IROAR, will offer the time and respect of one direct response to this thread. Neal, of course, nailed what was going on 100%. To fully detail the subject though the nature of the response was even more to the tone of how the topic was started than the topic itself. That should have been obvious.
Had it been an even moderately thoughtful mention of issues in yesterday's and the recent weeks and months market and other financial troubles nothing would have happened. We are bright people here capable of having intelligent well minded discussions on a regular basis. And we do. We're also bright enough to be bored chitless by drivel.
What was started was not a high minded discussion of financial foibles. It was a barely-sensical kvetch about administrations and campaigns when everyone realizes that though they get credit and blame for the economy writ large the White House really does not control it. The thread title might as well have been "I want to bitch about Bush and McCain and this is the reason I'm picking today." I saw it and suffered an aneurism. Or had the thought "chit, not another thread like that; isn't enough freaking enough." The two feel the same.
Given the totality of the response numbers suggest most others felt the same. And, believe me, I'd have felt exactly the same way if it'd been a thread bitching about Obama and the legislature. Enough is enough. We've had good people here saying spurious things to other good people. Insults have been real. Enough is enough.
If a discussion of the state of the economy among a bunch of gear heads is important to you go start one. If it's legimately offered it won't get... um... any more slightly sidetracked than any other tread.
Rather than having to watch a potential train wreck and once again see friends picking at friends over nonsense you are right. I purposefully derailed the thread. With ill intent toward no one. With ill word not spoken to anyone. With not a shot fired that wasn't in jest. Isn't that really a better alternative in this venue than yet another thread about whether some Democrat's daddy can beat up some Republican's?
Having asked that question in closing I'll also say I really am unconcerned about the answer. As long as we're not bitching at one another I'm satisfied. That's the end of my part of any serious discussion here.
Don,
I agree with most everything you said in support of your decision to dilute, obscure or whatever you wish to call the effect of your actions. However, we already have published rules for posting which we all agreed to abide by as a condition to membership. You have added an additional layer of requirements which are based on the specific subjective judgments you employed in making the call to hijack the thread. Again, I agree that the choice of words and phrases suggested the thread was going to go downhill fast; but, I thought the mods should, under the rules of the cite, step in if appropriate.
If each of us employs our own individual smell test and then decides to take action we end up with many different standards for posting which can't be a good thing in the long run.
November 4th will soon be here and with it the collective BP of this cite will diminish. Then we can all get back to bitchin about the quality of the MOCO products.
Friendship, Brotherhood and Motorcycles forever.
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Topic: Financial Meltdown?! (Read 81121 times)