How To Prevent Threads Going OT ??

[MasterDon]

..

It aint broken...so why looking for a fix..

It takes a lot to be a mod and keep a cool head etc etc...very rare species of folks IMHO

yeah then i guess...as long as peri doesnt complain of post overloading and providing things run this smooth in the future,it's better to leave things as they stand

and MADZ...we're still waiting for your desicion on OT restrictions

[MasterDon]

ha ha ha aren't you quite the comedian. i'll leave this one for Peri to take over lol

LOL...and yet so far no reply from the grand poobah himself.....damn i'd hate to be on the receiving end of that verbal assault

[JadeyBlitzen]

Me too like going bit of OT but what S_N meant was nothing about your opinion of being OT. Its about your quote and for those who still can't take it can either go join a german automotive forum or get a life

Wasn't it rude?

S_N too like going a bit og OT and he has already mentioned that and even kindly disagreed with KLMs post.

as i said earlier i didnt mean it literally. my point is sticking to just mechancs based chit chat is just boring. i mean how would you feel when u log into the forum to realise that the only thing you can talk about is why someones engine is losing compression? well we could i suppose to a certain extent. but its not the slightest bit entertaining (ok maybe there's the satisfaction of helping out someone). but there are some of us like me who post on regular basis. we don't do it just to help out a person with his car. but also a bit of automotive based entertainment. and i doubt if the forum was all serious and we always spoke about car related issues, well we could, but we'd probably go mental. and i doubt half the people would log in on day to day basis. and if u didnt get my joke. what i meant was german are very technical got no sense of humour and they could talk about boring topics forever. and if your life isnt limited to just cars and mechanical bits that means you do have a life

Just to clarify mate, what I meant was that your comment (which has been highlighted in bharath's post) was not exactly a polite thing to say.... Even if it was meant as harmless banter (which it probably was), im sure you can appreciate how it might be interpreted in the wrong way...

yes i agree. for anybody who was in some way offended here's my apologies. no offence but sometimes some jokes don't go down really well in well sl. and its completely my fault.

Hay mate, why are you passing rude hint’s on MOD’s without any valid reason?

Well if I were you I would not crack down these kinda jokes to MOD’s in ANY forum. Consider yourself is lucky since AL MOD’s are bit cool and they have a good sense of humor...,but I advice not to push your luck because you are asking for unnecessary trouble and for your information all the MOD’s in AL are working on voluntarily basis and they are doing a great service by maintain the forum when ever possible while they do their regular full time jobs.

again! my joke has gone too far. i didnt mean you are jobless in any way. in fact i wasnt hinting at the team in anyways. i was just refering to people like me who log on sometimes on hourly basis. cos its their opportunity to have a go at being a mod i appreciate you service mate. and i'm sorry if you misunderstood mate. i'll think twice next time before i post such a comment

[Pericles]

LOL...and yet so far no reply from the grand poobah himself.....damn i'd hate to be on the receiving end of that verbal assault

What, me? I didn't take it as an assault. It was clearly a joke. Besides, it says the jobless people can get in line to be moderators, not that jobless people are moderators or moderators are jobless people. Just means that its quite demanding of your time so its not something you can do if your busy.

I still take the time out to check every post that going on here. Might not be able to stay online all the time, but I'm glad that the forum has matured this much over the years, to the point its almost self moderated. Heck, I spent three days offline for the match, just catching up on stuff in the evening, and there were no issues. Specially coz Dev was there too and not posting 30+ messages for me to check I used to worry about the hour spent to travel home, coz THAT was enough time for people to start a fight. Now we just need to keep an eye for the occasional marketing attempt.

I'd rather see what the sentiments on the OT thing is. Even I go OT quite a bit. Guess its a side effect of a bunch of people who have gotten to know each other and their lives personally after meeting online. Heck, we've even got wedding invites after meeting on AL. Even most of the OT stuff stems from comments related to the a comment on the topic, like the OT tangent on the Nano thread. As long as its not completely off base and results in a huge thread hi-jack, I personally don't feel its too much of an issue.

Besides, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy coz so many people are saying I'm doing a good job

[Ripper]

What, me? I didn't take it as an assault. It was clearly a joke. Besides, it says the jobless people can get in line to be moderators, not that jobless people are moderators or moderators are jobless people. Just means that its quite demanding of your time so its not something you can do if your busy.

I still take the time out to check every post that going on here. Might not be able to stay online all the time, but I'm glad that the forum has matured this much over the years, to the point its almost self moderated. Heck, I spent three days offline for the match, just catching up on stuff in the evening, and there were no issues. Specially coz Dev was there too and not posting 30+ messages for me to check I used to worry about the hour spent to travel home, coz THAT was enough time for people to start a fight. Now we just need to keep an eye for the occasional marketing attempt.

I'd rather see what the sentiments on the OT thing is. Even I go OT quite a bit. Guess its a side effect of a bunch of people who have gotten to know each other and their lives personally after meeting online. Heck, we've even got wedding invites after meeting on AL. Even most of the OT stuff stems from comments related to the a comment on the topic, like the OT tangent on the Nano thread. As long as its not completely off base and results in a huge thread hi-jack, I personally don't feel its too much of an issue.

Besides, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy coz so many people are saying I'm doing a good job

fully with you on the OT thing...

if OT is completely axed...this place wont be the same IMHO but that's just me

[The Don]

Hi,

I think as a forum we need to let content grow organically. This means sometimes we a little OT, but that is part of being a forum.

I think if we try to be too heavy handed in handling this issue a lot of the good humour and enjoyment people get from this forum will be lost. I mean this is a little more than than just a source of good information, this is a living breathing community.

So perhaps the best thing is for a moderator or somebody to just to point out things are going a little OT and point everybody back to the topic under discussion. Anything more will do more harm than good in my opinion.

The Don

[MasterDon]

What, me? I didn't take it as an assault. It was clearly a joke.

no no...you got me wrong peri...what i meant was that i'd hate to be on the receiving end of one of YOUR assaults

[Pericles]

no no...you got me wrong peri...what i meant was that i'd hate to be on the receiving end of one of YOUR assaults

Ohhhh..... well..... I'll try not to

Ha ha, that emoticon reminds me of the time I smacked Madmax like that for misbehaving in my car and his glasses flew off and out the window I remember him scrambling around the road as blind as a bat looking for it! Almost got run over by a bus too!

[Supra_Natural]

Ohhhh..... well..... I'll try not to

Ha ha, that emoticon reminds me of the time I smacked Madmax like that for misbehaving in my car and his glasses flew off and out the window I remember him scrambling around the road as blind as a bat looking for it! Almost got run over by a bus too!

lol, yeah its been awhile since we've seen one of those trademark Peri verbal assaults

I would like to add at this point my gratitude to you for the superb job of moderating you manage to keep doing, even though you log on less than you used to

Cheers mate!

[Devinda_Z]

Ohhhh..... well..... I'll try not to

Ha ha, that emoticon reminds me of the time I smacked Madmax like that for misbehaving in my car and his glasses flew off and out the window I remember him scrambling around the road as blind as a bat looking for it! Almost got run over by a bus too!

i'd have paid money to see all that - nothing like reality comedy!

[JadeyBlitzen]

What, me? I didn't take it as an assault. It was clearly a joke. Besides, it says the jobless people can get in line to be moderators, not that jobless people are moderators or moderators are jobless people. Just means that its quite demanding of your time so its not something you can do if your busy.

phew!

[Saturn]

Hay mate, why are you passing rude hint’s on MOD’s without any valid reason?

Well if I were you I would not crack down these kinda jokes to MOD’s in ANY forum. Consider yourself is lucky since AL MOD’s are bit cool and they have a good sense of humor...,but I advice not to push your luck because you are asking for unnecessary trouble and for your information all the MOD’s in AL are working on voluntarily basis and they are doing a great service by maintain the forum when ever possible while they do their regular full time jobs.

Madz, I don't think JadeyBlitzen is trying to be rude.. he's just being humorous..

Now, to get back on topic.. the truth is that it's technically impossible to prevent threads going off topic - see this one for example . The best you can do is encourage people to be on topic when they start to drift, and ban people who are purposefully disruptive.

End of the day, forums are non-formal conversation areas, and when people have conversations,and they tend to drift. The best thing people can do is personally make an effort to stay on topic, and set an example by their actions... eventually others will hopefully be inspired to follow.

Also, people could probably try to do is try to get a thread back on topic when the conversation drifts. It's not guaranteed to work but it helps.

Lastly, this is a small forum with a handful of users, if we personally made an effort, the problem would be solved

Edited April 2, 2009 by Saturn

[Devinda_Z]

Besides, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy coz so many people are saying I'm doing a good job

aawww!

but true that lone ranger!

I still take the time out to check every post that going on here. Might not be able to stay online all the time, but I'm glad that the forum has matured this much over the years, to the point its almost self moderated. Heck, I spent three days offline for the match, just catching up on stuff in the evening, and there were no issues. Specially coz Dev was there too and not posting 30+ messages for me to check I used to worry about the hour spent to travel home, coz THAT was enough time for people to start a fight. Now we just need to keep an eye for the occasional marketing attempt.

hmmm is that an insinuation that i need to baby sitting or at the very least to be watched?

I'd rather see what the sentiments on the OT thing is. Even I go OT quite a bit. Guess its a side effect of a bunch of people who have gotten to know each other and their lives personally after meeting online. Heck, we've even got wedding invites after meeting on AL

getting to know the regular posters personally (and in the case of the ones based in the island,being able to meet up with them[& even more to the point being able to get along with them] certainly makes the difference in keeping the forums clean n fuss free, not to mention just that bit more interesting

after all, we've gotta keep each other entertained right?!

there are quite a number of lurkers in the forum - so they'll be satisfied with the mundane bits about the fuel consumption of X,Yor Z car , but for the rest of us who frequent AL , its more about the comraderie at this stage me thinks

[Pericles]

hmmm is that an insinuation that i need to baby sitting or at the very least to be watched?

No it means I check every thread, and it requires a lot of time when that many entries pop in at once. Its not that you need to be watched, its that there has been activity on a thread, and I can't assume that just coz you posted last, that there hasn't been something else added before that.

[Ripper]

there are quite a number of lurkers in the forum - so they'll be satisfied with the mundane bits about the fuel consumption of X,Yor Z car , but for the rest of us who frequent AL , its more about the comraderie at this stage me thinks

ditto that m8

[Kavvz]

Ohhhh..... well..... I'll try not to

Ha ha, that emoticon reminds me of the time I smacked Madmax like that for misbehaving in my car and his glasses flew off and out the window I remember him scrambling around the road as blind as a bat looking for it! Almost got run over by a bus too!

Pericles, you HIT Madmax? Man, why on earth would you do that? ( Now I'm assuming by hit, you mean hit upside the head in a non-threatening "ado-machang-wait-you-bugger" kinda of way but still...)

Edited April 3, 2009 by Kavvz

[Pericles]

Pericles, you HIT Madmax? Man, why on earth would you do that? ( Now I'm assuming by hit, you mean hit upside the head in a non-threatening "ado-machang-wait-you-bugger" kinda of way but still...)

I said smacked. Meaning upside the head like the emoticon. And I said he was misbehaving in my car, which I don't like when I'm driving. Anyway, he moved his head, so I missed and my fingertips caught the end of the arms of his glasses, which was what made it fly off.

[isam]

Hay mate, why are you passing rude hint’s on MOD’s without any valid reason?

Well if I were you I would not crack down these kinda jokes to MOD’s in ANY forum. Consider yourself is lucky since AL MOD’s are bit cool and they have a good sense of humor...,but I advice not to push your luck because you are asking for unnecessary trouble and for your information all the MOD’s in AL are working on voluntarily basis and they are doing a great service by maintain the forum when ever possible while they do their regular full time jobs.

I think MADZ's got a very valid point there. Mods and Admins keep the forum clean and going. We MUST respect and appreciate them for what they do. Its not an easy job being a Mod or an Admin (If you ever were a mod or admin you would know the burden). Imagine what the forum would be if there was filth and all nucense were on it? that's food for thought.

MADZ, I don't think Blitzy mean any disrespect. He was just joking around without much thinking. Having said that all of us need to think twice before we post on a sensitive topic like this.