more than post that is also your respected decision. I agree with Ande. One of the main purposes (I think) of these forums is to meet other swimmers and share information. But also to get to know other swimmers so that you have a support base that you can draw on for meets like Nationals and other things. I am always amazed by the overwhelming support that everyone here gives to a fellow swimmer in need.

As The King once said: "Understanding solves all problems baby, that a-why I'm a-tellin' you...." If you go to the home page of this forum you will see the link "Forum Leaders" that will list all the administrators and moderators. You can contact them from there. (You have to be "registered" and logged in to send one of them a message.) As for: Why do people hijack threads? Good question. My best guess is that it is to fill a void of some kind. Though in the hectic hustle and bustle of our "modern" life it is hard to imagine that most folks have time to fritter away. Perhaps it is a desire to be noticed in our increasingly anonymous world. "Look at me, look at me, look at me." With just the push of a button you can broadcast your "self" (?) to the world. But with so many others doing the same thing, who will notice? As I said before, the Internet can present some interesting social studies (current company included). Too often I find myself mulling over this quote by Don Juan from Carlos Castaneda's "Journey to Ixtlan": "Self-importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it - what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men (and women). Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone." Oh, well.... Then there is always: "Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time." - T. S. Elliot Sometimes I find it hysterical that computers are heralded as time saving devices. I've spent way more time than I'd like to admit rebuilding/repairing/upgrading computers. Doing software and hardware installations and updates, reading help documentation, just trying to figure out how the thing works (so I can supposedly save time). And that does not even include time on the job or the Internet. Crikey, with the Internet you are additionally under constant attack from malware created by a whole army of nefarious people who REALLY must have nothing better to do. And then there is all the commercial sludge. Not to mention chat rooms, message boards, and web sites. Most times (these days anyway) I'd rather go to the pool, or read a good book. Computers NEVER make mistakes, only the people who design and build them do. Computers are dumb as a box of rocks and only do exactly what they are told. Maybe my mistake is logging onto this forum. But the good news is that I have a choice about what I do and how I react to others. (There, did I hijack this thread enough to adequately show off my soapbox and get noticed?) :-p So the next time you are looking to waste time with your computer, but decide you want something different, here is some suggested reading: "The Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder "The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage" by Clifford Stoll "The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier" by Bruce Sterling "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" by Steven Levy "Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds - And How It Promises to Transform Society" by Howard Rheingold Um, yeah, right. What does all this have to do with swimming? I mean this IS supposed to be a swimming related forum right? Well, I suppose you could use your computer to process information about swimming. Since you use the Internet and are on this forum you could spend a little more TIME COMMUNICATING your SELF-IMPORTANCE with a new post or thread here. Or you can search the web, or the archives here, for seemingly endless opportunities to waste yet more time. I just hope you enjoy it, so it won't be entirely wasted time. Or you could just go to the pool, or read a book. :">

Michael, formulaic ??? I agree, a seperate section of Swim Technique should be added. I think it would be very popular, and easier to moderate as posts would be specific to technique. Perhaps this could be split into the 4 strokes so that new users could find information faster. And nice mention of LC Nationals in Mission Viejo, CA this August. Just ask Tall Paul how much he enjoyed our meet there last year. Nice dinner overlooking the nearby golf course with some great swimmers. What amazed me was how many of these great swimmers from Colorado were happy to finally meet Conniekat:p Connie was formerly the secret of SPMA, she shows up at last years convention and is suddenly a hot VIP.

Computers don't save time or paper. The idea of a paperless office is a myth. Make a mistake in a document - change that one letter typo and re-print it. Also, we issue so much more documentation for everything because it is so easy to do. As for time - ha. If the expectation at my work was that we did the same amount of work but used a computer.... we could save time. But now, we are expected to do more because we can do it more quickly. That being said, I am adicted to the computer.:( I don't have a problem with the "off topic" threads. I think there are still plenty of "on topic" threads here too.

Originally posted by Conniekat8 Personally, on my teams bulletin board, which I end up administering, we have a section called 'gutter chat' which is open for everyone, and intended for not so swimming related chatter. It was pretty lively foir a while, then some inside jokes end up looking pretty crude, even though people that went back and forth didn't mind at all, they forget that there's a larger audience reading it, the audience that is not privy to the inside meaning of what they're saying. Then we'd get complaints or comments how some of it comes across as very discouraging to other teammates.... After you delete a few posts, or ask people to tone it down, they sort of lose interest, or get litle bit mifed, and things die off, people stop posting. So it's tricky... Connie, I've seen the process you've described happen (twice :) ) for my team's bboard. Especially the inside jokes part.

That is well and good, but what about the posters who cannot help but start off topic threads? How do we politely ask them to not do that? This is still a forum for swimming related issues, and if people want to tell swimming stories, that is welcome and informative. Qs get As, advice is given and solicited. Asking the users of this forum to ignore your chit chat postings is just rude.If you absolutely must make idle chatter, palaver elsewhere, please. Now you have been politely asked.

On the other hand threads were invented for a reason. If one isn't interested in the topic going on in a particular thread one can go participate in some other thread rather than interupting that thread with off topic stuff.

After reading all this, I have few more things to add... Forst on the issue of free speech. Free Speech doesn't mean I can say whatever I want wherever I want with no consequences. Free speach means that you are in most cases protected from STATE, and STATE prosecution only. There are limits to that 'right' as well. Free spech doesn't mean that if you use a privately or a volunteer run organizations' means of communication to say whatever you like that your 'speech' will not be censored, seen as inappropriate, mederatet or otherwise restricted if the organization finds it inappropriate. So, fundamentally, the 'free speech' argument doesn't really fly. EVEN IF USMS tries to keep the exchanges at this forum pretty liberal, they have the right to stop, moderate or censor them or create consequences when they see fit. This *IS* a moderated site, and some semblance of a controled content is to be expected. If you prefer less controled content, try usenet, try rec.sport.swimming. As for hijacked threads, I could care less except when they degenerate into bashing. Hopefully that won't happen as often, since one of the fire making ingredients is not here. Other hijacked thread, If you wqnt it back on topic, post a comment on topic, and the likelyhood is that people will follow suit. Chitchat and banter cointent, yea too much of it contributes to people losing interest. When there is a lot of personal back and forth betwen 2-3 or so, small circle of people, there is usually a lot of inside joking going on, and what happens, people outside inner circle reading it, even if they felt brave enough to jump in and try to have fun and not worry about possibly looking silly or intruding, probably don't catch on to a lot of it, and get discouraged. Also, if you get a specific time on the DS, when several of the chitchatters are on, and a new person posts something more serious or swimming related, they can look and see there's a number of other people logged on, and talking amongst each other, but not paying a whole lot of attention to their swimming post. It's very easy that unintentionally, too much banter can make this place look very cliquish, and not very interested in swimming. Also, I've seen instances of people talking about a 'get together' at a certain event, and when the organizer of the event offers to facilitate the get-together, it gets no response. It certainly does start looking rather cliquish. As much as I like teasing some of my fellow swimmers with the male/female sterotypes and banter on occasion, I have absolutely no desire discussing soap operas, celebrities of the likes of Paris Hilton (she's everywhere else, no need to be here) Brad Pitt etc.. Between work and swimming, I have no time or interest to follow the world of celebrities. If I did, I probably wouldn't be here, I'd be on usenet in one of the newsgroups discussing celebrities. Self importance? I doubt it. Usenet and bulletin boards have become a new form of socializing. Yea, in every social group there are a few individuals whose self importance (and other components of personality) are off center. Rather than broadcasting one's self importance, this medium is means for networking and socializing with people having common interests. Much like there are local hobby groups and crqft groups and softball leagues and similar, where people interact with one another. Someone coming to, let's say a local harley riders club, introducing themselves, wanting to join the group and particiapte is hardly someone broadcasting one's self importance. It is filling a normal human need for social interaction. If some people seem to sound more important, some people are more confident in their thought process and opinions then others and express themselves as such, and come across sounding more confident, which is often seen as important or authoritative. Also, knowing some of the who is whom in the USMS, there are some important peole posting here. Well, those are my thought for the moment.

Originally posted by thisgirl13 ....I much prefer the personal stories and fun (if not slightly-ADD) conversations on these boards. Only SLIGHTLY ADD???:confused: :D