General Discussion / Chit Chat

[timeshifter]

They're out to ruin CC...

[RobDog888]

I find this discussion and many of the comments in this thread to be very strange. What is it you guys are complaining about? That posts in a thread should stay on topic? Even if this forum is an off-topic forum doesn't mean that all replies to a thread should be. I rarely post in this forum simply because if you post a serious question you are instantly ridiculed and the thread will at once be filled with some other discussion, jokes, and all kind of off-topic replies. The link Marty posted in post #50 above is a good example. I may agree that that particular question might have fitted better in the General PC forum but that doesn't mean you immediatly should post nonsens replies to an obviously serious question. Why must a serious question be tagged as such? Can you honestly say that you can't see the difference when you read the topic?

Who put the equal sign between Chit Chat and Silly Discussion? I often chit chat with people around me about very serious stuff and are rarely ridiculed for it.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good joke as much as the next guy, and I did found many of the replies to the above mentioned post very funny but that is not the point. The point is that the thread starter had a serious question and expected serious answers. So he truly thought that the replies he got was serious and felt that his time was wasted when he investigated the answers he got and when he pointed that out he was again ridiculed and even if the word wasn't mentioned pretty muched called an idiot just because he didn't realize that. You may argue as much as you want about what he should have understood and I would only reply that those who posted a reply should have understood what kind of a replies he expected.

So go ahead and start new silly and fun threads but before you reply to any thread in any of the forums please make sure you read the topic first so you stay on topic even in this off topic forum.

And this is the basis of all that we are trying to convey for CC.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That particular thread should have been moved. Unfortunately, CC is so heavily frequented that it was loaded up before anyone would have been able to move it (unless RD was unemployed...uh...I mean SELF employed, again hehehe. He was posting by the minute back then).

Like many people, I tend to think of people based on their avatars ( Kleinma is old, RD is small green gangsta, etc.) Based on that, I have never expected anything thoughtful or sensitive from Wally, and he has rarely let me down. On the other hand, he has usually been humorously cynical. I think he was here. Most people have totally earned their bannings, but I don't think he did.

As for Invisible Duncan's post about professionalism: There's a constant tension where I work between the 'professionalism' that is forced on us, and the nature of clever and creative people to push boundaries. There are folks who are so frightened of how they appear that they will never do anything. They won't do anything wrong, but they also won't do anything creative or original. A scientist who is afraid to be creative or original is a beaurocrat (spell checkers be danged).

There's a fine line between creativity and craziness, as everyone probably recognizes. I wouldn't suggest that most of the silly banter in CC is going to create the next BIG THING, but I do think it is a reasonable side effect of creativity. You can't be thinking originally in one area, without it leaking into other areas.

Well, I forgot where I was going, so I guess I'll wander off to eat some spaghetti.

[monoptic]

Your own post went off topic with itself at the end!

[RobDog888]

You cant judge a book by its avatar

We are not saying that there wont be fun allowed but all in good taste and if the thread doesnt have a serious tone to it. All the junk that is posted is fine as long as its not offensive, rude, or an AUP violation.

If members want to be rude, use offensive language or whatever else falls into those categories then they can just keep it in their IM sessions. That is where those types of conversations belong anyways, that or in PM's.

[timeshifter]

I take offense at your assumption that IMs are only good for rude and/or offensive language.

[RobDog888]

I guess your not offended about PM's then. Its not an assumption at all. Who's saying that I said thats all IM's are good for? I could take offense at your response but whatever.

Just saying that that type of conversation is best kept out of the public forum. If that offends you to have to keep offensive language or rude remarks out of the public forum then thats another story but its not allowed on VBF.

[Wally Pipp]

As Shaggy pointed out, I was indeed, in my own self-styled cynical style, merely trying to be humorous. So if you want to ban me for that, or for the usage of the word 'idiot' then go right ahead.

I can only hope you are at least aware of the supreme irony in doing so.

I have long since noticed that the P.C. that infested the western corporate world has switched over to the internet and more precisely, to the fora on the internet.
It has come that far that the internet, which is supposedly the last safe haven of free speech, has been put under scrutiny and restriction. Just in case we might somewhere, somehow, at some point, get near the situation that we offend someone.

As this seems to be the future of CC in this particular forum, it doesn't really do well for my presence here.

And yes, I'm pretty sure I won't be missed.

[Andrew G]

And yes, I'm pretty sure I won't be missed.

But we will miss you

[InvisibleDuncan]

And yes, I'm pretty sure I won't be missed.

Sorry, and you are...?

[Pino]

No one is stoping anyone from having fun and a bit of banter. What we are stopping you doing is Hijacking threads which new/existing members post asking serious questions.

Why cant people deal with that?

[timeshifter]

I think it's a matter of not knowing what a serious question in this forum is anymore. So many of our veterans ask questions that at first glance seem serious, but the whole intent of the question is to see how far off topic the replies get. I thought we were doing good with the [Serious] tags, as those threads almost never got hijacked. This is GD/CC, and in the history of this forum, any thread without a direct mention of serious intent has gotten hijacked at some point... And I think it's fun. Keeps people on their toes. Now, where did I leave the peanut butter?

[Pino]

Correct, but new commers dont know about the [serious] tag and there threads were being hounded, and hence they did not return!

Anyways the re-enforced old rules are here, we'd appriciate everyone co-op

[RobDog888]

I have seen the serious tagged threads getting hijacked and redirected on to the usual sillyness. So just adding the serious tag didnt help either.