Jim Brinson wrote:

I have been participating in this NG on and off for about 8 years. My
political leanings have been and will continue to be my own business.
With over 40 years experience as a boater and almost as many years in
the marine business, there have been times that I felt that I had
something of value to contribute.
Hopefully some of my posts have proved useful.
In my opinion, this group is out of control, at least as far as
providing useful information is concerned. The NG has changed - and not
for the good.
But, the majority rules; apparently political comments are now the
expected norm. What a shame.

Good luck and good boating,
Jim

Jim,

I share your concern over the direction this NG has taken over the past
few years. I have gleaned so much good information from this group, and
contributed my 2 cents worth when I could. More often than not, when I
found something that was within my realm of expertise, the answer I was
contemplating had already been posted.

I use filters to block out most of the off-topic garbage. There are 5
people who I block who offer nothing of value here, along with messages
that contain "OT" or variations thereof. I've been playing with a few
other filters, but these seem to catch most of the non-boating related
garbage.

The only way I can think of to minimize the off-topic postings is the
same solution to preventing SPAM emails: Don't respond! Just as with
SPAM, if no one responds, it will mostly go away!

Have a great boating season! My spring preps will be completed this
weekend, but before you know it, I'll be starting the winterization
process again...

John

(remove the alphabet in CAPS for my real email address)