Everything is nice here in Peaceful Village. I have a tendency to add what I would consider humor in some posts and some threads have actually strayed so far from the original thread heading that they have taken on a life of their own, such as the golf discussion on the "N Scale Speed" . I hope this is not a negative influence on regular posters here and is not "turning off" new members/lurkers/whatever. If it is, I will refrain and stay on topic without interjections that may be distasteful to some. Please advise.
I am so impulsive that I used to have: "I will not make off topic posts" in my sig. This was to help remind me not to. It is now habit for me not to or I will start a new thread. Caution: Generalization follows I feel model railroaders are a creative group of people. Creativity requires impulse or the idea might get squashed. I feel if kept to a dull roar that off toppic post should be ok. If it became an issue then perhaps a gentle reminder might be sent or the thread starter might make a comment. //That said, I wonder if I can get away with posting a pic of my MU unit train, Hi and Wide load on DRGW flats with a DRGW caboose.here .
Nothing wrong with a bit of humour (English spelling) or with some off-topic ramblings, as long as it gets dragged back on topic before too long
I kinda felt bad about discussing a railroad here in WV that doesn't even exist yet on a thread about a railroad in Montana!
Off topic is fine. I actually consider this site to be a major part of my social life. Feel free to digress. The things I will not abide are anything refering to politics. Particularly the war. There was a veterans thread on here a while back that I smashed into and got shut down. It made some people grumpy for me to be so anti American by not supporting our troops etc, but I'm not here to discuss the war so you can send each other email for that kind of happy thread because it just doesn't belong here. The other thing I won't go into is any form of spirituality: christian, jewish, muslim, hindu, budhist. That should be between you and god. I don't want to hear about it. Back to what you were talking about Foth. I enjoy the occasional foray off topic.
Let's see what you've got! Boxcab E50 </font>[/QUOTE]Ok, it will have to be Sunday night oh, and it will be a Canadian Pacific in a Multible Unit Lashup with a Unit Train of Hi and Wide Loads on DRGW flat cars and a Aspen Gold Caboose
Guilty as charged. I think occasional digressions are part of the community, especially if they show humor and wit. We joke about each others trains; we can joke about other stuff too. As long as it doesn't get out of hand . . . Besides, I suggested he use a golf hole on his N scale railroad, didn't I? Only Mark has to know the "real" distance between the flora. He could have a 440-yard par 4 along one side, and if a train went from tee to green in 15 seconds, then it would be traveling at 60 miles per hour (scale). He could even have a few cracked windshields or those unmistakable round dents on his locos or cars. To digress: my golfing wildness has become the stuff of legend around my "home" course. On the second hole, there's a 100-foot tall clock tower about 225 yards down, and at least 50 yards off the right of the fairway. The clock has a metal face. How do I know that? I hit it with an errant slice off the tee a few months ago--luckily, because otherwise the ball would have screamed through the fourth tee. The loud "clang" alerted every golfer in the area to duck. Given my luck, the ball ricocheted right into the middle of the fairway, 280 yards off the tee! End of digression. Perhaps I can follow my own suggestion and squeeze the edge of a golf course into one of the scenes on my railroad? And use it to calculate speed?
We do have a forum for all off topic subjects, the Cattle Car. Sports, opinions, Barb supplies us with neat puzzles to solve. Go check it out.
My grandmother used to always say, never discuss religion and politics. You're sure to get an argument. That's why I agree with traingeekboy- those topics don't belong here. Anyway, during the course of normal verbal discussion, don't we at times stray off topic?
It can be a fine line. If someone served in Iraq, and wants to relate his experience with the Iragi rail system, is that crossing the line?? I think traingeekboy should not give into temptaion and engage in threads he has philisophical disagreement on. Whether a topic gets locked or removed should be at discretion of the Admins.
I enjoy trainboard.com because of the variety of the threads - from someone's progress on their layout to new engines being released to 'mooning Amtrak'. I don't think the occasssional rambling threads is a problem of trainboard. Oh, and to the "religion and politics", you might want to add "sex".
Speaking strictly for myself. I come here to escape from the real world. Off topic threads that are clearly labeled don't bother me. I can avoid them. Off topic posts that are not part of socializing / humour / my wife just had a baby are irritating. They are also so seldom that I can’t recall ever seeing any here. I guess I’m saying that I’m in the: Please no politics or religion category. As for sex, there are children that read this board and as such it would be inappropriate.
That says it all. Check out the Cattle Car Forum and get the secret password. </font>[/QUOTE]OK, I'll post my Stupid Mistakes there.
The irony is that both the strength and weakness of this kind of interchange is the randomness and free flow of ideas. So, I am in favor of humor (big time, especially if only loosely related) and off topic posts, excepting those of religion and politics, as noted. Since we are a community here, we should open our disucussions up somewhat, as we feel comfortable. I am on a golf course design board, and the longest running current topic is what we shave with! I will probably go off topic on that board and post about a model railroader who hits clock towers 50 yards off the fairway...... Hey, if anyone should have a golf course on their layout, I suppose it should be me, as a golf course designer, but I don't have the room.
Pete, I agree with Mark Maybe post some in the Instpection Pit as they may have a more general / useful apeal to others scales as well.
