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Tau Zero
10-05-2012, 11:53 PM
Scott, is there any way for you to set up an option for individual users (e.g., yours truly) to prevent the "Free For All" topics from showing up in my "New Threads" list, or even make that subforum "disappear" entirely? (At least in the *virtual* sense.)

Just wondering.

Thanks and cheers,

5x7
10-06-2012, 09:45 AM
Scott, is there any way for you to set up an option for individual users (e.g., yours truly) to prevent the "Free For All" topics from showing up in my "New Threads" list, or even make that subforum "disappear" entirely? (At least in the *virtual* sense.)

Just wondering.

Thanks and cheers,

I'll second that, but i know it's been asked before!

Ltvscout
10-06-2012, 10:21 AM
I don't know of any way to do that. Sorry.

Raygun
10-06-2012, 04:51 PM
I don't know of any way to do that. Sorry.

Can't you make a button for that? You created this forum right?

tbzep
10-06-2012, 05:09 PM
Can't you make a button for that? You created this forum right?

vBulletin created the forum software. ;)

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-06-2012, 05:38 PM
I really don't mind the OT stuff to a point. (God knows I've gone there a time or two.) What I do mind is having some people who post little to no rocketry content dumping every socio-political/racial turd that squeezes out from between their ears in the Free For All section to the point that it outnumbers the rocketry posts 2X over. :mad:

Bob H
10-06-2012, 05:54 PM
I really don't mind the OT stuff to a point. (God knows I've gone there a time or two.) What I do mind is having some people who post little to no rocketry content dumping every socio-political/racial turd that squeezes out from between their ears in the Free For All section to the point that it outnumbers the rocketry posts 2X over. :mad:You have a magical way with words, Bill

I couldn't have said it any finer.

blackshire
10-06-2012, 06:55 PM
There is a way to deal with those who post little else on YORF *besides* material that is intended for socio-political agitation (other than simply ignoring their posts). When I was a member of a few USENET groups back in the 1990s, when some interloper dropped in and tossed a "rhetorical Molotov coktail" [deliberately misspelled to evade the "dirty word detector"], the group members would not respond (which was exactly what the agitator wanted); instead, we would follow up his posting in his thread with comments or questions regarding non-group subjects that interested us (gardening, fishing, pie recipes, etc.). They seldom came back to bother us again... :-)

Tau Zero
10-06-2012, 07:40 PM
You have a magical way with words, Bill

I couldn't have said it any finer.Bill's so much more sophisticated and eloquent than I am. :eek: :rolleyes: ;) :D

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-06-2012, 08:00 PM
Bill's so much more sophisticated and eloquent than I am. :eek: :rolleyes: ;) :D
That I is. That I is. Me bein' a city mouse and all. :rolleyes:

blackshire
10-06-2012, 08:20 PM
That I is. That I is. Me bein' a city mouse and all. :rolleyes:You are a gifted Ebonician (speaker of Ebonics). :-) There's nothing wrong with that--the Jamaicans have a "jibber-jabber" that they use when they don't want outsiders to know what they're saying, but they can turn right around and speak the Queen's English as (or more) eloquently than the British.

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-06-2012, 08:35 PM
You are a gifted Ebonician (speaker of Ebonics). :-) There's nothing wrong with that--the Jamaicans have a "jibber-jabber" that they use when they don't want outsiders to know what they're saying, but they can turn right around and speak the Queen's English as (or more) eloquently than the British.
Word. ;)

blackshire
10-06-2012, 09:04 PM
Word. ;)Yah, man! :-)

mycrofte
10-07-2012, 10:03 AM
It is true though. While waiting for the corn in my launch field to go away, I count on others to post about their builds or launches.

But, they are few and far between...
_____________________________

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-07-2012, 12:24 PM
It is true though. While waiting for the corn in my launch field to go away, I count on others to post about their builds or launches.

But, they are few and far between...
_____________________________
Got one coming up later tonight. Zog and I put about 15 birds each up at B6-4 Field this morning. :cool: We both treed one, the difference being that his is likely to be recovered. Mine isn't. :(

Ltvscout
10-07-2012, 04:02 PM
I really don't mind the OT stuff to a point. (God knows I've gone there a time or two.) What I do mind is having some people who post little to no rocketry content dumping every socio-political/racial turd that squeezes out from between their ears in the Free For All section to the point that it outnumbers the rocketry posts 2X over. :mad:
Which is why Jonathon gets many PM's from me. ;)

tbzep
10-07-2012, 04:06 PM
Which is why Jonathon gets many PM's from me. ;)
I hope P.O. gets more. J.D. actually posts some good rocketry content every now and then. P.O. doesn't have any on this forum.

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-07-2012, 04:25 PM
Which is why Jonathon gets many PM's from me. ;)
You mean THIS is the best case scenario? :eek: :mad:
Send more. :rolleyes:

Ltvscout
10-07-2012, 04:29 PM
You mean THIS is the best case scenario? :eek: :mad:
Send more. :rolleyes:
I did. Read that LJ II thread.

blackshire
10-08-2012, 01:40 AM
I hope P.O. gets more. J.D. actually posts some good rocketry content every now and then. P.O. doesn't have any on this forum.Indeed--and J.D. has also built and/or worked on and/or flown everything from model rockets up to sounding rocket-size HPR birds.

mycrofte
10-08-2012, 10:14 AM
Last time I put one in a tree, someone called the Park Police. Thought I was putting a deer stand in a park tree while trying to get it back!
________________________________________________

ghrocketman
10-08-2012, 10:29 AM
Agree that J.D. has some good valid rocketry posts. P.O. (should be P-U or B.O. !) never has had ANY.

Doug Sams
10-08-2012, 11:46 AM
"Make the World Go Away..."So, who besides me has been singing Eddy Arnold all weekend? ;)

Doug

.

CPMcGraw
10-08-2012, 11:59 AM
So, who besides me has been singing Eddy Arnold all weekend? ;)

Doug

.

Just us Old Farts who actually remember who Eddy Arnold was... :D

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-08-2012, 01:11 PM
Just us Old Farts who actually remember who Eddy Arnold was... :D
(Heavy sigh...... :o )One of Mom's favorites. I remember scouring old record stores for Eddy, Perry Como, and Steve & Edyie back in the 80's. :D

blackshire
10-08-2012, 11:21 PM
Agree that J.D. has some good valid rocketry posts. P.O. (should be P-U or B.O. !) never has had ANY.In fairness to P.O., I have seen at least one rocketry-related posting from him.

tbzep
10-08-2012, 11:44 PM
In fairness to P.O., I have seen at least one rocketry-related posting from him.

Ooooh. A whole post! :rolleyes:

He followed J.D. here specifically to spar with him. If he did post rocketry content, he was tricked into it. :p


.

luke strawwalker
10-09-2012, 12:42 AM
Ooooh. A whole post! :rolleyes:

He followed J.D. here specifically to spar with him. If he did post rocketry content, he was tricked into it. :p


.

hehehe.... I like that... :)

I DO think it might be a good idea to have a rule... for every "political or opinion" post you make, you should have to make FIVE RELEVANT, ACCURATE, CORRECT INFORMATION ROCKET-RELATED POSTS that are TOTALLY seperate and devoid of any political or non-rocket subject opinions whatsoever...

Ok, I'm gonna duck and cover now... when our former club VP added this very thing to the bylaws when he was charged with rewriting the club bylaws a few years back, suggesting that the "absentee leadership" who had been serving as the President and other high offices of the club until a major shakeup over a launch site incident put some "fresh blood" (including himself) in to higher offices, his addition to the bylaws would have REQUIRED the serving club officers to attend at least ONE launch PER YEAR as a condition of remaining eligible for office... This of course promptly started a flame war where he was accused of being a "rules Nazi" and led to a lot of heated exchanges before it was all over... basically ended up imploding the club...

OF course the only guys willing to do the "real work" of running the club getting run off, the return of the non-flying "absentee officers" to the "leadership" of the club, so much so that they didn't even renew the club charter or insurance with NAR (meaning no insurance, forcing me to put an indefinite HOLD on launches on the farm here until that insurance was reinstated and I received proof of such) and the fact that all the 'leadership' seemed content to do was give repeated placations that "the check is in the mail" month after month until virtually the entire club membership ACTUALLY WANTING TO FLY ROCKETS ended up quitting and forming their OWN CLUB (and getting me proof of insurance from NAR with their club charter to reinstate launches here at Needville)... which basically left the old club as nothing more than a debating society... which then promptly folded after a couple months...

So... FLAME AWAY!!!! :) LOL:)

If yer gonna talk politics on the rocket forum, at least talk rockets SOME OF THE TIME... :)

Later! OL JR :)

ghrocketman
10-09-2012, 09:29 AM
I like the current UNLIMITED status of postings in free-for-all.
If ya don't like that forum, don't go there just like you don't have to watch any particular programs on TV, but don't try telling me what is ok to watch.

CPMcGraw
10-09-2012, 10:55 AM
I like the current UNLIMITED status of postings in free-for-all.
If ya don't like that forum, don't go there just like you don't have to watch any particular programs on TV, but don't try telling me what is ok to watch.

I think I have to agree with GH here. After all, Scott did make the "Free-For-All" section for this purpose, knowing it would be a "catch-all" for everything else we might have interest in (rocket-related or not). As long as it gets posted THERE, it wouldn't be such an issue. Like GH said, if it don't interest you, don't go there... :D

Posts are known to drift OT as they mature, and I think this is acceptable practice. I don't have a problem with a drift, as long as it retains some measure of the original subject. That's how we learn things, seeing how one thing relates and connects to another. It's the OT-From-The-Start posts that generate the most irritation, regardless of the subject. Even a rocket-related post can be improper if it's put in the wrong category.

luke strawwalker
10-09-2012, 12:53 PM
I like the current UNLIMITED status of postings in free-for-all.
If ya don't like that forum, don't go there just like you don't have to watch any particular programs on TV, but don't try telling me what is ok to watch.

Yep... I agree...

I find it rather amusing when folks whine and complain about "why isn't there a way to set the forum up so that it COMPLETELY IGNORES the "newsbot" posts, or the "Free for all" forum, or "the Watering Hole" or (insert least favorite category here).

Is it REALLY THAT MUCH TROUBLE to turn the brain on 30 seconds and SIFT THROUGH THE FLIPPIN' NEW POSTS and just COMPLETELY FRIGGIN' IGNORE EVERYTHING that doesn't match YOUR interests?? You HAVE to be able to pre-program the forum software to DO IT FOR YOU?? Talk about the height of laziness!

On TRF (The Restricted Forum) I for one hate reading through all the stupid "forum word association games" crap and malarkey like that... probably 95% of the newsbot stuff is repetive or zero-interest for me, and I find EXTREMELY LITTLE on the HPR forum that I even care to read, but I don't WHINE demanding the forum software kick all that stuff out for me...

I read papermodelers forum, and most of what interests me there is spacecraft and sci-fi spaceships and such, which is maybe 20% of the builds on the forum (the rest being planes, trains, and automobiles, and castles/buildings and such). Guess what?? I hit "new posts" and sift through the 3 pages of threads that pop up, and usually open about 6-8 out of about 75... takes all of about 2 minutes...

Geesh... you'd think it was rocket science or something... LOL:)

Later! OL JR :)

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-09-2012, 01:39 PM
Again, I have no problem with the Free For All forum content and understand the catch-all nature of the beast. What I have a problem with is someone coming in and posting off-topic garbage without bothering to contribute ANYTHING rocketry related. So, if I've got this right, it would be fine with you if someone joined here and began filling the Free For All section with posts about his fondness for child molestation? Not a problem, because he put it in the Free For All section, right?
There's a reason this is called Ye Olde Rocket Forum. It's because the bulk of the posts are supposed to be rocketry related and those who join are expected to have an interest in the hobby. If all you do is make off-topic posts, even if they're in the Free For All section, you're nothing more than a troll. Find yourself another bridge to hide under.

blackshire
10-09-2012, 08:24 PM
Ooooh. A whole post! :rolleyes:

He followed J.D. here specifically to spar with him. If he did post rocketry content, he was tricked into it. :p


.For just a moment, I was inclined to look for any other rocketry-related postings from him, but then I shrugged and said to myself: "Nah." :-)

Bill
10-09-2012, 08:36 PM
I DO think it might be a good idea to have a rule... for every "political or opinion" post you make, you should have to make FIVE RELEVANT, ACCURATE, CORRECT INFORMATION ROCKET-RELATED POSTS that are TOTALLY seperate and devoid of any political or non-rocket subject opinions whatsoever...

I don't know about that...some folks here have lots of "political capital" and that might encourage them to start spending it.


Ok, I'm gonna duck and cover now... when our former club VP added this very thing to the bylaws when he was charged with rewriting the club bylaws a few years back, suggesting that the "absentee leadership" who had been serving as the President and other high offices of the club until a major shakeup over a launch site incident put some "fresh blood" (including himself) in to higher offices, his addition to the bylaws would have REQUIRED the serving club officers to attend at least ONE launch PER YEAR as a condition of remaining eligible for office...

How about requiring them to WORK at least one launch per year, as in setup, teardown or at least one shift of range duty. Most officers I know do a whole lot more than that.


Bill

tbzep
10-09-2012, 08:38 PM
For just a moment, I was inclined to look for any other rocketry-related postings from him, but then I shrugged and said to myself: "Nah." :-)

I actually did that several months ago. At the time, zero rocketry content.

blackshire
10-09-2012, 10:25 PM
I actually did that several months ago. At the time, zero rocketry content.Interesting... Well, the Free-For-All forum does exist for non-rocketry discussions, although I think that anyone who never--or almost never--discusses rocketry-related subjects on YORF is not acting in accordance with the spirit in which the Free-For-All forum was provided. Still, I would never advocate any kind of required "rocketry-related/rocketry un-related posting subject ratio" for YORF (it would be time-consuming to police and enforce, at the very least). Also:

I liken such use of YORF to throwing (rhetorical) Molotov cocktails. If someone throws one at us and it--for the purpose of illustration--lands on soft soil and doesn't break, we have three choices: We can get angry, pick it up, and throw it back (which would gratify its thrower), or we can just ignore it and let it burn out. Or we can extinguish it (by responding with good cheer and asking what rockets the newcomer is building and/or flying these days).

A Fish Named Wallyum
10-09-2012, 10:55 PM
I liken such use of YORF to throwing (rhetorical) Molotov cocktails. If someone throws one at us and it--for the purpose of illustration--lands on soft soil and doesn't break, we have three choices: We can get angry, pick it up, and throw it back (which would gratify its thrower), or we can just ignore it and let it burn out. Or we can extinguish it (by responding with good cheer and asking what rockets the newcomer is building and/or flying these days).
I hope Billy Doug doesn't mind if I borrow this
http://blog.kontera.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/like.png

tbzep
10-09-2012, 11:08 PM
Or we can extinguish it (by responding with good cheer and asking what rockets the newcomer is building and/or flying these days).

Ole' P.O. isn't a newcomer. He's been all over J.D. like VD on a crack w***e from at least as far back as the early R.M.R. days. You'd have to ask Jerry if he was on the Compuserve list before that, as I didn't have internet access at that time.

blackshire
10-09-2012, 11:16 PM
Ole' P.O. isn't a newcomer. He's been all over J.D. like VD on a crack w***e from at least as far back as the early R.M.R. days. You'd have to ask Jerry if he was on the Compuserve list before that, as I didn't have internet access at that time.He seems to be a relative newcomer to YORF, though (just going by when I first began seeing his postings). Your description made me picture Lazarus A and B (one made of matter, the other made of anti-matter) who were at each other's throats in the original Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor." :-)

tbzep
10-09-2012, 11:49 PM
He seems to be a relative newcomer to YORF, though (just going by when I first began seeing his postings). Your description made me picture Lazarus A and B (one made of matter, the other made of anti-matter) who were at each other's throats in the original Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor." :-)

LOL! Yes, it does seem that way. You might note that P.O. showed up here 10 months after J.D.'s first post. On TRF, he actually posted rocketry content, albeit with the poor bedside manner he shows here.

gpoehlein
10-10-2012, 08:01 AM
I liken such use of YORF to throwing (rhetorical) Molotov cocktails. If someone throws one at us and it--for the purpose of illustration--lands on soft soil and doesn't break, we have three choices: We can get angry, pick it up, and throw it back (which would gratify its thrower), or we can just ignore it and let it burn out. Or we can extinguish it (by responding with good cheer and asking what rockets the newcomer is building and/or flying these days).

Actually, I think they are more like tossing a stink bomb into a crowded room. Doesn't really do much except make the environment unpleasant for everyone else and stir them up. And more often than not, the stink bomb seems to be tied to an offsite link to an extreme viewpoint website that has an axe to grind with the subject of the lobber's political obsession. Much of the time, it seems that the "news item" is an outrageous construction, built from innuendo an grossly distorted facts, if not outright untruths. But, hey, if it's on the Internet, it must be true, right?

Y'know - this isn't the first time this has come up here. anyone remember lurker01? pretty much the same kind of thing - toss a stink bomb into the room and watch the fun as everyone reacts. The real difference, as I see it between tossing a stink bomb into the room and a real political discussion is that the stink bomb thrower likes to start a new thread with an outrageous, extremist viewpoint (doesn't matter whether on the left or right, gang) and doesn't post anything else there again. JD does, sometimes, repost in a thread. Lurker rarely did. And, I would like to point out, PO doesn't lob stink bombs - he will argue the liberal side of an argument with the conservatives here but he doesn't start stuff.

I think that is the difference between those of you who lean toward the farther right and JD - you engage in political discussion. This may get heated and even out of contol at times, but it is still a dialog. But you don't lob stink bombs just to watch the fun. I may disagree with your viewpoints, but at the end of the day we can all agree to disagree and that it's really all about rockets here.

I did have a thought on the original point of this topic - there IS a way to do it. Set the Free For All section like the Semroc SAM section. If you want in, you would ask Scott for access. Of course, the downside is that if you decline access to Free For All, you won't have any place to post about your health, your dog, your dog's health, or Terri Garr. Trade-offs.

Greg

DaveR
10-10-2012, 08:26 AM
Y'know - this isn't the first time this has come up here. anyone remember lurker01?

Greg
I do believe lurker01 and cohetero are one and the same.

gpoehlein
10-10-2012, 09:22 AM
I do believe lurker01 and cohetero are one and the same.

Not unless Jon was going under a pseudonym - lurker01 signed all his messages "Bob". And I know that Jon is a real person - I met him at NARAM in Cincinatti. :)

DaveR
10-10-2012, 10:08 AM
Not unless Jon was going under a pseudonym - lurker01 signed all his messages "Bob". And I know that Jon is a real person - I met him at NARAM in Cincinatti. :)
I dunno, perhaps "Bob" is a middle or first name. They both share the same birthday, and the way both of their posts read is very similar. Again, I could be wrong but I don't think so.

Skeptical Dave ;)

rocketguy101
10-10-2012, 12:29 PM
Yep... I agree...

I find it rather amusing when folks whine and complain about "why isn't there a way to set the forum up so that it COMPLETELY IGNORES the "newsbot" posts, or the "Free for all" forum, or "the Watering Hole" or (insert least favorite category here).

Is it REALLY THAT MUCH TROUBLE to turn the brain on 30 seconds and SIFT THROUGH THE FLIPPIN' NEW POSTS and just COMPLETELY FRIGGIN' IGNORE EVERYTHING that doesn't match YOUR interests?? You HAVE to be able to pre-program the forum software to DO IT FOR YOU?? Talk about the height of laziness!

On TRF (The Restricted Forum) I for one hate reading through all the stupid "forum word association games" crap and malarkey like that... probably 95% of the newsbot stuff is repetive or zero-interest for me, and I find EXTREMELY LITTLE on the HPR forum that I even care to read, but I don't WHINE demanding the forum software kick all that stuff out for me...

I read papermodelers forum, and most of what interests me there is spacecraft and sci-fi spaceships and such, which is maybe 20% of the builds on the forum (the rest being planes, trains, and automobiles, and castles/buildings and such). Guess what?? I hit "new posts" and sift through the 3 pages of threads that pop up, and usually open about 6-8 out of about 75... takes all of about 2 minutes...

Geesh... you'd think it was rocket science or something... LOL:)

Later! OL JR :)
I usually check these forums by viewing "new posts" which pulls all the garbage up. On TRF I select the stupid newsbot forum, and then select "mark this forum read" then when I go back to "new posts" the crap is cleaned up.

I tried that here w/ "Free for all" and (at least for me) that marked ALL the forums read. I think if the button were tweaked, we could have a filter if it really bugs you that much (the traffic here is lower, so I don't have to page through so much, so it doesn't really bother me here). I realize YORF is running an older version of Vbulletin so the tweak may not be availalbe.

Man I love hanging w/ grumpy old men! Makes me look like big ol' teddy bear compared to some of y'all :) :D

Tau Zero
10-10-2012, 01:31 PM
Is it REALLY THAT MUCH TROUBLE to turn the brain on 30 seconds and SIFT THROUGH THE FLIPPIN' NEW POSTS and just COMPLETELY FRIGGIN' IGNORE EVERYTHING that doesn't match YOUR interests?? You HAVE to be able to pre-program the forum software to DO IT FOR YOU?? Talk about the height of laziness!

[SNIP]

I hit "new posts" and sift through the 3 pages of threads that pop up, and usually open about 6-8 out of about 75... takes all of about 2 minutes...

[SNIP]

Geesh... you'd think it was rocket science or something... LOL:)

Later! OL JR :)(chuckling) JR, I was hoping to be able to *not* let those unwanted posts get into my brain in the first place. ;) :D

Cheers,

luke strawwalker
10-10-2012, 08:15 PM
(chuckling) JR, I was hoping to be able to *not* let those unwanted posts get into my brain in the first place. ;) :D

Cheers,

Heheheehe... you don't ask for much, do you?? LOL:)

Sounds like you need the mental discipline of Kohlinar...

(Spock can explain it... :) )

Have a good one!

Later! OL JR :)

Bob H
10-10-2012, 09:32 PM
What's worse is that read every post in THIS thread, knowing that it would have ZERO rocketry content.

Why do I do this to myself???

tbzep
10-10-2012, 09:49 PM
What's worse is that read every post in THIS thread, knowing that it would have ZERO rocketry content.

Why do I do this to myself???

....and everybody who's complained about non-rocketry related threads has posted in it. :chuckle:

Earl
10-10-2012, 11:33 PM
...yeah, like 49 posts currently with 800 some-odd views....

Just GOTTA get this horrible off-topic stuff off here! :p

Seriously, the one thing I have found in reading some off-topic stuff (and there is a fair amount of it *I* don't necessarily care for personally) is that I DO occasionally learn a thing or two. :)


Earl

blackshire
10-10-2012, 11:37 PM
LOL! Yes, it does seem that way. You might note that P.O. showed up here 10 months after J.D.'s first post. On TRF, he actually posted rocketry content, albeit with the poor bedside manner he shows here.Like Beale chasing Loki... (Star Trek "Let That be Your Last Battlefield") :-) I've looked at TRF, but I prefer our little gathering place here.

dlazarus6660
10-11-2012, 05:12 PM
I saw my handle, oh, it was a Star Trek reference! Whew! I thought I was in trouble again! :p :rolleyes: :eek:

blackshire
10-11-2012, 09:48 PM
I saw my handle, oh, it was a Star Trek reference! Whew! I thought I was in trouble again! :p :rolleyes: :eek:No problem...you still--as the New Testament verse says--"came forth!" :-)

Brain
10-12-2012, 02:00 PM
....and everybody who's complained about non-rocketry related threads has posted in it. :chuckle:
Yes, but no one would know you were complaining if you didn't post... a conundrum that can only be rectified by not posting... :confused:
["Hey, Beavis... *uh-huh*... he said 'rectified'."]
["*Mmm-hmmmm-mm! Yeah! Mmmm-mmm... what's that?"]

tbzep
10-12-2012, 03:32 PM
Yes, but no one would know you were complaining if you didn't post... a conundrum that can only be rectified by not posting... :confused:
["Hey, Beavis... *uh-huh*... he said 'rectified'."]
["*Mmm-hmmmm-mm! Yeah! Mmmm-mmm... what's that?"]

When they asked me at work what I was going to dress up as for Halloween, I said, "the invisible man". As long as I don't do or say anything, they will never know if I'm there or not. :D



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