In My Humble Opinion (open letter to dl65)

[Hopester Doofus]

I'll start this with a smile.     And now my point:

With all due respect, dl (and you know I mean that), it's an abuse of your privileges for you to shut down the "Is This Appropriate?" topic we were discussing.

There's nothing wrong with getting sidetracked a little bit every now and again, and it isn't hurting anybody or detracting from the integrity of the site. It's one thread, and nobody is being forced to read it. And I don't see that other threads are suffering because of it.

In addition to being a help site, this forum is also a community, populated by acquaintances, friends and colleagues. We are interested in each other, and in each other's opinions on matters not just related to bits and bytes. If we can't be permitted to digress from time to time, with healthy discussion on non-computer related topics, then it loses a little appeal.

If ComputerHope ever becomes overrun by such threads, then I will wholeheartedly support pinching them off en masse. But this isn't the case today, and this action was unfair to the participants.

Hopester

[soybean]

I've seen some computing forums add sections to their forum specifically for non-computing discussions.  It's something to consider.

[GX1_Man]

I think the Indians have it, too.  

http://forums.techarena.in/

[Dilbert]

And I was just posting there in my free time. I hadn't even begun to warm up on the subject.

But then, the last thing I want to do is try to justify my faith based on science. For one, I can't; that is why they call it a faith. A faith would be synonimous (sp?) to a theory, which is basically saying "This is what I think based on XYZ and ABC". No religion holds up in court. Of course, if one were to scrutinize... oh, I dunno... the Theory of Evolution (and you can beat around the bush all you want with your "definition" of 'theory', it's not proven fact; just a note to my liberal geology teacher), there would be plently of holes as well that need to be explained if possible.

In summary: I try not to get involved with "Is religion real" debates since neither side has any proof (though both are always sure they do). I only participated in that thread to express opinion, not argue. Anyone who really wants to argue about that kind of thing can do that in PMs.

I really don't mind that the thread is closed (though I have to ask if it was truly necessary), since my involvement IMO was periphrial at best.

[panboy]

I also think DL65 has been Taking his privileges a little Too far, i dont see how you can mark a Topic in the other fourm as being off topic, when as far as i can see the other fourm is for just that , off topic posting

[GX1_Man]

my thoughts exactly... i mean, other means anything off topic or on topic is allowed, aslong as its not utter nonesense

There is a LOT of utter nonsense that is not deleted or closed. Perhaps it should be? Some people's post count would drop dramatically.  

[GX1_Man]

That was one of those "If the shoe fits, wear it" responses.

[Dead_reckon]

not familiar with the term, but, were from two differant parts of the US, what do you expect?

[GX1_Man]

I think it has more to do with your age and exposure, rather than geographical location.

http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm

[dl65]

In response to the above comments .........
Let me start , by saying that this forum is called Computer Hope.Com, and it's purpose was and hopefully still is to provide assistance to those with problems and issues encountered when using their computers.
When the forum was setup , it was broken up into sections to provide specific areas to post the members issues ......but the one thing ,all the various boards have in common is that they all relate to computers.  It has been suggested , that I overstepped my authority by closing that particular thread ...... as an example I quote , "I also think DL65 has been Taking his privileges a little Too far, i dont see how you can mark a Topic in the other fourm as being off topic, when as far as i can see the other fourm is for just that , off topic posting" ..... In response to this comment , I can only say , that the poster
has failed to realise that "OTHER" relates to other computer issues which do not fall into one of the other very clearly defined areas.  
Before closing the topic , I reviewed all 4 pages of posts ...... and there is not so much as one word . let alone a phrase or a sentance relating to a computer.
If I have missed one , even a subminimal one , please let me know .
In closing , let me say that if some of you are perplexed at the thread being closed , I  say to you , show me  anything in the 4 page dialogue that directly refers to computers and I will immediately unlock the thread and issue a public appology to all the forum members.

dl65  

[infoseeker]

and with all due respect, i received also comment in one of my "started thread"
[size=14][highlight]that this post is not related in this computer hope forum[/highlight][/size]

i understand that comment and respect it and for my 2 cents (opinion)

[size=16]Why the admin is not putting a section for "OFF TOPIC" so we can discuss freely what other things we want to share to others[/size]

 :-? as i read this opinion so many times from other member  :-?

  infoseeker  

[Hopester Doofus]

You're missing the point, friend. A lot of the members above have expressed a willingness for the Other category to be open to the occasional non-computer related topic of discussion. As this forum is driven by the membership, you should be amenable to that if it doesn't detract from the site.

In any event, this is a call better suited for Nathan, not yourself. You've overstepped.

[GX1_Man]

Without getting into the rightness or wrongness of the postings themselves, and with all due respect to all parties involved, when Nathan contacted me about being a mod his direct quote was:

"This would add no additional obligation or requirements on the forums simply give you the ability to remove / edit inappropriate posts. "

That was it. He did not specify what all "inappropriate" covered. When I queried him, the response was to use common sense rather than any specific guidelines.

[johnchain]

First of all....I said it was in an assembly language book....why else would I put it in a computer "other" forum?

But yeah, I'm okay with it being closed, it started taking time out of my day (It's a an exhilerating topic). I almost was late to my chess tournament today  

But hey.........I got a topic with like 55 posts.....I'm proud of myself.  

[homer]

im pretty sure anybody who started a highly controversial topic would get many posts...