OT

[BlownMGB-V8]

Wonder if it would help to add that (OT) to the parenthetical after "The Pub"?
I noticed the Experience board has a lively OT area, maybe that would help promote discussions in the pub as well.

Jim

[Moderator]

The stuff in the "Pub" section isn't "Off Topic". Our annual meet is a particularly important topic that deserves its own forum. I changed the forum name from "Annual Meet" to "The Pub" (upon Mike Masters' suggestion) to encourage people to also post about other meets, shows, gatherings, etc. I suppose this would also be the place for wedding announcements, obituaries, etc. -  anything of general information to the "society" of modifiers.

I admit that I'm a bit dissappointed that we're not getting more new threads started here - especially since I can tell from my log file how many people are visiting ("lurking") every day.

If you poke around in most "off-topic" forums - including the MG Experience one - you'll find LOTS of hateful speech and ill-informed political views.  If we let that stuff into the mix here, I'm concerned that it might turn off visitors and that they'd consequently miss important notices about the meet, etc.

[BlownMGB-V8]

That's a real good point, and I haven't seen enough of that forum yet to get a very good idea but it didn't look as bad as several forums I've seen. This is a pretty congenial bunch for the most part.

I think a lot of times people would post and would enjoy participating but they can't think of anything to say. Starting a thread is even harder. Towards that end sometimes a controversial thread is a good thing as it gets participation going. Ofttimes they will generate an irresistible urge to post, and I think that would carry over to other forums and generate activity.

But what you say is true. I saw one post where a guy said he wouldn't stop to assist some other guy if he saw him broken down on the road. Obviously that animosity has gone beyond the confines of the OT forum, but the worst I've seen in their v6/v8 forum was a raging debate a couple years ago between the v6 and Rover factions that I felt obliged to intercede in. It ended well enough, but could have gotten out of hand.

As Moderator I think you always can step in to throw a cold towel on any thread that needs it, even in an OT forum. I know you already do a real good job of staying on top of things. Sometimes it can be real stressful just reading those heated flame wars though so it's obviously your choice in the end. I was just trying to think of things that might pump up participation on this site.

Jim