Originally Posted by
ELFMAN
I think you have to be careful with your terminology here Ken.
Using words like 'degenerate' and saying discussions 'never concentrate' on what the opening Poster intended is, I feel, misleading.
I think many of the more 'Technical' threads stick very closely to their remit, with NMS members giving excellent and pertinent advice on a specific problem or query, whereas if a thread is more 'discussion/opinion' oriented, then it has more 'room for manoeuver', and can go off topic simply because it is more wide-ranging. This isn't the end of the world, even though it sometimes requires a three-point-turn or a strategically placed bollard to get back on track.
Different types of thread lead to different responses, just as in 'real life', conversations can go off at tangents before (hopefully) returning to the matter in hand. Someone may make a related point, or perhaps just a humourous remark, which others will pick up on and run with, and while I know that sometimes threads do veer off topic (I have 'previous' here), they usually come back, whether of their own accord, or by prompting from posters or, if necessary, the intervention of a Mod or two. There's no great harm in this. Maybe the original Thread/Posting had become a bit 'stale' and the 'off-topic' posts had opened up a new avenue for discussion - in which case a new thread is often created - eg the discussion on R56 Power Figures and Remaps, which 'grew' out of the New GP thread (the GP thread was fine, but it 'created' a new discussion which I'd argue was quite interesting in itself).
I think a great deal of the fun and interest on NMS is in the variety of topics and the variety of responses within those topics. I don't believe that NMS is primarily a "serious place to discuss MINIs", there are plenty of 'serious' discussions (if we can define 'serious' in a MINI context - there's irony there somewhere...), but heaven forbid we should have the introduction of 'Big Brother Ministry of Banter' or 'Off-Topic Crime'. In Car Club World, that's a very short step away from Flat Caps, jaggy tweeds and Serial Numbers... and I don't think anyone 'dropping by' would linger long if that was what they found on NMS. I know I wouldn't!
[B]MINI is essentially about having FUN, and NMS is as much about the people and the banter as it is about our fab cars, so let's not throw throw the baby out with the bathwater