Candles, Freelancer and the Off-Topic Forum

Ignoring in any form doesn't bring a thread back to life once it's been set off course.

It only perhaps leaves a person a tad disappointed that the discussion they were initially interested in has diminished by people that they can't see.

Agreed, Terra. The "ignore" function in the user CP comes in very handy (as Claude mentioned). I have a handful of members on it, and it makes reading threads so much more enjoyable.

No problem. When the guy's avatars show they have more cleavage than I do, I'm not likely to embarrass myself with the same vein of imagery.

You can rest assured my motorcycle is all you'll see from me. I'm pretty sure at almost 62 nobody wants to see my naked anything

I don't want to derail this discussion about derailing threads, but you guys do understand I am just poking fun at a certain member here, right? ( It's Terra's fault! )

These days,I tend to to steer clear of threads about guns and politically orientated stuff, healthcare etc. The serious interjections and observations I have placed in them were often staunchly put down or ignored so I tend to say, well it's mainly Americans talking about there countries setup that they are used to and wish to debate. Fair enough. I have said all I can and want say about the topics in my comparisons with how the rest of the worlds runs things.

I have started some comedic threads but not many. My, Her Majesty the Queen repatriating America to the UK was one and it turned from something that was highly entertaining and light to a slanging match over a slight (unrelated subject) between an established member and a newbie, the newbie got banned and the thread got deleted. Riffles "This Wont End Well" comment was so true but for completely different reasons.

I like starting threads about science, or pseudo science and their has been hot, interesting debate as well as comedy. I don't really mind. When a how to do or fix this question thread comes up theirs always a bevy of people to give serious answers or solutions and no comedy.

I learn from this forum, all the latest news is often here very quickly, especially who's just died and the tributes and info about them that pour in. It is melting pot of people from all over the place, it is a public bar full of serious discussion and absurd discussion. The jokes and insults are very often very clever and provide some of the best comic lines I have ever read. It requires brain power and quick wit and intelligence to come out with them.

However, if I was an avid amateur Ornithologist, philosopher, political advocate, whatever or had a deeply passionate love of a subject that I wished to discuss in depth with no distractions, do you think I would come here, nope, off to a serious, specialist forum.

So, here, I, by default accept the rough with the smooth. A bit of everything. That is the nature of this beast.

made me choke with laughter - you honestly are funnier than most -

good! we can't let the guys think they are the only comedians around here!

I don't think there is a perfect solution, that's why I tried to find a middle ground so everyone could get some of what they wanted.


LOL, I wouldn't count on that - I can't even click a smiley and have it inserted in my posts anymore. I have to type them in manually.

Edited to add: And that emoticon you see above isn't even the one I tried to type in. That's the embarrassed emoticon, and I typed in the characters for what used to be the "shocked" emoticon.

Actually, what's really a shame is the mass departure of seasoned marketers from all the main and subforums. OT is just fluff. Nothing going on here except friends and not so friendly getting together at the pub for a few laughs and maybe some debate. We aren't shaping world policy or curing disease or anything else important. We're just shooting the breeze.

Just like any pub, there will be nerds, serious people, jokers, and jerks. It should be expected in a forum, really, especially when the topic is "no real topic" anything you want to talk about except politics and religion.

I get it.

Seriously, perhaps the best way to keep threads going in a serious direction, is to post something that really adds value, and is interesting. It is easy to get off track. But I've seen plenty of threads get back on track, with a few smart comments.

It's a sincere suggestion.




That's unfortunate, because your a class act, and you add value here.

Try about an hour

Given your detailed recollection of a thread 2 years ago I'm confident that 10 days won't prove to be unforgettable....

Is that empathy? I think you better have the psychopathic diagnosis thing checked again...are you sure your doctor didn't say psychopathetic instead?

I have only one thing that I am extremely sensitive about - and you found it. LOL. That's life. You had no way of knowing after years of joking that I had a flash point. Yet I've found that once you accidentally hit it, you've backed off all teasing with me. Anyone can hit someone's sensitive spot if they joke around enough. I'm sure over the years that I've hit a few. In fact, I think I found one of yours once, too.

While you did really smack me (for reasons someday I might actually tell you about and you might find interesting...or not), I'm kinda sorry that you seem to feel that kid gloves are necessary when addressing me now. They aren't. I've rarely in my life held it against someone for saying something that could be called "offensive" - about any subject including myself.

While sometimes when I'm trying to get into a discussion the humor will get to me a little, often there are some gems in the banter that are well worth the grin I get, so I at least lightly browse that BS while paying real attention to the actual subject. Being able to be yourself in here is extremely important - and I value that people feel free to be themselves, even when themselves are complete assholes. All in all, this may be the OT but it's still the OT in a business forum, and I have found over the years that it's the personality that comes out when the guard is down here in the OT that allows us to understand the person the best, and makes for the best decisions about who we want to do business with outside of the forum. If we have to masque who we are and the way we are thinking about anything, we lose the most valuable part of this forum.

I read the posts about the ignore feature and disagree. And my comment was about members, not guests. Guest can sign up and become members, it's up to them.


And, I've NEVER put anyone on ignore, either here or any other forum I've been a member of. But it's an option, as there are no perfect options.


This Off Topic forum says "anything goes", except for religion and politics. Like I posted above, I'll bet the political, religious and other argumentative posts and threads (like this one) hurt this forum far more than some of us having fun.


I suggest you spend more of your time concerned with the obvious threads and posts (like many made by the OP) that clearly break the rules and are combative and divisive. They hurt this forum much more than any joking around.


And there's times when I've posted something funny to try to intentionally derail a combative (or sometimes ignorant) thread.


People can carry on multiple conversations with different people in the same thread. They have in the past and they can in the future. That's what the scroll bar is for. And tolerance is also a form of courtesy.