to tell the truth I'm pretty content with one-off throw away comments

I prefer brain droppings. If they lead to conversation that's okay.

The conversations that I have had, that have any real substance have been via email with specific individuals, rather than the open forums. One reason is the 'quote' function, filling up half a page, and then adding a few sentences. Another reason is there are a few folks have made up their mind, so don't confuse them with the facts attitude.
So there is a fair amount of blather, lots of heat with little light.

I've noticed the e-mail thing, too -- I've received a number of absolutely brilliant e-mails from people who really don't display that side quite so much in the forums -- and I'm not sure if they're even aware of the difference -- or maybe they're just more comfortable limiting their intellectual outbursts to more private communiques --

Either way, I can understand it. There could be a sort of conceptual disincentive to respond cerebrally to something, knowing that three posts further down the page, someone will try to turn it into a pee pee joke....

Did someone say peepee joke?

I would prefer to see more serious topics. I have a great sense of humor, and i like to post and have fun. I do that every now and then in the chit chat threads. In general discussion though, if i do make a humorous post, i like to address the topic as well. I have seen a lot of really good topics, with great potential, fall into chat..and the topic is then void of any real interest. I can't recall the particular thread...but it was something i was interested in, and hearing what others thoughts were.

But no, i get busy...and when i return, the thread is completely derailed, and all interest is lost. That is certainly not fair to the original poster, nor those of us who had a genuine interest.

i like the extended intellectual conversation. helps build the sexual tension.

That is an excellent point. One thing Lex has noted before...Is that, we do have to allow for a certain amount of "topic drift" And i agree with that, yanno...I do want the forums to have a "community" feel. I want friends to be able to interact. I think that's important, but at the same time, respect is due the op, and the readers. The easiest way to do that..is say hi to your friend, sure!, and then comment as to the topic. That shows respect, and can only add to your persona.

Humor doesn't have to be unpolitically correct. Why do people have to zing others in order to have humor?

As for the OP, I enjoy both at different times. I have seen threads wander off into limbo too but I figure the OP wasn't concerned because they did not address it or were part of the participation in the wander.

I think as mods, it has to be difficult with the range of personalities, ages, cultures, backgrounds, etc... on these forums to try to regulate the content of each thread to keep to topic.

I enjoy the site. There are alot of different folks on here, that is for sure...lol

Why do I need to not panic??? What would I panic about??? Is there something behind me????

Hiya Ainjel !....

I wonder why we are here...we all have different reasons, I guess...and for us two at the other end of the Big Ball to be in the Forums it's pretty obvious it's for discourse...learning, sharing, having a laugh, getting in a few deep and meaningfuls...and expanding our worlds.

I said in an email to a fellow poster, (amongst other stuff) that if I really wanted one liners and catch phrases as a form of communication, I only need go to the local pub... I joined here to EXPAND my horizons, and not to reduce them, intellectually.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to play around, having a laugh at my expense, your expense, or even some innocent bystander's expense...I don't discriminate. Sometimes it would be nice to LEARN/SEE more depth about people.

Intent.... if the intent is to be boisterously joyful, then the reciprient owns the rest.

I do love that our lingo gets lost, sometimes it get's funnier! Like I said Hooroo the other night, and I could here the crickets and the report button going off for miles!

So for you, personally, would you like to have more 'engaging' topics? Not ALL that way, but a bit more balance?

So what is about the forums that is so intimidating, to show a different shade to one's nature? A deeper texture, a richer more whole version of the one presented now?

If it is ridicule, then, so be it, it reflects on the ridiculer, not the poster.

SO collectively there is an opportunity here.... to expand the flavour of the threads, to diversify....and then engage in the selections offered.

Even off topic, they can evolve into another tangent of interesting conversation....peppered with one liners and a giggle here and there adds spice to a thread, and really we all know it is easy to drag a topic back on topic, or something resembling the topic.

Wandering off tangent is to be expected, unless tied to a lecture hall chair...discussion is a fluid experience...with all the facets... one word, can trigger another topic...and that's ok... I am the most ADD, easily distracted person I know...

As I said in a previous post, it isn't difficult to drag a thread back onto topic, or engage in the new topics that evolve within the thread.

I guess what really chaps me is being suppressed from being a straight-shooter. Sure, I tend to shoot from the hip, but I shoot straight. Too many people today seem to want to try to secure themselves in this faux sense of "be nice" by using the argument of "use tact". Tact does not always work, because the world itself is not "nice", but most people today don't want honesty. They want the candy-coated version. Personally, I have a LOT more respect for somebody who lays it on the line and tells it exactly as it is. There's no misconception with that. The "be nice, use tact" rhetoric usually leaves way too much open to interpretation, and nothing solid ever gets established (again, this is from my own perspective).

I've seen so many people lately playing the "diversity" card in discussions like this. True, we're all different, and we all have different personalities in regard to humor and such. Then, there are folks who will use the argument of "Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD." I will counter that by saying, "Just because something IS, doesn't mean it SHOULD BE."

There is a saying we have here...condemn the behaviours, not the person.

If someone is acting like a wanker, I will state they are acting like a wanker, not that THEY are a wanker.

Perhaps the clarity is missing....and really, what you think of me, is not going to shatter my world into a gazillion pieces... however, I may learn something of my behaviours through your critique-ing.(sp?).

The societal differences between your culture, and mine, and Ainjel's is glaringly obvious to us.... we take the p*ss out of each other constantly...it's our culture to do that, both for kiwis and aussies...

it actually means (in subtext) I really like you.

Oh, that has not gone unnoticed by me. I'm quite familiar with the behavior, as I have a very eclectic male relation, so for me, it's more of being born with it as opposed to growing into it. I was almost to the point where I thought it was only a midwest thing, as few others "got it". Then, I realized that not everybody has even a semblence of a sense of humor. They take their life too seriously, they take their job too seriously, they take EVERYTHING too seriously. Personally, I find that to be a great road on the way to an ulcer.