NSR: Message Board Etiquette

Well like it or not. I'd hazard a guess that only outgoing types post a lot...the others may post here and there. If you want a mos SR discussion, then discuss. I see a lot of references to lurkers and what not...well stop lurking and post. From this thread it seems lurkers are coming in and staying because of the warm atmosphere. I said it before; some of us, we have no team, no coach or no pool buddies. The people here fill those voids with the banter and useful advic. It's kind of like a virtual locker room/snack bar here. I don't want to irritate serious swim possters, neither does anyone else. We owned up to train wrecking the camp thread but it no point crying over it. We said we'd try to take the funny side to a new thread if that sort of opportunity arises. As for sancitfying some posters and maligning others that's bang out of order. We all err, we all make a few hasty responses...I've seen certain people who've been lauded in this thread use very unkind names to describe others...not nice but they were feeling provoked. It will happen. I'm not religious but this quote seems to stand out right now: "Let he(she) who is without sin cast the first stone."

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'm new, but I am going to make a suggestion. How about rather than creating more off topic posts by berating those that took it off topic you simply bring it back. I do not think we need to say, hey, jerks this is not what the topic was started for, but instead just restate the original post or ask a question. I'm not sure but I do not think that would be hard. There have been a few posts that have been mostly banter that I just skip. Maybe one day I'll join in. I want to learn more about swimming - technique, training, and so forth, but I also don't mind feeling like a part of a swim community. I've been away from the pool for many years after swimming in college. It's nice to feel apart of something again.

If you want a mostly SR discussion, then discuss. I see a lot of references to lurkers and what not...well stop lurking and post. that's bang out of order. I posted! :banana: :groovy: I'm outgoing. :wiggle: Didn't lurk long though, so I don't know all this sordid stuff. Who are Terry and Frank? I hope that's not "bang out of order" to ask. I guess I can sort out who the chatty dozen are ... Just look at the post counts? What happened to have 800 viewers? Was it another train wreck or a happy day?

My present conclusion from recent history and this discussion is that there is really no way to say "uh, we're getting off topic here", no matter how polite and unoffensive you try to be, without causing offense. This is understandable, no matter how polite one tries to be there is an underlying criticism of the off topic post, and by extension of the off topic poster. I had thought it might be possible to say "I have no problem whatsoever with you or what you are saying, I would just find it easier to follow this thread of conversation if you were to conduct your thread of conversation in another thread." Even if I add that there is every possibility I will go read that other thread and enjoy it, "please go away" is likely to be read into it. In many contexts the message "we're getting off topic" falls within accepted etiquette and can therefore be said without causing offense, but I don't think that is the case here, and I don't sense general consensus that it should be accepted etiquette here. Either way you look at it there is some inconvenience, either for the poster in starting a new thread, or for the reader in skipping over off-topic posts. So, until message board software gets more sophisticated, we are stuck with our differing views on inconvenience trade-offs, and we might as well just enjoy ourselves and get along as best we can. I do want to reiterate that I haven't had any problem with being offended by the content of any of the posts, I'm not very sensitive about risque content. For me it's strictly a matter of making it convenient to access the swimming related content. In any case, I have a better understanding of the dynamics now, so thanks for that. I think you're right, Lindsay. It's hard to say "now, go back to the assigned topic please" and not see a little frost. I have a feeling that, after all the recent debates, people will self moderate a little better. I'm just not sure that everyone else finds the funnies an "inconvenience." Some people don't mind at all. As Wren said so well, it helped get us on the forum in the first place. And the occasional frolic is good. For example, aside from the hilarious swim camp thread by Jim Thornton, I really like the "Which poster do you want to meet?", "Which poster do you want to race?" and Ande's USMS threadies threads. Everyone's personality, swimming knowledge, stroke preferences really shined through. Now, I'm going to mull over who I might want to race ... I think I know who I'd like to meet. :)

Terry was trying to help people. Some of us older folks appreciated his insights and were interested in his training methods. They may not work for everyone but they do work for some. Was he against fins? I like my fins.

Hi Nicky! Welcome. Terry is THE TERRY of TI or Total Immersion swimming. Thanks. Oh, I guess I've heard of him. I'd like to go on a world tour right now ... No fins? Really? I like my zoomers once in awhile. Aren't they good for doing some sprint training? My masters team does fin sets sometimes. (Sorry if I'm off topic. But since this is labeled NSR. :banana: )

As for sancitfying some posters and maligning others that's bang out of order. We all err, we all make a few hasty responses...I've seen certain people who've been lauded in this thread use very unkind names to describe others...not nice but they were feeling provoked. It will happen. Yes, I remember "Clydesdale."

You don't mess with family, even swim family. That's a big no-no in my book. And I don't like being stopped in the middle of a set because someone one lane over doesn't want to the set, because they are lazy. Other than that I am a peach 90% of the time ... the other 10% being in the very early AM hours ... Oh I was a feisty sista tonight!! The life guard starts flagging at me from the edge...with my ears full of water, this girl is whispering to me, and I'm treading water now having lost my count of laps my stroke rhythm and am just irritated because I was concentrating on bilateral breathing etc. I am all "What?" "What. I can't hear you?" and "You're interrupting my work-out!" I was quite the Diva! I finally got the message...she wanted me to move over because now it was "open swim time in my lane." I tried to swim the length back to shallow end where I entered...but had become so discomboulated that I stood up about 10ft out cursing under my breath and flung my vanquishers on the deck in annoyance. Well sure it's open swim..all 2 of them but what about the noodler-poodlers in the fast and moderate lanes...tell them to apple bob in open swim then. GRR

hey guys I tend to avoid bickering and do not read or participate on all threads but I encourage folks to support each other. I'm a fan of Kristin Armstrong's blog I loved her Beyond Compare December 17, 2006 post where in one section she wrote: "I noticed during our conversations yesterday that we are totally free to talk about our lives, the good and the bad, without judgment. As far as I can tell, no woman feels compelled to talk herself up or down, meaning there is no need to play it up, or downplay with useless (yet often typical in other social arenas) remarks of self-deprecation. A running group can be such a unique and supportive group of friends. One woman may be grieving a miscarriage or venting about sour office politics, while another is thrilled about a new client, date, adoption, or upcoming trip. But no one, and I mean no one, steals anyone's joy or minimizes anyone's pain. And this is within a diverse group of women who would have every possibility to be competitive...partners in law firms, business owners, authors, married, wish-they-were-married, wish-they-weren't-married, children, infertility problems, healthy, injured, financial success, or struggling to make ends meet. Some of us huff and puff up the hills, and others are "3 oh! something" marathoners. My point is this, I wish women could be more like this in other areas of life. I wish we could always support each other without comparing. I wish we could always allow others to be sad without trying to fix it. I wish we could always be happy for someone else without seeing the holes in our own lives. I wish we could always share in another's gratitude for good fortune instead of poisoning it with our own regret. I wish we could always laugh together without mirth coming at the expense of someone else. I wish we could always lift each other up without having to be on top. I wish we could always applaud other's gifts without pining. I wish we could always freely celebrate our own gifts without feeling the need to play small. Until then, I will appreciate my running friends for being consistently and undeniably real." from: rodale.typepad.com/.../beyond_compare.html I encourage us to be that way here. Each one of us has gifts and flaws, wounds and scars, successes and failures, I ask each person to: be nice make friends write the truth encourage have fun swim fast laugh out loud Ande