Why did the SVTOA thread get closed. I thought it was an interesting, pretty well thought out debate and I didn't see much if any venom in the posts. So what if it went off topic, it was taking a life of its own and nothing else was being posted on the event. Closing it didn't serve any purpose other than to stifle good cordial discussion on a sensitive subject.

 

While I agree -- the moderator just asked that we start a new thread with that topic because it was WAY off the original topic. (Unions their impact on Ford/Domestic Auto-Industry). Technically true -- the thread wandered -- but all threads wander, I never thought that was a bad thing. I wonder if this thread counts as a fresh enough start, or if because the title is about the SVTOA thread, if that means we can't talk about the topic that the SVTOA thread was about?

 

I read the closing request -- and it says to take it to off-topic. (http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?showforum=19)....

While I understand the moderators point (you want to keep the board logically organized) -- sometimes dictatorial structure gets more in-the-way than helps. Since I check Cobra, and don't want to make a habit of checking off-topic. (or getting more forum spam), it sort of makes things too much work for me. And since SVTOA was generating a lot of traffic, it seemed the divergence was of interest to more than a few people. So I suspect the main thing the moderator succeeded at is stifling his own traffic in the name of order. (No offense intended).

 

It's a fine line when trying to decide to close a thread. I think all would agree that topics do wander, but most of the time they move back towards the topic, or lose steam.

The hope is that they move back to the topic. Sometimes bickering (like Robert and I engaged yesterday) get too out of hand and the thread should just be closed. As I stated yesterday, I was somewhat out of line with Robert. (And we conversed through PM, and decided we both had had enough, and agreed to disagree. Which is how I should of handled it fully, through PM's, and not dragged down the thread.)

And as dke stated, sometimes the off-topic conversation starts to gather steam and well . . .that's just the way things go. Should we (all members) start another thread cspecifically for the off-topic conversation? Soemtimes yes, but dke makes a good point about keeping the conversation/traffic going.

Oh . . I'm moving this thread to Site Feedback/suggestions.

 

Hey guys, I closed it because it did go way off topic, and to maintain consistency with the way I treat other threads, I figured that I should do the same to be fair, otherwise people will say we left the SVTOA thread, go on even though it was off-topic. So, to be fair, that was my reasoning behind it. I agree, it was one of the best written and well thought out debates in awhile.

Feel free to start a new thread in off-topic.

If anyone has questions or concerns, feel free to PM me and we can discuss.

 

OK... I created the thread in the proper place (?): if the discussion should continue -- try it here:

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?showtopic=22917

 

Also, it was 03gtverts 1st post, and not even a welcome! So, if your out there somewhere in cyberspace vert,......... WELCOME, AND C'MON BACK!