ON TOPIC/ OFF TOPIC???

You guys should start a new MSN forum and have all the fun that you want. You only think about yourselves! Respect other members!
I will respect fun threads just as much as I will respect serious threads.
All I ask is the same from you! Don't just blame me. That is very easy. It is better if we would all just respect eachother a little bit more.

And..... if you want to restore YOUR "old value" of Fchat. Talk to Rob and become a moderator. You can have my seat!

 

This is not about allowed to have fun or not allowed to have fun. Of course we are 'allowed' to have fun. This is Ferrarichat, this is a way to spend some of your freetime. You hook up with (internet)buddies and get to enjoy all sorts of Ferrari-information. Sounds like heaps of fun to me, so I keep coming back.

Point is however, that having fun and steering a topic away from it's initial subject to the level this initial subject is hardly recognizable anymore, are NOT the same things.

It happened (again) in the meeting-topic (I apologize!) and I think we can only be thankful to Ton, since he cleaned up the mess, so the mentioned topic is back to being what it was supposed to be: a topic in which people can talk about the meeting and get relevant information.

 

Agree with you Carsten!
The European section of F-chat has been all about fun from the very beginning when we were with only a few guys!!
Talking about cars, while having some off topic fun!
More members came, and we made eachother feel very welcome and like one big family!!! A great growing community was born!!!
Do we really have to become another booooring site with only unpersonal talk only about F-cars, never make a joke,......

Pffff, why do i even bother trying to explain it?!
CU l8er....

Guy

 

We already had this discussion a few times
My view on this... again... and I refuse to take a side here! I don't want to attack anyone either! I always try to be diplomatic

Like I already mentioned in the Deil meeting thread and various times before, it's a very difficult issue...

I've said it before and will say it again... I completely understand Ton's view on this too... he's in a difficult position somehow too... this isn't and never should become a real MSN board... I'm sure we all agree on that, don't we? If you ask a question or tell a story it's not always funny for everyone if the discussion gets carried away in personal talk... It's big fun for those involved but if you're looking for info or don't have much time... I believe it can be very annoying. That's one of the reasons I never felt really at home that much at the UK ************ site BTW, too much chitchat and not enough intresting stuff around IMPO... and I certainly don't want to attack that site either, let that be clear too!

However, it IS a fact that lot of us became good friends here... and obviously like to share thoughts with each other too... very often this results in inside jokes that are funny for those who know each other... but completely useless to people who just join the board or who don't visit that much...
And ALL regular users on this site do this! No exeptions! Ton, you have to admit it happens to you too...

So, off topic talk certainly shoudn't be forbidden, that's impossible BTW. But we ALL should keep a few things in mind I guess...? Let's have "fun"... but keep in mind we're not alone here! Lot's of silent users or not that regular posters can be dissapointed in or can complain about the way things are going now. It would be very sad if Europe would follow what happened in the UK before...


My view from an earlier thread not that long ago...

SO... seems there isn't really a great solution for all this...

And don't worry, I'm not gonna repeat myself anymore now

My friends...
Regards, Alexander

 

Too say it in another way... and still just my opinion...

Let's compare the three major Ferrari boards (maybe I'm getting on slippery ice here ) I'm registrated on all three and frequently read on all three... They're all great sites with their own style... however... I mostly post on F-Chat...

Ferrari-forum... lot's of very valuable info and focused on that... not that much chitchat... Great resource for info, serial numbers and great pics but not really a very active community IMHO...

UK-************... fairly new and relative small but fastly growing community with nice idea's... but lot's of inside chitchat and stories and due to a smaller group less valuable info IMHO...

FerrariChat... best of both worlds so far IMHO... a very large community... both a good source for info, news, stories AND for small talk with friends...

Hope I didn't offend anyone

 

My dear friends,

please stay cool!
Switch your airconditioner on, relax and slow down.
Nodoy wants the “UK Desaster” here in th european section!

Ton is a dear old friend of mine and that’s why I take the part of Ton and say:

MY APOLOGIZE TO EVERYBODY FOR OVER MODERATING

I have done the mod job 2 years and I know its sometimes strange to find a solution that everone is smiling and happy.
Please accept my honest apologize, thank you.

The main fault was that he did not delete each off-topic post – just a few.
That’s why some fchatters felt offended and thought that their posts count less than others posts! Wrong! Each post and opinion counts!
Ton went, upon request, thru the posts to clear the STICKY thread – nothing wrong.
But he was as usual in a hurry and doing this moderationg from his job/hospital.
That’s why he was not concentrated enough and missed some posts!
Don´t kill him, we are all human beings with lots of faults – god bless.

With Love & Respect to all fchatters

Yours

Wolfgang

P.S. I went thru all your comments, thoughts, posts on th OT thread.
Thanks a lot for your wonderful comments – great input, highly appreciated and I have to agree with you to 99%!
Its never to late if we are still talking to each other – if we do not talk/fight we are lost!

P.P.S. Tons will pay the first round of drinks during the next meeting

 

You really don't see the difference do you? There should always be a balance in everything. In EVERYTHING! Not just in my opinion about this thread but also in yours.

 

Well, I can understand Ton on this.

Surely you are able to pinpoint the difference between a thread meant to provide information and a thread meant to provide some lighthearted conversation? You expect a phonebook to be funny and exciting? I suppose you don´t. You expect it to provide you with information. That is exactly what the ´meeting-thread´ is trying to do. Of course you can make some sidetrack remarks in a thread like that, but when this gets out of hand, a moderator has to interfere, which is exactly what Ton has done.

So, the question is: do you or don´t you understand this difference? If so, then you also understand that Ton isn´t trying to keep you from having fun. He is simply protecting a thread, meant to provide information, from no longer being able to have that function, since all the BS in it, makes the actual information unreachable.

How you would interpret this as the Euro Fchat becoming boring, is beyond me. There´s a time and a place for everything. Or should I say, there is a time and a thread for everything.

 

I DO see the difference!
I just saw the balance (line) a bit different! Just because you didn't delete all the posts that were off topic!!!

The hijacking off the Deilmeeting thread wasn't started by me remember!!!!!
I wish you would put the posts back on so everybody could see where it went wrong and it sure wasn't my fault!!!!
In fact, the hijacking started with the nr of posts you had to have to be allowed to come to the meeting!! Guess who started this posts???? (Normally they are still in the thread, unless someone deletes them also)

And THAT is exactly the reason why i don't think it's fair why everybody sees ME as the bad boy suddenly!!
I read those posts about the nr of posts, belgium/dutch taxpayers,... and wondered myself, what on earth has that got to do with the meeting???
I tell you what it was: it was about having some fun in a thread!! I didn't have any problem with it but kept out of it because we agreed to keep hijacking to a minimum!
So then suddenly, Wolfgang says something about sending his daughter to the meeting in his Testa!!
Still, i didn't reply to it!!
It was after numerous other F-chatters replied to it (in a funny way that had nothing to do with the meeting), that i also replied to it!!
But then suddenly it isn't allowed and being seen as a hijack!!
The posts are removed and nobody informs me about it!!
How can everybody get a "message" from that???
Sorry but that doesn't look fair to me!!
You really should at least have put up a note in the thread itself!
But even then, i don't feel like everybody is threated the same way!
And that is something i really don't like!!!
To me everybody is the same, wether they drive an Enzo or a Kia Picanto!!!

I just stood up and talked!! There were others who just shut up about it, because they were affraid of starting this discussion again!!
And now that i stand up for it, i get slapped for something i didn't even started!!!! (the hijacking that is)
How do you think i feel right now?
I really have the feeling i'm less then anyone else and i'm sure everybody sees me as a troublemaker now!
While, in real life i'm nothing like that at all!! (IMHO ofcourse )

How would you react to it?
Would you just shut up and walk in line!!
While everybody can do what they want except you!??

Sorry, i just had to say this! I DO stand up for my rights!! And my rights are: i've got the same rights as everybody else in this forum! At least, i thought i had!!

Guy

 

Well said. As a fairly new guy I don't get all the inside joking and it's distracting from the purpose of a thread. But I do understand that it's a part of a chat forum to go off-topic once in a while. Just please try to keep it a bit more limited.

On other forums they have different kind of solutions. For example you could open two threads: one for the important information (dates, join list etc.) and one for the chit-chat. Or you could open only one thread but the important information is updated in the first post by the organiser. In case of a meeting people should be required to PM the organiser of the event so he can keep the join list in the first post updated. This way the moderating is kept to a minimum.

Just a few suggestions.

Ciao, Peter

 

Agreed completely, but read my post above!!! (above bigodino)
Why the hell does everybody see me as the bad boy????
I was one of the last guys to go off topic in the deilmeeting thread!!!!
Ask the question to the others also, not only ME!!!! Who just thought it was ok to join the fun which was already there!!!!!

Let me make another comparison:
Say you're in a very important businessmeeting! All about being serious and information and blablabla!!
But suddenly someone makes a joke and starts to go a bit off topic! And everyone else joins!!!
Would you be the boring guy who shut's up while you know the situation and people and could say something yourself?

Something to think about!!!

 

Guy,

You don't understand it. It is not about who is to blame! I am blaming nobody. I am only trying to keep the balance right.
Don't worry too much about it. It is not about what is written in the different posts.

 

Guy,
you are NOT a bad boy!!!
Once again (see my post above) the main fault, Ton did, was:
NOT TO DELETE ALL OFF TOPIC POSTS!!!
-DELETE AND CLEAR ALL OFFTOPIC OR NOTHING-
Otherwise someody (here Guy) feels offended and pissed of!!!

@Ton, got it now?

 

I was not offended that my post was one of those wich was deleted... more surprised, because at first I didn't think I had done something wrong
But forgiven and forgotten and so on.... now can we all make up and keep on F-chatting??

 

You are not the bad boy. Hell, even I have posts deleted in there. We all went a bit overboard and thankfully Ton cleaned up the mess we´ve made. I am adressing you, since you are the one that seems to interpret Ton´s actions as trying to prevent you from having fun, or even see it as an attempt to turn Fchat into a boring place. I don´t think that this is what happening. What happened is a moderator that cleaned up the mess in a topic where it was necessary to do so, since the topic could no longer follow it´s function, namely, providing clear information.

I don´t really have to think about that. Sure someone can make a joke in an important businessmeeting. Sure, we can have a little laugh, but people must remain focussed on the main goal: making the right decision. So if the joking gets out of hand, the guy at the end of the table needs to put the fun aside and get people back on the topic at hand. That guy would be Ton and I see no problem in someone getting the participants back to the initial subject.

Perhaps I am just boring. I wouldn´t exclude that from the possibilities.

 

NO!

Sorry Tina, but "it" will happen again and again and it needs some balls to say: sorry, sh_t happens, have done a fault.....
Guy is for a pretty good and understandable reason waiting for some comments like this. Its NOT the hijacking its more about the 2 class feeling get got - what is for sure not true.
I can (and have already done) apologize for my friends over-moderating but to clear the fact: why some posts are deleted and others are not is not my job.

 

I know this will happen again.... but now we all have talked about it... people said their oppinions,,,,, enough is enough Or is it just me?
It seems like we all agree that fun is okay, but in the right place and right time And in a on-topic serious thread, hijacking/fun can be too much....
So what more do we have to talk through?
(just a friendly question and an attempt to move on again ... )

 

Tina,

we have had so many sticky-important-meeting-threads which run over 10, 20 or even more pages (Andermatt, Scotland, Tuscany). And there is always some (human) friendly converstion along with it. I can discern between conversation and badly hijacking!
And this was IMO not a badly hijacking - anyway I´m not a mod or responsible for any action taken on it, but ALL (and everybody) or NOTHING (nobody) thats the point!

 

Thanks Wolf, that is exactly how i feel!!
I'll say it again, everybody should be threated the same, and as long as that isn't the case, i will always feel i'm less then everyone else!!!

I'm so sorry that i joined the fun on the Deilmeeting thread!!! You can't believe how i wish i never replied to it!!! I wonder what would have happened to the thread then!!
Why do i get the feeling that if i didn't reply, none of the posts would have been deleted!???

 

Well I agree.... I have never seen a thread in the EUsection where people ended up feeling offended over some fun So I agree.
In "the old days" (I'm not THAT old)... we never had these discussions.... but things were the same back then, with fun here and there.
So I agree.. I dunno why it has becomming such a big problem.

So I really do not say otherwise!

Actually I agree with all of you at some point. Ofcourse threads shouldn't drown in fun if they wasn't ment to. And on the other hand, this shouldn't be so sterile that we are affraid of stating a funny comment here and there

JMHO

Edit: This will be my 25 cent.... If this discussion goes on and on, it will end up with somebody saying things they really don't mean. And that's not the point of it all.

 

Wolfgang,

You see it as overmoderating. I don't agree!!!
I am just trying my best to find a balance between what people ask me and what people do. That is a very difficult job. You never do it right!
I did not remove the posts after reading all of them personally and then selecting a few. I just removed a whole bunch in an attempt to make it more readable again.
Why does everybody take this so personal. I did not say anything bad about Guy, Carsten or anybody else. I just cleared up a mess of which we ALL are responsible.

In the end I am also just a human with a responsibility towards this forum. Most of the time I please people but sometimes I don't!