Getting More Strict with Off-Topic Posts...

[Overpaid Slacker]

If the "OT" traffic is causing or significantly contributing to some kind of overcapacity, then go Stalin on it.

But otherwise, I don't need to read every thread and it doesn't bother me when someone brings something not strictly technical to the clubhouse. In fact, I doubt I've had more than a handful of technical advice to give in the year or so I've been coming here.

The OT stuff is a bit of clutter, but it's also flavor. I can use the search engine and click through to see other pages to sort the wheat from the chaff.

In all honesty I think Jack's idea is good, and would've succeeded if it was part of the BBS from launch. I doubt many folks would migrate there. I think the CG would always be here.

The silver lining of this board going strictly technical, is that there will no longer be a need for the smilies.

JP

[MarkP]

It depends on what the defintion of the word is, is.

"Technical only" would be pretty tight and reduce the posts by probably 50% and IMHO would hurt the community that is so strong here.

My vote would be to keep the topics "911" focused and move everything else. I guess, the same as we see now, including the moves Jack made yesterday.

Speaking of Jack, for example, I think everyone very much enjoyed reading his OTC posts, but were they really 'technical'?

Is, is.

[BGCarrera32]

The point is that there is a line between "911 Technical Forum" questions and "I got screwed buying on ebay". There have been too many posts lately about people crabbing about this or that, and these type of posts actually diminsh the sense of "community" here in my opinion. Athough I find value in being warned about a vendor or product, the recent thread between an ebay customer and his vendor selling him 993 brakes...and all the nonsense and salty language that ensued isn't necessary here.

[KFC911]

Personally, I like it "just the way it is". I think the moderators do a fine job of moving the OT posts to where they belong (...but at least I can see them as being moved). As others have indicated, the search engine is more than adequate for retrieving the archived technical information. I too would be concerned that the current environment (...warts and all), would become stale if it were limited to 911 technical info only. To me, this place is really more of an 'online community' instead of just an information resource...just my .03 worth (...I added a penny due to inflation)!

[Hetmann]

Well, I think its working. The reason the 911 BBS is so popular it that there is something for everyone interested in the 911. I don't mind wading through some drivel to find a pearl. After all we are all at different points in our 911 journey. I enjoy a good laugh and would hate to see that aspect of the BBS vanish. Let's dispense with the flame wars, personal attacks and whatnot are not needed here, but keep the rest. I think you and the other moderators are doing a great job here and that's what keeps me coming back.

[PDACPA]

I agree Wayne, move them to another thread that is listed at the top. Jack's idea of a Driver's Lounge might work, but put an explanation that it is for non 911 tech and other car related comments. Just make sure we can tell its working, because for some reason, the Classifed thread has been showing Jason from 2/18 as the last post. It never updates and I know others have posted there (myself included). Maybe a computer glitch. I dumped my cookies a few times trying to get it to reset but it does not.

[Rot 911]

I've been here quite a while and one thing that keeps me coming back to this board and posting is the feeling that some of these guys have become my friends. I don't always agree with them, but I can't think of a better group of guys and gals that I would want to hang out with. So I would rather put up with some "off topic" than start messing with a winning program. I've been a member of the Rennlist board as long as I have been here, but the board itself doesn't have that sense of community. I've posted on Pelican over 1900 times. My postings to Rennlist in the same amount of time is around 145 times. I think that says alot about this board. My advice is let the moderators you have make the call. Some things may appear off topic, but the moderators know that the majority of the group wants it to stay (like Nostatic's wife problems and his eternal search for the 911 of his dreams, or who can forget Leland's postings from the middle east?). Keep things the way they are!

[Joe Bob]

Like a Harley...if it ain't broke, don't fix it....leave it the way it is.

[RickM]

Aside from technical changes I agree with keeping it the way it is...I appreciate the Board's leniancy. To Kurt's point if the guidelines for posting are too rigid then many people (including myself) will be aprehensive when posting a "grey" topic.

BTW, the moderators are doing a great job!

[RickC]

My guess is that world events have challenged what is a good structure for quieter times, and that the 911 tech forum will settle down in the weeks ahead. Maybe temporary strictness just to teach us all a lesson would help slow things down until quieter times return.

Maybe Off-topic needs to be a little more visible or renamed. I didn't even look for it for the 1st year I was here.

It would be good to find a way to slow down the technical posts as the tougher questions take longer to get a satisfactory answers, and often don't get the chance because of more basic questions, politics, etc.

[johncj8989]

I think the thing that sets the board apart from others like "Rennlist" which is essentially at a standstill, is the fact that it is a community where people get together and just conversate and share experiences...generally about Porsche related material but also other slightly off topic automotive stuff. I do agree that the political stuff should be reserved for somebody elses web space, but the reason I tune into Pelican is to get a smile and pick up some valuable info at the same time. It can be very entertaining in here at times. That is why you are growing in leaps and bounds. You have created a Porsche community in here. Wayne I say dump all political and confrontational threads but let some of the other stuff slip through to keep your site enjoyable and hence on the cutting edge of PORSCH'O'MANIA

[Thomas Owen]

Whatever you do, please do not add another link at the top of the page. Even with my high res display the posts start toward the bottom of the first page. If you find you must add more links, then put something in as an option that allows the user to designate what is on the top of the first page.

[Sean Hamilton]

Originally posted by mikez
Like a Harley...if it ain't broke, don't fix it....leave it the way it is.

........ And now "I'm" biased.
A recent O.T. about my broken bones and Harley was allowed to be posted here - three pages of well wishes from my Pelican buddies overwhelmed me.
I vote to keep it as it is.

[9XI]

I like your current system of moving the OT messages and leaving a link for a little while on the main board to let everyone know that a message has been moved. It gives the OT posts the exposure they seek, and it serves as a sort of reminder of the fact that the board should be focussed on Porsches.

[OVRSTR]

I'm kinda new here but I believe it's just about perfect the way it is now. Plenty of technical know how and advice when you need it and at other times very entertaining in many other ways. The off-topic area is a dungeon...not alot of action there. Like many others on this thread have said, this board is more like a community than a heartless, sterile den of information. I look foward to logging on and reading the threads of my fellow posters on a daily basis. This board is unique...look at your traffic compared to Rennlist! Mike

[lendaddy]

I vote no change, a little seasoning is welcome to me.

[old_skul]

Gah! Wayne singled me out as the Gestapo. And I'm the *last* person in the world to want to censor anyone. As a matter of fact, I was one of the people who'd yell at Wayne for being a board nazi.

There's a fine line between an anarchistic forum, where 90% of the posts are off-topic, and a sterile, boring one, where 100% of the posts are *on* topic. When I move off-topic threads, it's typically a thread that is indeed off-topic, but if it's interesting to the "car guy" set I'll leave it up for a few hours.

It's a cyclical thing. We go through periods of lots of off-topic posts. People see them getting moved, and they chill out. It seems to work.

[Chuck Moreland]

I think it's fine the way it is. But this issue keeps coming up and right-or-wrong you want to reduce the traffic.

Past efforts have been to try and give people new forums to offload the "community" discussion. Never works because you don't achieve critical mass needed on the other forums. So everyone comes back here.

I had a former boss that loved to say "the definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing, while expecting a different result".

Maybe it's time to try something new. Stop trying to move the "community" discussion, instead move the "technical" discussion.

Leave this forum alone. Create a "911 Strict Technical Discussion" forum with a link at the top of this forum. Be a total nazi about strict technical discussion only. Put a sticky at the top of that forum that explains the tight guidelines.

I'd look at that forum, in addition to this forum. I believe you'd get critical mass on that forum because it is the core of why we are here. Yet the community would continue un-abated right here.

[johncj8989]

I'm with Chuck...very well spoken btw. This is "The Pelican Community Forum" the fellowship of the Porsche ring if you will.

[juanbenae]

im with chuck too, unless there are drinks served in the drivers lounge and taxi's home, on wyane.