Apologia

[joelbct]

A forum is something where, when you post, you are supposed to stay on the topic started by the original poster, and what you write has to have some relevant interest.

I hate forums like that... might as well be reading a technical manual. The whole point of forums is that they enable real people to connect, be social, and communicate even over large geographical distances. Forums do die when people aren't allowed to ask a question without searching to see if it was already asked and answered 5 years ago, or to have off-topic digressions and humor... kills the life of the thing.

[Thirsty Daruma]

Oops! Looks like I missed much of the plot in this story, but gotta echo most everyone else here that, while there is a fine line between quaint conversation and inane chatter, you have NOT crossed that line into the latter.

[ABx]

I actually thought Sal was being sarcastic when I read the OP. That goes beyond lame, and I can't believe anyone would complain. I think Sal contributes quite a lot to the forum, and TeaDay just really isn't an issue (I don't use it, but I do see it's value).

[Wesli]

Ok, well I think there is a problem. I think this will give you guys an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTUDW93z6E

[Space Samurai]

cos that never gets old

[Chip]

"What does this have to do with them attacking Salsero?" Nothing, but as we've seen, whatever attack this was is just a nuisance not to be taken personally. It's the difference between telling someone "You smell like shit, get away from me," and "Check the bottoms of your shoes, friend."

Now, I don't want to antagonize myself, but this isn't about me. If I were new here and opened a thread to ask a question, only to have a page of posts going off on a tangent, I'd be pretty pissed off.

Hell, I get pissed off every time I use TeaChat to research, and end up having to dig through dozens of off-topic posts just to find responses that are of any value. Reading "I don't know," or "cool," or "me too" gets old. Seriously.

I don't want to turn TeaChat into a strict Q&A forum, so I think that random teachat should be encouraged, or else there would be no sense of community. But when I say encouraged, I don't mean all over the place. TeaDay, the LiveChat, and, for us luckies, ITD, are the perfect places for us to bullshit about most anything. For example, we *started* ITD for a group of us that were constantly present on the forums and the chat who went off-topic enough that we developed a community feeling, and created ITD as a place for us to do our thing. Just check out the oldest threads of ITD:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=3079

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=3184

So we have places to do this kind of stuff: ITD, the Chat, and Teaday. We should allow ourselves this freedom, but we shouldn't get so used to it that we bring it outside of these places more than we should.

This has all reminded me of uchi-soto.

Sorry for the long quote, know this bugs some of you. But Wes made some good points actually, and I felt it was worth repeating. It is certainly food for thought. There are certain topics though that everyone needs to chat. For instance the Show Off topics in general.

[chamekke]

I don't see a problem on this forum, frankly. When there is some off-topic wandering, invariably we all wander back on topic again. The verbal rambling is always friendly and often very entertaining. The humour gives us a boost in energy and leavens our earnest discussions. And it often sends us in interesting directions that we would probably never explore if we didn't have the freedom to do that.

Plus, many of our "digressions" are not off-topic at all. For example, I recall a discussion about carp a few weeks ago. Because it's a design that occurs on a lot of Asian teawares, someone was curious about it. Thanks to that discussion, and the contributions of several TeaChatters, we now know a bit more about the cultural significance of the carp, and can appreciate "carpy" teawares that much more. To me, that dimension is just as essential as talking about the tea itself. It enlivens the whole tea-drinking experience.

Now, if it had been a three-page discussion about carp-fishing, that would have been seriously off-topic. But I've never seen anything remotely like that!

[Proinsias]

That's pretty much what I'm thinking chamekke. Off-topic digressions are not particularly severe. A little off-topic posting doesn't bother me. If it gets to the point I'm participating in a thread that is becoming frustratingly off topic despite my in thread protestations then I'll pm the mod police and post something in feedback detailing my issues, I would hope for a public airing and at least a view of what the community thought of my reaction - or overreaction.

If issues are laid out thoughtfully and publicly there is more chance of a reasonable resolution to the situation coming about. The thought that we may lose/have lost posters due to chinese whispers or pm's with no public note of the issue is not a good one.

[Space Samurai]

Chamekke, what you just said reminded what Carl Sagan said several times, about scientific discovery, how some of our greatest discoveries our accidents and by-products. Sagan said you can't fund specific research and expect a high degree of sucess; you have to fund the general pursuit of knowledge.

[Chip]

I thought the main point of Wes' post was the sometimes rampant use of "cool" type posts that offer nothing to the discussion.

Tangents or off topic discussions that offer productive and interesting info are often valuable. I could not agree more. Sometimes, creating a new topic might even be warranted.

However, anyone who reads every post knows that the so called frivolous "cool" posts can get to be too much sometimes. But in certain topics, it is good and of as much importance to the topic as the regular posts, such as the Show Off topics.

I am not suggesting an action in this regard, but it is a good point. And possibly worth discussing at some point in the future.

[Geekgirl]

So just to play devil's advocate, regarding "cool" and "me too" posts:

In a real life social setting, if someone says something interesting that others want to acknowledge, these little verbal placeholders provide encouragement, even when there isn't any particular information to add to the discussion.

On a discussion board, as in real life, if there is no response, discussion dies. These little "worthless" posts of "cool", "yay!" " ", etc, do actually add to the discussion in many cases simply because they keep people involved, and are gratifying to the OP. A not insignificant contribution.

Personally, I live for comments like this. If I post a photo and get no response, I'm a little bit let down. But if even one person says "cool!" or " ", it can literally make my whole day.

[Proinsias]

Cool post GG

[Geekgirl]

Ha!

[Ed]

I agree with you, GeekGirl. When someone cracks a good joke, I like to post a "lol" or a smiley to acknowledge it. Good humor should be rewarded.

And you know what, this is a TEA forum. Do we need to be stone cold serious all the time? It's tea - we drink it and enjoy it. You can only say so much about tea... things are bound to get a little off-topic from time to time.

[Mary R]

Golf clap.