observations

[AndrewT]

Guys I rekon it's about time we tone it down a little on here.

Lately a simple thread such as organising an offroad trip has been turning into a massive "conversation" (60+ posts) with technical questions, immature sexual inuendo, and general chit chat all mixed in. It's very tough to follow and results in a huge jumble where its impossible to figure out the actual details of the proposed trip and who is actually going.
I beleive its becomming a turnoff to some people which is clearly not a good thing.

It's a common problem which happens to heaps of forums - threads going way way off topic. If something is said in a thread which triggers a question in your mind, or you feel needs debate - start a new thread in the appropriate section, its not hard.
This is not an MSN chat.
I'm going to make a concerted effort in this area myself.

I'm posting in the WA section because I think we are the worst offenders for this.

Please try to respect that this is a family orientated forum with a wide demographic of members from many walks of life. We all have a common interest (offroad Suby's) but we are all very different.

I don't want to dictate how people act on here, or lay down any rules. As always on the internet it's up to the individual how they act. I'm just making some general observations to try and make some people aware that their antics (while possibly fun or amusing at the time) can have an overall negative impact on here if you aren't mindful of others.

Lets all just be friendly towards one another and try to remember, MANY people read your posts, not just the person you are specifically responding to.

that is all...be well! =)

[Subafury]

yeh fair enough. old man jk

[BrennyV]

I can see were ya coming from Andrew. On the same note not all threads have to be serious I think or well or become bored and sooky but for things like sale adds, trip eoi's and general brainstorming maybe give the stupidness a miss.

My 2c worth :P

[AndrewT]

yup dats exactly it, of course not all threads. That would be hell boring.

[subybrumby]

Hear Hear..well said...I think its great to get onto a site where we can discuss something that we all have in common...subarus. I've learnt a lot of technical stuff from you guys that's helped me a lot with my little ute.....we can give constructive comment and still keep it light hearted...

Thanks Andrew,,..you make sense

Trevor
Toowoomba

[L-Raiser]

< nods >

....I agree with all that you've said there Andrew.....and thank you for saying it too. I've encountered this on a few occations in here which has put me off this forum somewhat.... I was very eager to catch up all the WA members at a BBQ Social Gathering once that was posted in here which turned into such a long thread way off topic ( mostly a select group of lads who only wanted to engage each other in conversation ) and a few of us basically got ignored through most of it......not a very welcoming reception at all....

.....my five cents worth

L-Raiser

[Alex]

*puts manners back in*

alex

[Milla]

agree with the off topic thingo, bout time sumone said somethin. but where do u draw the line on the jokes...gotta keep it interesting. put in your 2 cents of useful info, add a bit of humour move on. anything else to add make another thread...

[90brumby]

mabye if we made a off topic chat type thread

i donno it may help

[cooloothin]

or use msn / skype / icq / yahoo / jabber etc etc as suggested?

majority of the time a whole swag of people who appear to just enjoy a good-natured chat also appear to be online at the same time, going by the forum stats at the bottom..

Thanks Andrew. Sometimes things come out the way they are intended far better when coming from an old timer like yourself

[Subafury]

or use msn / skype / icq / yahoo / jabber etc etc as suggested?

majority of the time a whole swag of people who appear to just enjoy a good-natured chat also appear to be online at the same time, going by the forum stats at the bottom..

Thanks Andrew. Sometimes things come out the way they are intended far better when coming from an old timer like yourself

ahaha andrew is an old timer. at 26.

[Suba]

that must mean I am ancient , my eldest son is 27.

Mike.

[D3V1L]

hahahha...i had a feelin you would bring something like that up mike

[Outback bloke]

The Moderators on here used to try and edit/move/delete posts that get way off topic but it just gets too much. It also upsets people if their posts go "missing" and the moderators have copped heaps via PM about it over the years.

It is pleasing to see some one other than a moderator speak up about it. I hardly read any posts any more because of this sort of thing.

BTW, I am not thinking of any one person saying this either, just a general observation.

There is the off topic section down the bottom for that sort of thing. I can also add a chat feature to the site if there is enough interest in it but previous trials have shown it to be not popular.

[AndrewT]

I think a live chit-chat feature would be awesome....given the change we've seen in the last 6 months or so the forum has been getting used pretty much like this anyway. Only a few minutes between posts sometimes in some of these long threads.
If it's not too much trouble perhaps another trial would be good =)
I was going to suggest putting up a pole to guage people's interest but it might even be worth adding the feature anyway (after all its just an optional feature which shouldn't intrude on people not interested in using it). It's hard to form a balanced opinion on something without seeing it in action first.

I can see one possible drawback and that is conversations going by in there with top-notch advice/solutions comming up without being documented in the form of a normal thread, but I guess people will post up important questions anyway to get a response from people who may not be online at the time.

Interesting to think about, again I rekon definitely worth a trial.

[vidler]

ill second that andrew. when there's 5 pages of off topic chat to sort through to get the details of an outing it gets frustrating. im not on here super duper lots asyou can tell by my post count... some people have joined this year and have twice the posts to their name.

who likes eggs here?


joking....