Bravo finstone! Bravo Jim Richards! Funny, I mostly stay out of OT for the reasons you just gave. g'head, search "Windows" here and see the childish, inflammatory knee-jerk posts of the petulant OT-camper Apple fanboys.

It's odd, but the majority of posters in PAR OT don't get all wound up like the (few) fragile OT-campers here. Sure, PAR-capers glibly throw about digs and counter points, but I rarely get the feeling that they are coming completely unhinged like some here do.

meh, as the PAR OT disclaimer reads - have thin-skin? it's not for you.

I think it was a good idea and still is. What was the event which lead to its creation? When did it start up?

Well, you know the old saying... people get bent out of shape when they're not getting enough sex. I think that's what *really* started it... not enough sex, and then someone said "neener neener neener" and then things got out of hand so to speak... but there's no way to actually prove that, of course. ;)

__

I think you started it.

Well, I had a little role under the table, but it was a union job and that's all they had left. You know those senior union guys get all the good roles...

Oops, gettin' parfy.

__

Yeah, but what if diving in poo isn't your thing?

Yes we need PARF

I can tell you how OT was formed.

Back in 2002 this place was called Off Topic Rants

That's right - Rants! --the garbage bin for tech posts gone awry.

Then this guy called island911 lobbied Wayne to change it to something less nasty. see:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/83839-hey-wayne-how-bout-change.html

From there, a few of us - a bit bored with the repeating tech stuff- started discussions about everything else. Even tabs -as provocative as ever- was a big help in keeping the OT ball rolling.

Years go by, and another split happened. One place for nuanced discussions on political gamesmanship, and regular OT for theme and variation of butt-shots and computer financing schemes. --just don't say it's a WINdows computer. -that's the http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...leys/devil.gif around here.;)

I feel the same way about the Boxster forum.

When I started here there was no PARF.

I was posting to the 944 BBS to get ideas about my new to me Porsche.

Someone mentioned long spoons and it got kicked to OT... and that was my demise.

Originally there was very little political or religious posted here.

But in recent years the human race has decided everything needs to have a political spin on it.

I posted on OT asking if anyone could recommend a Christian BBS a while back... absolutely no religious content, but actually looking for direction to some place to share my religious beliefs online (and not bother the haters here).

I got several helpful posts, a few jokes, and a few hatefully.

That is just crazy talk!!!

It must be rough dealing with all those hair dressers and interior designers. :D

No doubt I remember it happened, I just forget when. Who was president when it first appeared? What year?

If you're looking for a reason to keep PARF, now is not a good time to visit and look for it's good points.

It's like Wayne through a get together at his place, many interesting and likeable people came and enjoyed the visit. Then the party crashers came and started hurling insults and obscenities at Wayne's guests so they went home, and the crashers stayed.

Bush's fault.

Jim, I agree and there have been some great comments on why PARF should remain. I believe it should. Contrary to the generalized view of PARF, I have had some good exchanges there and have actually appreciated some differing opinions and learned a thing or two.

There seems to be a cadre of individuals who just infect many threads once they get started. Like some here have stated in not going to PARF, I do a similar thing when things go south in a thread. Also the PM to clarify points helps in a number of ways: as getting to know someone on a more detailed basis.

Baz is actually a good PARFer as his persona (and others like him) can calm things down and actually kill an infected thread.

The new banning is still very tolerant of behavior that is a detriment to Pelican as a whole but given time it is going to have the same impact of culling out the most serious disrupters.

My observation is that there seems to exist some folks who, IMHO, are hell bent to get PARF killed. I mean who can blame Wayne (the owner of this business) and the Mods for just getting sick of it all. But even with that understandable position I cannot lose the feeling that some folks who are not allowed free reign to just piss people off with their behavior; have the motive to kill the site for their own selfish and perverse reasons. They just want to see what they can achieve.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1383847215.jpg

this thread is useless without pics LOL

I would add Dottore and Cloggie to that group. I appreciate the posts by those not only from other sections of the USA but those from other Countries, now that may not seem like much but to me it is one of the pearls in the pile.

You can blame me (at least partially) for PARF. I was a strong instigator/supporter of separating the two. I was very tired of the whole front page of OT being about politics and religion. I don't know what PARF is like now, because I don't go there, but these types of threads were very heated and nasty back in the day, so I personally had no interest in them. Regardless of the way you feel about PARF, it serves its purpose quite well and those that want to read that type of content have a great forum to participate. Off topic is a much better place now without PARF type threads monopolizing the front page.

I don't really understand this issue here. Nobody is being disenfranchised in any way. Anybody that wants to view a PARF thread can do so easily by clicking on the link. It is not difficult to do. By having separate pages, we have more diverse subjects on the front page on any given day. The more forums available, the more efficient it is for the reader to view the topics they want to read. We have two great forums for their specific purpose...we should not only embrace this, but celebrate the fact that Pelican provides this great service.

PARF sometimes requires the skill to remain calm in bloody water!;)

I think all that technical stuff is off topic.

I'm pleased I made Shaun's short list. I like heading in there. I can't discuss politics with my wife....she's as rabid as some of the characters in PARF. So its good to have a place to go....or leave.

I don't like the people in PPOT that 3 posts into a benign semi political discussion scream "PARF" as if they can't ignore the thread and it will get non their shoes. We had a good discussion on Zimmerman for many weeks before it tipped off the main PPOT.

I'm on a forum where someone posted that motorcycle robbery video where the their was shot. Some said "that's good for the taxpayers. ". /thread closed insane.

It is only natural that PARF is the way it is. As soon as a topic becomes the least bit uncomfortable for anyone in OT...a hue and cry immediately begins to send the thread to PARF. Often it begins even before there is objectionable content because the OP states something like "don't PARF this up" or "this will probably end up with the idiots at PARF" responding." Without PARF, where will you send threads when something you disagree with is posted? It will certainly change the bar of what is allowed in OT.

Why would Wayne keep PARF? Because he is an incredibly smart man...and it is good business. Look at the post counts for people who spend time on PARF. Hits are advertising and potential sales. As long as he feels it helps his business more than hurts it...it will endure (unless we become too annoying).


I don't buy as many parts as I once did (because all three of my Porches are perfect and pristine now)...but I do buy all of those parts here. Regardless of price. OT is not interesting enough to bring me back...and I learned everything I needed to know on the technical board the first 5 years...and taught others everything I knew about Porsches the second 5 years. Now those guys are teaching others.

Personally I liked it better before PARF. I liked posting on all topics. I figured that if you don't want to discuss an issue, don't open the thread. Since a large number of folks didn't see that as enough, PARF was the most viable solution. It annoys me that moving the topics some folks didn't like to another forum just isn't enough for some who now want to close a treasured (for some of us) place to post about and debate our interests (civics). It is not like there are many better places to debate these issues as they are certainly unsafe topics in the workplace etc.

Do we really need the Stijn thread? Maybe I will start another topic.

Hey, I resemble that. :D

the list of names carved on the banana tree is short..
listing the dates of their stay..
problem is..
multiple entries are common..
so like our repeat offenders out in the real world..
some have figured out..
our island is really just a peninsula..
so..one slap..
then hang'm high & hang'm fast...
Comrades will get the idea..
but let's quit this..
wait till your dad get's home stuff..

Rika

Yes, but difference is that is one thread that doesn't spill vitriol over into the rest of Pelican. Whereas I have seen plenty of attacks over here, that were carry over from Parf.

When it all stays over there I am perfectly fine with parf, but it's when they start attacking each other here that I start to see where Baz is coming from.

The reason for PARF isn't the topics, but the behavior. The only problem is the door doesn't close tightly enough and the bad attitudes and childish attacks spill into OT threads about benign topics like tablet computers.

What? And lose at least 10% of my absolutely fascinating posts on this website? :eek:

I would say it us just the opposite. Bad behavior in OT and bad behaving posters spill over into PARF from OT...take a few shots and then retreat back to OT. You don't see treads sent to OT because people are being obnoxious...it is the exact opposite.

Someone please cue Kumbaya

I think there are some who want PARF killed so they can infect the OT section with their brand of insanity.

Keep the cage locked, else they have no where else to go.

It's like having a strip club on the bad side of town along the rail road tracks. It's there but you don't have to go in, you don't even have to drive by.

Whats with the green color? :D

We don't get threads sent to parf just because someone is being a child, they get sent over there because someone is spewing parf related content and being a child about it.

There have been plenty that stayed over here despite stupid stuff being said...

I have seen it both ways...

While we are on the topic...something else annoys me mightily about the threads that insult people who post in PARF or call for closing it. Many of the regular PARF posters...who are the worst miscreants chime in with their own pontificating posts flaming PARF and the other posters there (as if no one realizes that they stir the pot there themselves). Of course since no one in OT has or would ever post in the "PARF wasteland" how would anyone know?

From the shores of beautiful Ban Island and beyond...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vo9AH4vG2wA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.

Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. You wanna be were you can see, our troubles are all the same, You wanna be where everybody knows Your name.

You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name.

Some of you guys just need to stick to the "he appeared to be clinching his buttocks" threads. I guess no one gets offended when you discuss/make fun of bumbling local govt/elected officials/LEs...cause that one will never come to PARF, regardless of the slight political connotation.

You seem upset fint. :confused:

Nah...just trying to make a point. Imagine if I constantly lobbied Wayne to close one of the areas on the BBS that I didn't care to post on? Like the 944 area. I don't even want to read about "well set up" 944s...assuming that there really is such...yet it would never occur to me to urinate in their cornflakes. Singing Kumbaya is nice, but face it...Nirvana is just another 90s band. If one angry poster gets his frustration out of his system in PARF instead of on his wife or kids...it is a positive thing.

Indeed. I don't think too many here want to eliminate PARF. I think it's the best thing that's happened to PPOT since the start of the forums. A lot of people seem to support that, based on what I've read in this thread.