Filters - The Paddock and Off Topic Banter

[JimmyMac]

I don't think I am the only one with this problem - ?

I do try to log in every day and go straight to New Posts to see what's on.
More and more frequently now, I am finding it very hard to find conversation relevant to my main interest on this Forum as the New Posts page is full of GT40s,blott adverts and continual political banality generated by those few with obviously no interest in the cars, judging by their posting history.
I tried the edit "ignore" facility to fend off such unwanted threads from my daily page but nothing works as far as I am aware and it is increasingly frustrating.

Is there a Forum facility which enables me to block this clutter and clap trap before I read my daily page ?

Am I missing something here ?

 

[Mike Drew]

Re: Filters

My technique is to just got to the main forum page. This shows the various sub-areas of the forum; any one that has a new post has the headlight illuminated on the left side. That way, I can go to only those sub-forums that interest me, and ignore those that don't, such as the 'paddock' most of the time.

I agree--if you are simply looking at all new posts, you are going to be inundated with non-GT40 material. But it's very easy to avoid that, as demonstrated above.

I see nothing inherently wrong with people posting non-GT40 material in the paddock--so long as that's where it stays. That makes it easy to ignore if you don't want to be bothered with it.

Don't let the politicos get you down! :thumbsup:

 

[Charlie Farley]

Re: Filters

James,

I thought you knew all about the filters here.
After all, you've mastered the technique of being logged into the forum and never showing up as online.
Whats that all about ?

 

[Charlie Farley]

Re: Filters

Ahh James, after a few minutes, you've read my post and rectified the situation.
Welcome James to the open society.

 

[JimmyMac]

Re: Filters

James,

I thought you knew all about the filters here.
After all, you've mastered the technique of being logged into the forum and never showing up as online.
Whats that all about ?

Andy,
I get email when a post is replied to - try it.
I have no idea what you mean. I believe that only administrators can do this.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Re: Filters

The way I ignore the Paddock is to go to my profile, "Edit Options", scroll to the bottom and set "Forums To Exclude From View" to exclude the Paddock (and for that matter any other fora I want to ignore).

As for ignoring the robot for-sale postings, I would think you could do a similar thing with "Edit Ignore List" with respect to user "GT40s Bot" but I just tried it and posts from that user are still visible in "today's posts".

BTW this thread belongs in Site Questions, Suggestions, & Comments.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

 

[Jack Houpe]

Re: Filters

I don't think I am the only one with this problem - ?

I do try to log in every day and go straight to New Posts to see what's on.
More and more frequently now, I am finding it very hard to find conversation relevant to my main interest on this Forum as the New Posts page is full of GT40s,blott adverts and continual political banality generated by those few with obviously no interest in the cars, judging by their posting history.
I tried the edit "ignore" facility to fend off such unwanted threads from my daily page but nothing works as far as I am aware and it is increasingly frustrating.

Is there a Forum facility which enables me to block this clutter and clap trap before I read my daily page


Am I missing something here ?

I'm just like you but you have less of a temper than I. I'm just about ready to throw in the towel on the forum even though I'm guilty of speaking my mind on a few subjects. I'm here for the car and what made it what it is today and thankful for the knowledge of many of the members here that truly know the car and it's mechanics.

 

[Mike]

Re: Filters

Being a veteren of numerous forum wars on many topics, the appeal of arguing politics and/or religion on the web is nothing more than an exercise in seeing who can be the biggest prick to each other. No one is changing their mind based on insults or what anyone else says even when best intentioned. People that participate in said never ending exercises in futility need to re-evaluate their lives and search instead for more fulfilling pursuits. In other words... get a life ok? Let's talk cars instead. Show me yours...

 

[Phil]

Re: Filters

James:
Thanks for posting on this topic. Although I truly enjoy the forum, I totally avoid all the political and otherwise ideological postings as I truly am here for the knowledge I can get, and any knowledge I can pass on to other members.
I too have noticed a definite drift in the dialog towards political opinions and although it is easy enough to just avoid them, they do take up precious space on my screen where I would like to see discussions on everything GT40.
I still enjoy the forum and log in daily, but its the technical and build diaries I most enjoy, so that is what I look for.
I just ignore all the crap. My dad used to say that if you take your eyes off the goal you just see obstacles, and I am sure that there are many other forum members that feel the forum has changed a bit to their dislike and are just doing exactly the same as we are in excluding all the junk and staying on the topic.
Cheers
Phil

 

[HILLY]

Re: Filters

Totally Agree.
33 new or updated threads ... 6 about GT40's and god forbid one about an original car.
Not the forum that it once was.

 

[Paul Brameld]

Re: Filters

Totally agree :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Jack Houpe]

Re: Filters

One other thing, look at the join dates of who is speaking on this thread and the number of posts, then find the guys raising hell and see when they joined and the amount of posts they have. They are not talking about the CAR.

I personally get excited to see a post under my sub forum.

 

[Dave Bilyk]

Re: Filters

Jimmy, thanks for raising this. I too am concerned at the rising number of off topic posts, in particular those with a political content that I do not really care to read.
We used to talk about the good 'signal to noise ratio' on this forum, but recently it has been going from bad to worse. I am sure that Ron will be thinking about a solution for this.
The GT40 bot, I feel is essentially a good idea but it must be so difficult to separate new GT (don't particularly want to see) from original GT40 stuff, it is a work in progress however, so I am still cutting it some slack, ultimately though I may be looking for a way to filter it out.
As for the paddock, I enjoy a lot of the content, and would not like to ignore it, but this strident political content (if we must have it) that is by far the main increase in noise on the forum, I would like to see in a sub forum that I can filter out and ignore. I have recently considered putting an ignore on those responsible which would be a pity if they do make a contribution to the forum's main raison d'etre, but it may come to that.

Dave

 

[Mike]

Re: Filters

One other thing, look at the join dates of who is speaking on this thread and the number of posts, then find the guys raising hell and see when they joined and the amount of posts they have. They are not talking about the CAR.

I personally get excited to see a post under my sub forum.

Are you having a bad day? I'll assume that was directed at me since I am a recent new member per your observations. Why don't you address me specifically and state your issue? New people come and go on all forums and old people like you bitch about it. If you have a specific problem then state it.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Re: Filters

I'm not following whatever it is you guys are upset about: are you complaining about the Paddock? If so it's easy to filter out (see my earlier post with instruction on how to do so). So filter it out and let's drop this.

If you're NOT complaining about the Paddock, what specifically is the problem?

If we continue this complaining under "GT40 and Ford GT Talk" we're precisely guilty of the exact thing we're complaining about.

 

[Mike]

Re: Filters

Old people smell funny

 

[Ron Earp]

Re: Filters

New Posts page is full of GT40s,blott adverts and continual political banality generated by those few with obviously no interest in the cars, judging by their posting history.

Am I missing something here ?

No Jimmy, you're not missing anything here. I was going to start a thread on the exact same topic. Something along the lines of "Do we need the Paddock?".

The Paddock is for off topic discussions of all types. But these days, wow, it seems to simply be full of political banter that borders on downright rude behavior from some of the participants. Do we need that here? There are plenty of political websites on the forum and maybe we need to leave the politicking to those sites while we stick to GT40 issues.

As far as the bot posts go, well, it is an experiment to see if being a Google affiliate can help raise some money for forum expenses. In the last couple of years the number of advertisers has dropped off dramatically therefore I wanted to try the Google affiliate program to see if it could make up for the lack of advertisers. I'll know in a couple of months how it is doing and make a decision on continuing the program.

Maybe not indexing the Paddock on the "What's New" link would help. I think that can be done and will look into it. I don't know what percentage of posts the Paddock accounts for on GT40s.com but it seems like as of late there are some users who essentially only post in the Paddock.

Now, for all of you that don't want to view The Paddock, or other subforums on your New Posts page, is to do as Alan suggests and change it in your User Control panel.

 

[JimmyMac]

Thank you Ron,

You are a gentleman as ever.

Cordially,

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Re: Filters

I was going to start a thread on the exact same topic. Something along the lines of "Do we need the Paddock?"....As far as the bot posts go, well, it is an experiment to see if being a Google affiliate can help raise some money for forum expenses..

Well, if you had started such a thread I would have said "Yes, we need the paddock the same way the US needs Manhattan in "Escape From New York.""

There has to be an escape valve to which the compulsively drifting can be sent when they can't stay on topic. My experience is that telling people "there are other places on the internet to discuss that" does not work. The "other place" has to be right next door for some reason.

Also, I call "brilliant!" on monetizing the GT40 Bot. I'll put up with whatever side effects if generates if it helps support the site.

 

[Nick]

As a guilty party I am truly sorry if I have caused offense or anger to anyone, this was never my intent. Having an interest and being involved in politics from a young age means old habits die hard.

I agree with a lot of your comments, reading them made me feel somewhat embarrased and foolish. I will try to stay away from political argument, which will certainly please my wife who also thinks I should "get a life".