Should we stay on topic?

[KenL]

Can I just clarify that I did not post this as a criticism of the moderators. The site is well run.

[Gismo]

Can I just clarify that I did not post this as a criticism of the moderators. The site is well run.

In no way did i see it as any other way than what your question asked.
As you can see, the replies have already slipped a wee bit off topic in that they do not all directly answer your question

Edit: I've moved this into the site feedback forum

[ELFMAN]

As you can see, the replies have already slipped a wee bit off topic in that they do not all directly answer your question

Please Sir! MINE DID! MINE DID!
OH B*GGER, by posting this, I may have gone DOHHHH...

[ianking]

I say a wee bit off topic and banter style posts within a thread are all good for the social and friendly image that this club portrays. Nobody wants to come on here and be policed and told what to do, and in general I don't think that happens on here. Striking a balance is what's its all about. I personally love the wee off topic bursts of banter and humour or even innuendo that the likes of Mr Elfman adds to almost every thread. That to me adds to the appeal of this friendly forum and I for one would like to see it stay that way.

Yes I would agree that this forum/club has become a little quiet of late and perhaps a way to deal with that is for us all to start leaving fliers in the dealers (with their permission) and leaving fliers under mini windscreen wipers

[MINIme:)]

yep I agree with everyone else! and not a lot else to add.
the bullet points:
- for me, the site is very nicely run by friendly people who hit a great balance of banter and control. I have never found any over-modding and when this issue came up last year I PM'd several of the admins to say that and to say thank you and declare my appreciation for the balance that they hit.
- I also remember talking to Craig a long time ago (I can't remember when but I've been a member for a bit over a year and it was many months ago - last autumn maybe?) about how I was sad that it had gone a bit quiet. His answer was that it always had cycles of activity and it would come back up. And it did. I expect that all sorts of things affect that - the time of year and what people are spending their time doing in particular.
- the wee bits of banter get self policed most of the time and what they do is add a lot of humour and enable people to get more friendly. In my experience someone always pulls it back on topic if it gets a bit too far off. I'd say that the friendly banter encouraged me to go along to my first events and I've been to loads of events now because the more people I know the more I go to. If it was all confrontational slagging I wouldn't have wanted to at all, but it isn't. I suppose I've put a fair amount of time in on the forum and therefore I get a lot back.
- I don't show and tell quite as much about my own car since the forums were opened up a bit more, so in that way I am perhaps guilty of being quieter. But I think I say a lot about a lot of other stuff and I have a feeling that quiet wouldn't be the first word some others may use!

[KenL]

Good discussion folks, thanks for taking the time to air your thoughts.

[AndyP & Lenore]

I'd certainly agree the site is quieter now than it was a couple of years ago. But I don't think it has anything to do with over/under modding.

What I do think is that the proliferation of alternative social media like Facebook is partly to blame - certainly I'm a FB junkie I fully admit it. But I suspect one of the main reasons the site isn't as busy as it was is because the social side of the site (the MINI runs & events) are few and far between these days. And I suspect the main reason for that is because fuel is so expensive. A moderate run of 120 miles (maybe 200 or 250 when you add in commuting to run start point) is going to set you back £50 or £60. It's basic maths that 3 or 4 years ago when fuel was half the price "we" (NMS Members) could do twice the runs. When you consider the organiser would need to do the run an extra once or twice before the actual run itself and it's no wonder there is not a line of people waiting to organise runs.

A.

[Mon the fish]

Also, Mini's are no longer as expensive or unique as they once were - decent R53's can be had for the £5k mark these days. With members naturally moving on to other cars, the people buying Mini's may not be as obsessive about them as we all are, as they are less expensive to buy; ergo, less members on the site

[LadyR]

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

What he said! Well, the on-topic bits anyway... It hadn't even crossed my mind that would put people off the forum. As more of a peripheral member than one of the "nms clan" I'm mostly amused by the waverings from topic, and once the banter's been had, someone always steers it back to the matter in hand. don't see it as an issue.

[KenL]

Well, it seems I am in a minority of one

Thanks for posting your thoughts. Could I please to ask a mod' to close this thread as it has clearly reached a fair conclusion.

Cheers.