#39269
08/25/2001 8:09 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
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You are completely missing the point, Bill. It is cumbersome to ignore stuff on this board if you don't know it's coming. Hence our periodic attempts to flag up "Food & Recipes", "Politics Warning", and similar topics - in the certain knowledge that some of us will thereby choose to avoid loading (repeatedly) to a thread identified as a topic of interest but subsequently converted to a topic of less than interest (and quite likely nothing to do with language either, though that may be no bar in itself). Tain't much to ask - I am glad to avoid offence to those who find (say) politics boring by clearly flagging something like that. And you need to just be aware that the interminable minutiae of a foreign sport is about as interesting in a world conversation as watching paint dry.
/rant
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#39270
08/25/2001 8:52 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Mav: I just don't have any problem. If I find a thread or a post boring, I just go elsewhere. I'm don't understand your problem. Maybe my having DSL spares me time waiting for posts to appear. I am having one problem that puzzles me: A post will start to come in, and then everything fireezes for up to a couple minutes, sometimes longer. I think it is those bastards at PacBell,net who keep timing out on me with no notice or admission that they are doing it. It's not only in AWAD. Hope you like that URL about the jerk who got caught up on the Statue of Liberty. http://www1.sympatico.ca/news/Fullstories/w082338.html Bill
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#39271
08/25/2001 8:54 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
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Hey, mav! How come all of a sudden you're calling the shots?  how's that for a sneaky way to get back on topic And, besides, everyone is just a click away from the relief of their boredom. Wasn't there just a rugby star conversation off-topic somewhere? Nobody waved a flag at that.
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#39272
08/25/2001 9:22 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
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#39273
08/25/2001 9:58 PM
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Posts: 2,605
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Fine. So in the interest of diplomacy, may I suggest that it appears to me we are all agreed on the following:
-- No topic is vebotin, but
-- A topic that may be of such less-than-general interest should be clearly "flagged" as such, so that it can be even-more-easily ignored by those who so wish?
Because if that's the consensus, the sole issue is what methods of flagging to use -- procedure, not substance.
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#39274
08/25/2001 10:13 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
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#39275
08/25/2001 10:36 PM
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Musick, didn't you yourself start a "sports" thread just a few hours ago? One that I very much like, I might add.
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#39276
08/25/2001 10:56 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Dear Max: while I don't know anything about your sports, I am quite willing to try to learn. And if I get baffled, as WhitmanO'Neill just said, relief is only a click away.
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#39277
08/25/2001 11:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157
member
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Regarding the original question...
When I speculate on the origin of "calling the shots," I get a mental picture of a guy with a bullhorn in a chair marked "Director" (hence "shots" would refer to camera shots). Could there be any validity to this, or did we already decide it was something else?
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#39278
08/25/2001 11:38 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
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tsuwm wins: They each ended their respective major league careers in the same city they started in but for a different team.
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#39279
08/26/2001 1:52 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
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guy with a bullhorn in a chair marked "Director" I think you're on to something there, francais. Especially hearkening back to the silent film era when there was no need for silence on the set. And how do you know to wave a flag when you don't have any idea your post is apt to trigger a digression from the topic? My Babe Ruth "Called Shot" post, which set off the baseball detour, was an honest speculation into the etymology of the phrase in question. If I hadn't slipped and said he was playin' for the Cubs, none of this dialogue would have transpired...but Yankee haters are vultures, and Cubs fans are too oversensitive ...so should have I put up: ATTENTION: JUST IN CASE I MAKE A MISTAKE IN THIS POST ABOUT BASEBALL LORE THAT MIGHT TRIGGER OFF A FLURRY OF POSTS ON THAT SPORT I'M DECLARING A BASEBALL YART FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T CARE TO READ FURTHER DIALOGUE ABOUT THIS TOPIC, AND WHO, BY THE WAY, COULD BE CLICKED AWAY ENJOYING A WHOLE NEW THREAD BY NOW IF THEY HADN'T TAKEN THE TIME TO READ THIS COURTEOUS MESSAGE...? 
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#39280
08/26/2001 2:23 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
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In reply to:
JUST IN CASE I MAKE A MISTAKE IN THIS POST ABOUT BASEBALL LORE THAT MIGHT TRIGGER OFF A FLURRY OF POSTS ON THAT SPORT I'M DECLARING A BASEBALL YART...
Whitman, I think (unless I am misreading your post) that you have extended (perhaps erroneously) the generally accepted usage of YART, which in the past has been applied in the main to warn about warmed over topics. while the discussion of YARTs itself certainly qualifies as a YART, and while there has (on rare occasion) appeared the odd self-YART, I don't think that we can expect folks to predict YARTish digressions when they make a post.
or did I just obviousize your point?
(no, having just reread what I've typed, I don't think that would properly characterize what I've done....)
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#39281
08/26/2001 2:54 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
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#39282
08/26/2001 3:06 AM
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Posts: 4,189
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Oh, Lord!...I think I'm having a YARTiac arrest! is it Joe-the Surgeon-Friday, or Joe-the-[gulp!]Detective-Friday...or both?
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#39283
08/26/2001 3:23 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
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Beloved people: p'raps in subsequent posts, we will find that we have gotten up on the right side of the bed. Darlin' maverick, you are right: there is at least one baseball thread, somewhere in the bowels of Miscellany, but. I notice that at least two of the people who have posted about baseball here are too "young" in their membership to have been around when that thread was near the top in visibility. Merci, M. Pi, for attempting to return to the topic. Sweet Max, I applaud your self-restraint, sir! Lovely WO'N., I don't think he meant that it was up to you to put up the warning flag--you are not responsible for what follows your posts! ========================================================= 'Tis indeed aggravating, particularly if one is pressed for time, to eagerly begin reading a thread, only to find that it diverts on to something not only different, but to something that one has no interest in. However, it has been a given from the beginning of the board that posts will not stay on-topic--we're too "maverick" (ha!) a bunch for anything as tame and ordinary as that! I think that more often than not, the change of topic leads to something new and interesting enough that I am willing to consider the boring ones as something that "comes with the territory", at least in an instance like this when it just seems to happen, with no premeditation. You-all are a great bunch of folks--'scuse me, I just remembered the topic: a crowd of great folks!
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#39284
08/26/2001 3:28 AM
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Posts: 10,542
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>I just remembered the topic: a crowd of great folks!
geez, j. can't you even get the topic right?! this here is "calling the shot", not "collective nouns"!
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#39285
08/26/2001 3:33 AM
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Posts: 11,613
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Hey, I didn't say the topic of THIS thread, did I??
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#39286
08/26/2001 3:49 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
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#39287
08/26/2001 9:09 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 427
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Just to add my two pence worth, since I was the originator of this post with a question. In my mind, I am all for freedom of discussion and flexibility in the use of the board, but in my heart, I am afraid I have to agree with those who protest the "hijacking" of the word topic by a l-e-n-g-t-h-y discussion of an entirely different topic that doesn't show signs of abating at all. Yes, I realise that I am moving the goalposts here, but let me explain. Given that I asked the original question, I keep coming back to this thread when there are new posts to see what else you knowledgeable lot have to say about "calling the shots". And yes, then I find after three or four clicks, and a couple of minutes total loading time, that the five or six new posts are all about baseball. You may say, this is not much time, or "mouse clicking energy" spent on checking the thread and seeing that it's got nothing to do with my query, but believe me, time and clicks do add up, as do the pennies in my ISP's charitable collection-box. My personal interest or disinterest in baseball is not *really relevant, though as it is, I am completely uninterested. The point is, I come here expecting one type of discussion (unrealistically, some would say ), and find that it is all about something else, a topic so interesting to others (I *can understand that) that it looks like it could go on and on, so entailing a repeat of the above experience for me. I am not saying anything new here; we have all seen how sports threads tend to do exactly that. I will frankly admit that I may become a wee bit irritated, but my feeling, at that point, is that the sports discussion could move to a new thread, or revive an old one, something that has also been done on this board before without any problem. So far so good, at least subjectively speaking. But then, what is the difference between a word thread that has become a sports thread, and a "mechanical word" thread that has become a discussion of bicycle spokes and the different cycling holidays that different AWADers have enjoyed (or not enjoyed at all, as the case may be )? I would say it's the nature of the topic. Yes, we DO talk about pretty much everything here, but, as in real life, there are topics which are more prone to circular arguments, controversy, endless disagreement, heated discussion and conflict. I would say they are first and foremost religion and politics and perhaps ethical issues, and on a somewhat lower scale, sports. Many people have strong feelings about these, and it is (I think) a matter of consensus that these topics are often avoided in social settings just so as not to originate arguments (let it be said, just how mere sports talk could originate arguments is beyond me, but hey...  ) Obviously on this board there is no question of curtailing members' freedom to talk about whatever they wish, and there are takers for almost any topic, which is great. But I still think (some of you will undoubtedly disagree with me) that religion, politics, ethics and sports are tricky enough to deserve a bit of special treatment. I would say that generally speaking any thread that morphs into a politics, religion or sports thread deserves to set up a separate thread where there is space for it to go on, with a clear topic heading that explains what it is, where there are no remnants of the original topic sticking out all over (especially for flatmoders), where all interested parties can post and discuss, and where there are no whingeing grouches like myself making posts that are far too long to be reader-friendly. I LIKE this place!
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#39288
08/26/2001 9:48 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
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Those of us who have been here for a while know what topics however enthralling for some cause yawns in others. Sports, whether baseball, cricket, all-in wrestling, curling, or anything else is certainly one. Others will have other examples. No doubt there are some who groan every time I wrench a thread round to bring in matters Indonesian. Some of us are not above stirring a bit, either. Might I suggest that, after two or three posts on one of these contentious topics arising from a digression, whoever wishes to continue it simply start a new thread with a note on the old one saying a new one has been started. I'm not suggesting that a new thread be started every time we digress (though it would drastically reduce average thread length ), just in cases where the poster knows that his or her statements are bound to create an immediate counter-attack from those who hold deeply held opposing views. Bingley
Bingley
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#39289
08/26/2001 1:21 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
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I agree with the good sense of Marianna and Bingley. As for the general drift of digression, we have long established that as our forté!
I think what USns have to bear in mind is that those of our group based in many other territories have to connect via slower, flakier and paid-for-by-the-second modems, so the click-through of redundant threads is a real issue.
However, in the general run of things it's one we all cheerfully subscribe to out of interest in where a discussion may lead next. Anyone who knows me at all by now knows my intention is not in the least to inhibit any topic of discussion under the sun. Just warn me if you're going into an obsessive Raindance huddle over who's on third base!
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#39290
08/26/2001 2:37 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
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USns have to bear in mind is that those of our group based in many other territories have to connect via slower, flakier and paid-for-by-the-second modems, so the click-through of redundant threads is a real issue.
I did not know that, thank you for pointing it out Mav! You have made a ticklish subject just a matter of good manners.
Proper "headlining" of our posts is often overlooked. If used and changed consistantly to reflect the content of the post it would be a great help. "Headlining" a post also tends to clarify the thinking and promotes sharper prose, said the former Editor and headline writer!
Imagine having to read a newspaper with no headlines over stories or the stories had mostly the same headline ! Daunting.
My MD has me on a new medication so if my posts are a bit squiffy....well! That's my story an' I'm stickin' to it.
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#39291
08/26/2001 3:33 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
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What a delightful word, wow! Where'd you get it?
Delighted to have you back, Sweetie, by the way; and I am also missing one of the board's real treasures: Avy. Are you back yet, Dearest?
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#39292
08/26/2001 5:17 PM
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Regarding Marianna's plaintive plea, as the originator of this thread, that her original inquiry not go unrequordled:
Our sports digression seems to have ended, but our digression concerning the propriety-of-digressions continues in full fury.
Bingley had the answer: Might I suggest that, after two or three posts on one of these contentious topics arising from a digression, whoever wishes to continue it simply start a new thread with a note on the old one saying a new one has been started. But no one seems to have yet pulled the trigger to implemented this.
Per Bingley's good sense, there's now a new thread started, under Info and Announcements, titled Digressions.
S'all right?
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#39293
08/26/2001 6:36 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
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S'all right!
Close da box.
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#39294
08/27/2001 4:17 AM
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Posts: 3,065
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I associate squiffy with pre-WWII upper class slang, meaning drunk. Presumably wow means that any dimunition in the clarity and grace of her posts is to be attributed to side affects of medication.
Bingley
Bingley
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#39295
08/27/2001 7:20 AM
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Posts: 427
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Thank you all very much for your ideas (and digressions) on "calling the shots" . And many, many cookies for Keiva  . Edit-in: Wey-hey! Here I am, an enthusiast!
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#39296
08/27/2001 10:34 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
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Congratulations, Marianna! (But we already had the idea that you are an enthusiast! ) Safe traveling to you, Dear.
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