"John Smith" wrote in message
news:W_W3c.4931$i76.77342@attbi_s03...

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

Most of those who whine the most here aren't what one might call
contributors, anyway.

and most of those who come here to post off topic messages aren't
contributors either.

Ah....not true. Check the responses to many of the boating questions. Much
of the time, they come from the same crowd that posts political stuff. What
else are we supposed to do when the shop is empty of visitors? Sit around
sorting used spark plugs? And, is there a non-boating topic that WOULD be
acceptable, like gardening? I notice that lawnmower discussions are popular.
Nobody complains about that. There was also a very long thread which began
with people insulting each other's mothers for voting for Roosevelt, and
ended up as a friendly swap of crab cake recipes, clearly a boating topic by
anyone's estimate.