Doug, if basskisser, jps and Harry have been responding to boating posts in
the last few weeks it has gotten lost in the clutter. At one time, Harry
was one of the more information recreational boaters, while his demenor
might have left alot to be desired he still contributed to the general
boating knowldege in this group. It appears that about a year ago, he
decided it was more fun to troll for conservatives than to discuss boating.
As I said, I might have missed an occasional boating posts, but there hasn't
been many. All I would ask is dont' be so hard on the newbies when they
come in here and are amazed at the mud that gets throw in the group today.
Hopefully if we get enough new people in here the signal to noise ratio will
improve. The way I see it, we need to encourage new boaters to become
regulars in the group, instead of chasing them away.



"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
Actually, Basskisser, Harry, NOYB and jps post some very informative and
accurate responses to boating questions. I agree with you about the
name-calling, and Harry could lay off that routine a bit. But it's
actually
been interesting to follow the evolution of a few of the more civilized
people here. People have often found that they agree more than they
disagree. John H and Noah are perfect examples of that. I could live next
door to John H and not kill him...I think.

As far as Tuuk, Wally, etc.....in every nice forest, there are weeds and
coyote droppings.


"John Smith" wrote in message
news:h%62c.186479$uV3.783757@attbi_s51...
Doug,

The answer is obvious, you ignore it. Now, let me ask you a question,
when
you read Basskisser, NOYB, Harry, jps, Tuuk, Wally etc. it is very
obvious
that they do not come here to discuss boats, they like to discuss
politics.
Many people enjoy discussing and arguing about politics, so they are not
unusal. What is unusual is that the prefer to discuss politcs in
rec.boats.
Why not go to one of the politcal discussion groups?

Now your point is just ignore the posts if you don't like them. Well I
do,
and many other do the same thing. What is the harm from people calling
each
other names? The problem is that most of the very knowledgeable
boaters,
mechanics, suppliers and people who used to enjoy discussing boats have
left
this group because they found it too irrating seeing adults behavning
like
children. The people who want to discuss boats or have questions
answered
find their questions or requests for boating discussions are overlooked
by
the regulars, because they really don't want to discuss boats. At one
time,
the regulars would enjoy discussing boats and would get into OT
discussions
as a way to pass the time. That is not the case today. Today the
majority
of the regulars come here to argue politics and call their opponets
names.
The poor person who comes in this group often finds his legitmate
questions
ignored by the regulars because they are too busy with their political
mud
slinging. That is the problem with 80% of the posts being off topic.

Now, do I believe anything I said will change the topics and political
trolling that goes on here? No way, I don't believe it will change, but
you
are a smart person and you should understand why some people who come to
this newsgroup are offended by the 80% of off topic BS. It really would
not
be so bad, if people actually made politcal statements that made sense,
but
most of the posts are "you are stupid", the __________ are destroying
the
world as we know it", you don't know anything, and I know it all. One
of
the regulars who seems to be intellegent thinks if he uses profanity by
changing the spelling (ie dumfock) it makes it more politically correct.
It
doesn't, all it does is make him look silly.

The person who started this thread, thought his comments would make a
difference. That showed that he is a newbie to rec.boats, but it was
not
an
unreasonable request.


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
I'm sure the proportions will change as the boats go back in the
water.
But,
my question is still a valid one which some people can't answer. What
do
you
do when you see a boating question that's of no interest to you
whatsoever?

"John Smith" wrote in message
news:Ks42c.122743$4o.163236@attbi_s52...
Doug,

I know my post will not make a difference, but what has happened is
that
most of the contributors who liked the forum as a group to
discussion
boats,
have long left this group. The regulars now come here to discuss
politics
and ignore most posts concerning boats. As I said, I know the group
wont'
change, but Joe's posts is a fair request. At one time, this group
was
90%
on topic and 10% off topic, it is now about 80% OFF TOPIC and 20% on
topic.
Since the group is not moderated, it will go whatever way the
regulars
want
it to go, but I am sure we will see less and less boating topics as
this
group is taking over by those who think it is a political forum. It
appears
that the regulars want this to be a political forum.





"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
If you see a topic regarding bilge pumps, but you have no interest
in
that
at the moment, what do you do?

"Joe. R" wrote in message
link.net...
Doesn't this board have a moderator? It's really a downer to
see
a
once
fine source of information on boats and boating in general get
polluted
by
non boating garbage.

There are other sites where folks can spout off on non-boating
topics.

jr