Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on. The occasional offenders, not mentioned
above, would need to participate as well. For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.
Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others.

So the gauntlet is thrown. I'm in for the five days. Anybody else
willing to experiment to see whether the overall tone of the
chatroom/NG would change if a group of the worst offenders
modified their behavior here? If not, things will be at least slightly
better for five days while I personally follow the 5 guidelines.

It's solstice. The world is taking a new slant and the sun is coming
back (to the north).
Wouldn't this be an appropriate time to stop the decline of the NG and
bring a bit of boating sunshine back? It would be a holiday or
Christmas gift to the group, from the group, and for the group. :-)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Chuck,
I am way ahead of you. That has been my MO for a number of days now.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on. The occasional offenders, not mentioned
above, would need to participate as well. For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.
Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others.

So the gauntlet is thrown. I'm in for the five days. Anybody else
willing to experiment to see whether the overall tone of the
chatroom/NG would change if a group of the worst offenders
modified their behavior here? If not, things will be at least slightly
better for five days while I personally follow the 5 guidelines.

It's solstice. The world is taking a new slant and the sun is coming
back (to the north).
Wouldn't this be an appropriate time to stop the decline of the NG and
bring a bit of boating sunshine back? It would be a holiday or
Christmas gift to the group, from the group, and for the group. :-)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

ps - I hope you enjoy my new name ; ).


"Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers of a 1000 names wrote in message
...
Chuck,
I am way ahead of you. That has been my MO for a number of days now.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on. The occasional offenders, not mentioned
above, would need to participate as well. For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.
Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others.

So the gauntlet is thrown. I'm in for the five days. Anybody else
willing to experiment to see whether the overall tone of the
chatroom/NG would change if a group of the worst offenders
modified their behavior here? If not, things will be at least slightly
better for five days while I personally follow the 5 guidelines.

It's solstice. The world is taking a new slant and the sun is coming
back (to the north).
Wouldn't this be an appropriate time to stop the decline of the NG and
bring a bit of boating sunshine back? It would be a holiday or
Christmas gift to the group, from the group, and for the group. :-)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

The Droolers, that sounds like a good name for a yacht club. ; )


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
wrote:


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on.



No offense, Chuck, but six of the individuals you've mentioned, along with
some others, have already been "signed off" on my computer.

With the droolers eliminated from my sight, what's left is about a dozen
of us who are serious pleasure boaters and of these, maybe a half dozen
post on any regular basis.

I do discriminate a bit. I don't count those "boating posts" I would
consider throwaways. I think you know the kind I mean.

So what does that leave to discuss, Chuck? Got a list of subjects that
hasn't been exhausted that would interest a group widely scattered
geographically?

I've got some stainless steel tubing and am thinking of putting together a
trolling rod holder that will handle slip into two existing stern rod
holders and handle four rod holders whose angles I can adjust. Exciting,
eh? I can handle the welding, but I have to find a good local motorcycle
shop to handle a bit of pipe bending for me.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

Eastern or Pacific time?

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

"NOYB" wrote in message
nk.net...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

Eastern or Pacific time?

LMAO

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Harry's disorder still clouds his mind.........i.e. I'm not the problem,
everyone else is. Maybe harry can start a thread on the pleasures of
storing a boat in your driveway 364 days a year.


"Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers of a 1000 names wrote in message
...
The Droolers, that sounds like a good name for a yacht club. ; )


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
wrote:


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on.



No offense, Chuck, but six of the individuals you've mentioned, along
with
some others, have already been "signed off" on my computer.

With the droolers eliminated from my sight, what's left is about a dozen
of us who are serious pleasure boaters and of these, maybe a half dozen
post on any regular basis.

I do discriminate a bit. I don't count those "boating posts" I would
consider throwaways. I think you know the kind I mean.

So what does that leave to discuss, Chuck? Got a list of subjects that
hasn't been exhausted that would interest a group widely scattered
geographically?

I've got some stainless steel tubing and am thinking of putting together
a
trolling rod holder that will handle slip into two existing stern rod
holders and handle four rod holders whose angles I can adjust. Exciting,
eh? I can handle the welding, but I have to find a good local motorcycle
shop to handle a bit of pipe bending for me.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

I'm in, although I reserve the right to "grandfather" any existing threads.
They're about to fizzle out anyway, so it shouldn't have much of an effect.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

P Fritz wrote:
Harry's disorder still clouds his mind.........i.e. I'm not the problem,
everyone else is. Maybe harry can start a thread on the pleasures of
storing a boat in your driveway 364 days a year.

Did you notice Chuck's well meaning advice:
"For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.

Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others"

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Harry Krause wrote:
wrote:


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on.



No offense, Chuck, but six of the individuals you've mentioned, along
with some others, have already been "signed off" on my computer.

With the droolers eliminated from my sight, what's left is about a dozen
of us who are serious pleasure boaters and of these, maybe a half dozen
post on any regular basis.

I do discriminate a bit. I don't count those "boating posts" I would
consider throwaways. I think you know the kind I mean.

So what does that leave to discuss, Chuck? Got a list of subjects that
hasn't been exhausted that would interest a group widely scattered
geographically?

I've got some stainless steel tubing and am thinking of putting together
a trolling rod holder that will handle slip into two existing stern rod
holders and handle four rod holders whose angles I can adjust. Exciting,
eh? I can handle the welding, but I have to find a good local motorcycle
shop to handle a bit of pipe bending for me.

See how easy this is? There's one of your two boating topics if you're
up for the "chatroom challenge". Why not write up a couple of
paragraphs about welding and bending stainless steel? Somebody will
find it at least as exciting as most of the content seen here lately.
:-)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

LOL,

GMT.


"NOYB" wrote in message
nk.net...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

Eastern or Pacific time?

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Tom,
All of those are ok, I will let you know when you find one that isn't.


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 20 Dec 2005 08:54:36 -0800, wrote:


P Fritz wrote:
Harry's disorder still clouds his mind.........i.e. I'm not the
problem,
everyone else is. Maybe harry can start a thread on the pleasures of
storing a boat in your driveway 364 days a year.

Did you notice Chuck's well meaning advice:
"For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.

Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others"

So if I call you a caluminous common-kissing mumble-news you will
ignore it?

How about thou appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent
congregation of vapours? Will you ignore that?

And just to keep this boating related:

Thy brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage.

Ignnore that last one dumbass. :)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Harry Krause wrote:

See how easy this is? There's one of your two boating topics if you're
up for the "chatroom challenge". Why not write up a couple of
paragraphs about welding and bending stainless steel? Somebody will
find it at least as exciting as most of the content seen here lately.

Oh, I used to post things like that, but I stopped, as did a number of
other posters. Why? Because some drooler would post that "doing it that
way is completely wrong, and you should have done it the other way, and
so on and so forth." Not that I mind alternative methodology, but the
generally antagonistic atmosphere is off-putting.

Look at what happens when someone like Bill Grannis posts something here
of a technical nature. In short order, the great troll of the southern
hemisphere shows up with fangs bared. Well, that's how most real
discussions here got tossed into the dumpster.

I think I'll just wait and see, eh?

One of the greatest assets of Usenet is the divergence of opinions
regarding on-topic subjects/procedures. The *reader* is given the
opportunity to 'shop' the variety of routes offered. Get it wrong, and
you can be sure you'll hear from a Karen of Oz or Bill Grannis. This is
not a bad thing, it's the intelligent way for an open forum to
investigate alternatives. This also gives an open board a distict
advantage over the BoaterEds of the world.

--
Skipper

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 11:27:45 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:


Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 11:02:26 -0500, "Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers
of a 1000 names wrote:


The Droolers, that sounds like a good name for a yacht club. ; )

Or a band.

Sorry, Tom, but you don't qualify as a drooler. I know that is a major
disappointment for you. :}


~~ sigh ~~

And I try so hard.

I'm betting you were successful when you first laid eyes on that Halman 20.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 20 Dec 2005 08:54:36 -0800, wrote:


P Fritz wrote:
Harry's disorder still clouds his mind.........i.e. I'm not the
problem,
everyone else is. Maybe harry can start a thread on the pleasures of
storing a boat in your driveway 364 days a year.

Did you notice Chuck's well meaning advice:
"For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.

Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others"

So if I call you a caluminous common-kissing mumble-news you will
ignore it?

How about thou appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent
congregation of vapours? Will you ignore that?

What if you called him Kevin?

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

"Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers of a 1000 names wrote in message
...
LOL,

GMT.


Not fair. That gives folks from Australia an extra 16-18 hours to speak
without a response.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

NYOB,
If you lived in Australia you would understand why they deserve something
extra.

The country is full of X-Cons.


"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers of a 1000 names wrote in message
...
LOL,

GMT.


Not fair. That gives folks from Australia an extra 16-18 hours to speak
without a response.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

"Smithers one of 1000's" Smithers of a 1000 names wrote in message
...
NYOB,
If you lived in Australia you would understand why they deserve something
extra.

The country is full of X-Cons.

Our ex-cons *lose* rights...rather than get "something extra". Unless, of
course, that that something extra is an GPS ankle bracelet.

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

Damn it........I have to clean the monitor again

"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 20 Dec 2005 08:54:36 -0800, wrote:


P Fritz wrote:
Harry's disorder still clouds his mind.........i.e. I'm not the
problem,
everyone else is. Maybe harry can start a thread on the pleasures of
storing a boat in your driveway 364 days a year.

Did you notice Chuck's well meaning advice:
"For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.

Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others"

So if I call you a caluminous common-kissing mumble-news you will
ignore it?

How about thou appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent
congregation of vapours? Will you ignore that?

What if you called him Kevin?

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on.


I'm in. And my killfiling a couple of constant offenders listed above will
help. ;-)

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

On 20 Dec 2005 07:31:46 -0800, wrote:

Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on. The occasional offenders, not mentioned
above, would need to participate as well. For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.
Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others.

So the gauntlet is thrown. I'm in for the five days. Anybody else
willing to experiment to see whether the overall tone of the
chatroom/NG would change if a group of the worst offenders
modified their behavior here? If not, things will be at least slightly
better for five days while I personally follow the 5 guidelines.

It's solstice. The world is taking a new slant and the sun is coming
back (to the north).
Wouldn't this be an appropriate time to stop the decline of the NG and
bring a bit of boating sunshine back? It would be a holiday or
Christmas gift to the group, from the group, and for the group. :-)

A few of us have been doing this for a couple days. Can we start being our old selves on the 23rd?

BTW, Harry has excelled, except for a few political posts.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 10:54:31 -0500, Harry Krause wrote:

wrote:


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on.



No offense, Chuck, but six of the individuals you've mentioned, along
with some others, have already been "signed off" on my computer.

With the droolers eliminated from my sight, what's left is about a dozen
of us who are serious pleasure boaters and of these, maybe a half dozen
post on any regular basis.

I do discriminate a bit. I don't count those "boating posts" I would
consider throwaways. I think you know the kind I mean.

So what does that leave to discuss, Chuck? Got a list of subjects that
hasn't been exhausted that would interest a group widely scattered
geographically?

I've got some stainless steel tubing and am thinking of putting together
a trolling rod holder that will handle slip into two existing stern rod
holders and handle four rod holders whose angles I can adjust. Exciting,
eh? I can handle the welding, but I have to find a good local motorcycle
shop to handle a bit of pipe bending for me.

There's an outfit in Deale that makes T-tops, radar arches, etc. Don't remember the name, but
they're on the corner of Bay Front Rd (the highway coming from Rt 4) and Rockhold Creek Rd.






--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Five Day Chatroom Challenge
 

On 20 Dec 2005 07:31:46 -0800, wrote:

Our NG has become a chatroom.
No other way to define what has happened, when 90% or more of the
content is OT and 50% or more of the OT posts devolve into political
name calling and flame fests. Boats are probably mentioned more often
in a general chatroom, by accident, than they are here on rec.boats on
purpose.

I propose a 5 day challenge to the entire chatroom.

For five days, let's pretend we're a boating newsgroup.

That would be the remainder of today, the 20th, through Saturday the
24th.

During this period of time, I propose that the group of worst
offenders, self included, take the lead in this challenge by doing the
following things.

1. Refrain from launching any sort of political or religious thread.
2. Resist name calling and put personal feuds aside.
3. Resist the temptation to respond to any political threads trolled
through the NG
4. Launch a minimum of two boating-related threads (not required of
non-boaters)
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of this 5 day challenge on December 25


For this to work at all, I believe we need Harry, Basskisser, JimH,
John H, Doug Kanter, Skipper, NOYB, P.Fritz, and Smithers (under all of
his 1000 names), to sign on. The occasional offenders, not mentioned
above, would need to participate as well. For this to work, anybody who
elects to participate would have to be adult enough to ignore
violations by others rather than use those violations as a
justification or an excuse to resume OT trolling, flaming and chatting.
Participants would need to assume responsibility for their own
behavior, and not allow it to be dictated by the bad actions of others.

So the gauntlet is thrown. I'm in for the five days. Anybody else
willing to experiment to see whether the overall tone of the
chatroom/NG would change if a group of the worst offenders
modified their behavior here? If not, things will be at least slightly
better for five days while I personally follow the 5 guidelines.

It's solstice. The world is taking a new slant and the sun is coming
back (to the north).
Wouldn't this be an appropriate time to stop the decline of the NG and
bring a bit of boating sunshine back? It would be a holiday or
Christmas gift to the group, from the group, and for the group. :-)

But color me in also.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****