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
We did exactly what everybody wanted, including the moderators. We started a new thread to try and contain/cut down on off topic posts in other threads. It doesn't matter how many posts were in that thread, the fact is, it's a separate thread very clearly labeled, and it's containing a lot of the silliness. I personally noticed a jump in SR threads after I made that and from the one's I've read I saw almost no off-topic banter on them.
It may have dumped one thread off the bottom of the page, which if it was down that far chances are people had stopped reading it anyway. And if someone really wanted to read it, heaven forbid they have to click to the next page or use the scroll button build into the mouse so you don't even have to move your fingers.
I'm sorry some feel the forums have lost their luster, but I think the overall community feeling has gone up. And while these are information swapping forums (which I believe still happens a great deal more than NSR), they are also a network of support and encouragement for older swimmers at different stages of training, life, competition, whatever.
We did exactly what everybody wanted, including the moderators. We started a new thread to try and contain/cut down on off topic posts in other threads. It doesn't matter how many posts were in that thread, the fact is, it's a separate thread very clearly labeled, and it's containing a lot of the silliness. I personally noticed a jump in SR threads after I made that and from the one's I've read I saw almost no off-topic banter on them.
It may have dumped one thread off the bottom of the page, which if it was down that far chances are people had stopped reading it anyway. And if someone really wanted to read it, heaven forbid they have to click to the next page or use the scroll button build into the mouse so you don't even have to move your fingers.
I'm sorry some feel the forums have lost their luster, but I think the overall community feeling has gone up. And while these are information swapping forums (which I believe still happens a great deal more than NSR), they are also a network of support and encouragement for older swimmers at different stages of training, life, competition, whatever.
