There is nothing that wrecks a good swimming related thread faster than getting into a discussion about message board etiquette. So here is a thread that people can use discuss topics related to what should and should not be posted on the message boards while allowing the other threads to stay on topic.
It seems to me that there is a spectrum of opinion on off-topic posting. On one end of the spectrum people think that threads are a mechanism specifically designed to allow people to carry on discussions on different topics and that we would all be well served if changes in topic were just done in new threads. On the other end of the spectrum people think that people should be able to post anything they want anywhere they want and that any suggestion to the contrary is censorship, a personal attack, or simply control freakish.
Pretty much everyone falls somewhere between these two extremes. Very few people object to a humorous quip inserted here and there in an otherwise serious discussion. Very few people would actually advocate that people be able to liberally sprinkle potentially offensive posts randomly through all the threads.
Have you ever been at a party where someone has decided that this is the right time and place to have a big argument or screaming match with someone? Has it ever contributed to the general enjoyment of the rest of the people there?
I would argue that posts that are essentially expressions of anger and/or are essentially personal attacks have no place on the board. They don't contribute anything positive and generally turn off 99% of the people reading the boards. Even if it seems that someone else has attacked you, does it really help anything to post an angry response?
I personally don't see the problem with starting a new thread when one wants to make an off-topic comment, a little cut and paste and/or a link makes it easy enough to carry the context into the new thread. Why is it essential to be able to carry on an unrelated discussion in a thread where some people are trying to carry on a discussion on a particular topic?
Parents
Former Member
I think one of the problems may be that frequent posters don't understand that the forum has a much wider audience than they imagine. When I entered the forum just now, there were 116 viewers. Of the 116, only 17 were members of the forum. The remaining 99 were guests. These are viewers that are unable to post. Additionally if you look at our member directory, the vast majority of members rarely, if ever, post. I would be one of the members that fall into that category. So while we have about a dozen posters who chat back and forth with one another, there are a multitude of us who have no interest in the chatter.
I guess the 800 people viewing on Feb. 1 were only reading the SR threads ... You seem to assume that the majority of non-posters/readers agree with you. While some new members who actually now post have said that they do not.
I'm not sure I follow your logic all that much. You don't post, but you begrudge posting by the dozen or so "chatters," who you have no interest in. (It seems like some of those "chatters" might be serious swimmers or swimming in meets or interested in swimming in meets.) So the forum would be best if it was antiseptic and plain vanilla and technical for the serious non-chatters who like to read but do not bother to post themselves? Maybe there are also some non-serious non-chatters who like to read and laugh before swim practice or bedtime?
It sounds like, despite being unoffended, you'd like all the non-serious posters to take a hike because you dislike banter and just want to read Frank and Terry. You want the benefit, but not the banter?
Maybe some more non-post readers can register and weigh in on this weighty topic.
I see Rich posted at the same time as me. I agree, Dude. Stop lurking and post on your chosen topic. Hypothetical complaints from hypothetical reading, non-chatters is irritating. And the serious posters can also sling insults. I read that Frank like to use "fire" just the other day. I've seen Terry use fire. I've certainly seen Geek, when he comments on swimming, use fire. Fire away.
I think one of the problems may be that frequent posters don't understand that the forum has a much wider audience than they imagine. When I entered the forum just now, there were 116 viewers. Of the 116, only 17 were members of the forum. The remaining 99 were guests. These are viewers that are unable to post. Additionally if you look at our member directory, the vast majority of members rarely, if ever, post. I would be one of the members that fall into that category. So while we have about a dozen posters who chat back and forth with one another, there are a multitude of us who have no interest in the chatter.
I guess the 800 people viewing on Feb. 1 were only reading the SR threads ... You seem to assume that the majority of non-posters/readers agree with you. While some new members who actually now post have said that they do not.
I'm not sure I follow your logic all that much. You don't post, but you begrudge posting by the dozen or so "chatters," who you have no interest in. (It seems like some of those "chatters" might be serious swimmers or swimming in meets or interested in swimming in meets.) So the forum would be best if it was antiseptic and plain vanilla and technical for the serious non-chatters who like to read but do not bother to post themselves? Maybe there are also some non-serious non-chatters who like to read and laugh before swim practice or bedtime?
It sounds like, despite being unoffended, you'd like all the non-serious posters to take a hike because you dislike banter and just want to read Frank and Terry. You want the benefit, but not the banter?
Maybe some more non-post readers can register and weigh in on this weighty topic.
I see Rich posted at the same time as me. I agree, Dude. Stop lurking and post on your chosen topic. Hypothetical complaints from hypothetical reading, non-chatters is irritating. And the serious posters can also sling insults. I read that Frank like to use "fire" just the other day. I've seen Terry use fire. I've certainly seen Geek, when he comments on swimming, use fire. Fire away.
