Off topic postings

[lewiskei]

Hi Folks,

< Start rant >
I have found lately that the off topic postings have increased a lot. A thread is started with a genuine question/comment etc then it just seems to turn into people smalltalking about nothing in particular with the odd posting in the middle which is relevant to the start of the thread. The problem is that you have to go through all the smalltalk to get to the relevant postings. Not only does this put me off, it takes up diskspace, bandwidth, wastes time and worst of all, it puts people off the forum as it is ending up more like a chatroom than a guitar forum.
< End rant >

< Start dragging myself out of hole I've just dug myself into >
I'm not really whingeing too much, or getting at anyone specific. I don't mind a bit of smalltalk as it can brighten up the forum, but it just seems that I'm spending more time looking for the answers and the useful information than I used to do.
Apart from that, I find the forums extremely useful and friendly.
Keep up the good work :D
< Stop dragging, open a beer, and chill out >

[Claire]

thta's why they made the new chat room, some of the off topic posting is my fault, sorry.....:o

[KaiN]

Like claire said, there is an irc channel just for this because I posted basically the same rant you did. So I started a chatroom for all of us to utilize.

Check out "IRC channel" thread found in the "Suggestions" forum.

[GuitarJo]

Yes its my fault too. I think most everybody has to stick some small talk in there. And too much just adds up, eh? I don't have MIRC but that is just my choice not to download it. I guess I'll have to downsize the smalltalk :)

[lewiskei]

Hey Ladies, I'm not on a witch hunt or looking for apologies or anything. I know the forums would be a pretty boring place without smalltalk. We're all here to help each other and have a laugh on the way :D
I just had an off day and sort of put my mouth in gear while my brain was still in neutral :o

Sorry if I caused any offence, I didn't mean to :(

[Claire]

lol where would we be without talk of moonpies! j/k! yeah i never saw the hurt in a little small talk, but that is just me!:D oh, and you didn't offend me:)

[GuitarJo]

Me either. I think you're right...it's just...hard...I do agree w/ Shawn though. ( I thought it was he who said that ). If we put an open board on here it would be just like another run-of-the-mill board and things would get very bleh very quickly.

[ESP_Viper]

I have no problem with off topic posting. It allows us people to connect on different levels than just guitar and music.

The off topic posting on here shows that people can get along. I understand how it can be bothersome, but I don't see a problem with it, UNTIL it dominates the guitar talk. But it never will.

Now... how much disk space does this hurt? A handfull of posts/threads is an insignificant ammount of data. If you were to go delete and ban off topic posting, it would most likely reflect very little changes in terms of resource usage.

[cyberfret]

Read Here.

http://www.guitarlodge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=6535

--Shawn

[popmusic_sux]

even though ive been guilty of that in the past, i agree, it has gotten a bit ridiculous, every other posts seems to go way off topic.

i am not without sin, so i may not cast the first stone...

[Claire]

i know that i had a part in it and i seriously never had any intention on ever going off topic. so yeah, i'm sorry.:(

[Hannu]

lewiskei, I don't know if your brains were in neutral or not but I definitely agree with you.

The rules forbid writing posts that does not concern music. The off topic posts and the little messages - which may include only one word like "OK" - are making the forum unclear and it's really truning it into a chat room... But like it has been said a couple of times, a little smalltalk between the lines is OK.

Shawn has made this site a great place for learning about playing the guitar and it's really unfair that the visitors are actually making the work harder than it already is.

Now I suggest that we think more before posting the next replay or thread. It doesn't help to be sorry about doing something if one doesn't do anything for stop doing it.

Peace.

[jaytee]

yeah and too bad that thread about mp3 was ruined cuz i was gonna mention how marshall has a really cool skin for winamp....doh!
of course amid all the BS posts prolly nobody woulda noticed it....see how all the off topic stuff messes up the forums?

[Claire]

Originally posted by Hannu
Now I suggest that we think more before posting the next replay or thread. It doesn't help to be sorry about doing something if one doesn't do anything for stop doing it.

Peace.

that is what i meant when i said i was sorry, that i was gonna cut down on mine, sorry i didn't make that clear:)

[cyberfret]

Originally posted by jaytee
yeah and too bad that thread about mp3 was ruined cuz i was gonna mention how marshall has a really cool skin for winamp....doh!


Yep, well 3 of our prime offenders decided that it would be...........tee hee..........funny..........tee hee...........after they were already warned...........tee hee..........TO PISS SHAWN OFF.

--Shawn

[fizz]

Lol - I never even got round to seeing that thread!

[FleaBass]

me niether man... well i did now

-

[Claire]

i was a little confused about all of that for a while but now i see....

[FleaBass]

yea well .... as much as this place can get off topic and crazy it is still the best most orginized forum i have EVER seen...

lol i even get lost in the metallica forums some times that place is like a war zone.. but idk maybe we should be more careful... but also i feel like some of the convos are what keep people here ya know... maybe we just got to be careful of what thread becomes a "chat" and which should stay imformationy

-

[cyberfret]

Originally posted by FleaBass
maybe we just got to be careful of what thread becomes a "chat" and which should stay imformationy
-

No.....no thread will become a "chat" thread.

--Shawn

[duffhackymaster]

How about we make an off-topic sub forum? This is a great way to get people to chat somewere besides guitar sub-forums. This is an easy was to fix a big problem.:cool:

[Jools]

Originally posted by duffhackymaster
How about we make an off-topic sub forum? This is a great way to get people to chat somewere besides guitar sub-forums. This is an easy was to fix a big problem.:cool:

cyberfret has said before that he doesn't want an off topic because they usually turn into flamefests etc...

[duffhackymaster]

Flamefest=???

[Zero]

People making fun of other people, Arguing over some little detail on something that is totally insignificant, etc...

[duffhackymaster]

Good point. They had "flamefests" at a real popular video game forum called ign. One turned into a war. Pretty funny but not good for a serious forum. I'll take my previous comment back.