Who is closing and/or deleting any off-topic thread? My light-hearted post about the Yanks/Sox game got yanked. It didn't even get moved to the "General" forum. The "September Already" thread was closed, even tho people obviously enjoyed it.

I'm not some troll on this board, and I don't start a lot of these threads. Why can't there be a couple threads here and there so JR and Dan can heckle me? I think it's being a little over-officious, personally.

Not me, Chuck. You may want to email Brad and find out if he did it. He runs the jernt.

--Rich

Maybe it's your "board presence"??? It's obviously not a rules issue, so it must be your presence...either that or JR and Dan paid somebody big bucks to go thru and remove all references to any baseball team other than the Yankees...hey, imagine that, "Yankees" and "paid big bucks" all in the same sentence...go figure.

C'mon....why would a Yankees fan want to delete Chuck's baseball posts? Chuck gets excited about the post season? Red Sox lose to NY in the playoffs. Chuck gets excited the Sox might get A Rod? Boss George picks up A Rod. It is just too much fun watching his eyes light up only to see his hopes dashed against the rocks yet again...and again...and again...

And for those who do not know how to get a Red Sox fan's eyes to light up, the answer is simple. Just shine a flashlight through his ears.

I did it. Someone sent me a complaint -- said it didn't belong here (wasn't about officiating or basketball; the header didn't make it clear what it was). I agreed.

I don't see how to make an exception for Red Sox v. Yankees posts and not for political posts, other sports posts, joke threads, other topics of interest to an idividual poster, etc.

Just post here about non officiating stuff -> http://www.officialforum.com/forum/14

Somebody complained?!?!?! Are you kidding?

Why does it have to be an exception? As long as it doesn't turn into a politics forum or a free-for-all, who cares if there's an occasional off-topic post? We had a huge thread about the possibility of invading Iraq. It didn't get yanked. It may have been closed after a dozen pages or so, I don't remember. We've had lots of threads that started out as basketball-related, but then degenerated into silliness. They don't get closed.

Unless the website just doesn't have the space to support any more threads than absolutely necessary, I just don't see the big deal. I can not believe that somebody would complain about that thread. I mean, I believe it, but it's unbelievable.

Thanks, Bob, for letting me know what happened. I respect you for being up-front about it. But again, JMO, but it seems over-officious to me.

Over-officious and just plain ridiculous.

If ever this was needed......

http://www.gifs.net/animate/setupz.gif

Censorship because one person doesn't like baseball. Unbelievable.

An occasional off-topic post? I agree.

But this was an off-topic thread. And, they have, in general, become more frequent. Maybe that's why the thread on Iraq wasn't deleted -- it was "just one" -- but now there have been "just one more" and "just another" and "just a quick addition" .... (I dont' really know -- I'm just speculating here)

And, on the particular sox v. yankees thread(s), the complainer hinted at (or maybe I just read into it) "6 more months of this" -- we've just started the baseball season.

There's plenty of spots on the internet where you guys can go trade good-natured insults -- heck, you could start your own list for free at Yahoo, for example.

Just for the record, Chuck, I posted a sort of joking complaint on that thread, but I'm not the one that wanted it yanked. If I don't want to read a thread, I just ..... don't!

I would agree with Chuck here. I don't want to search around the 'general' forum or find somewhere else to 'go and heckle each other'. This is the only internet forum, I frequent and I feel like I sorta know some of the characters that are also around here. I don't see what the harm of an off-topic thread every now and then. Do we need to make it clear in the title of the thread that it's off-topic so those who arent' interested won't be troubled?

Wow, what a novel concept, Juulie.

An occasional off-topic post? I agree.

[/B][/QUOTE]No way!! if you're gonna censor baseball posts, then censor ALL off-topic posts. No exceptions! No jokes either! I personally object to any humor that isn't my own!

The freakin' No Fun Crew is taking over the whole world.

I'm with Chuck on this one. This is a community, and although we all share a passion for officiating, that is not the only aspect to our personalities or our interests or our lives. This forum works really well because we like each other (generally speaking ;)) and respect each other. That feeling grows from getting to know each other as people as well as officials. The occassional off topic post promotes that sense of community. I am neither a Yankees nor a Red Sox fan, but I feel a sense of commraderie with those who are as I read their light-hearted banter. And on days when I just don't care, I skip those threads. Heck, I even skip the officiating related threads I don't care about. It just ain't that hard.

Perhaps, rather than unilaterally imposing a policy on the community because of a few (almost certainly a small number) complainers, those with the power to impose such policies ought to poll the general population to see how the majority feel?

How about just calling the obvious? ;)