Charles Anthony

No. Avatars are disabled. However, you can upload a personal image that is viewable on your profile page. This topic was previously discussed here: Avatars? -- How about some? Avatars Custom Avatars? -- Mmhmm.

Everybody, Stop the baiting and insults. Just discuss the topic without making any personal attacks. Ch. A.

We are discussing this incident. A decision has not been made yet.

If you want to discuss the Avro Arrow, please do so in a different thread -- perhaps this one: The Avro Arrow, A Great Canadian Tragedy

Some posts have been deleted from this thread because they advocated violence. Other posts have been deleted simply because they quoted and thus repeated the offending posts. If you encounter somebody advocating violence or breaking the forum rules, please report it to the moderators and do not reply to the offending post.

Please keep discussion of the automotive industry out of this thread.

Sure. I want encourage members to continue reporting threads and sending recommendations for thread mergers. These reports will still be considered.

Indeed, quotes are important but you have to trim them down. Please refer to the following thread: Trim Your Posts and Quotes, Don't just hit "Reply" Do not quote the entirety of a previous post. That is rarely necessary. The only quotes that are deleted are ones that quote 1) the entirety of a previous post, the reply is shorter than the quote and the original quoted post is within one or two posts away. and 2) the entirety of the Opening Post Those two situations are excessive quoting and nothing but clutter. They make the thread more difficult to maneuver and read. It is just me. What is being saved is the hyperlink -- the little red/brown boxed arrow. By clicking on the link, you jump to the quoted post. It is not a question of bandwidth. It is a question of easy of flow as somebody scrolls through the thread. You are right. Somebody can edit their previous post and it can appear that your reply makes no sense. That is why edits are timed and dated. If you re-quote the entirety of a previous post, it suggests either laziness on your part for not indicating exactly to what your reply pertains in the quote. If your reply actually pertains to the entirety of a previous post, the hyperlink is sufficient. Get into the habit of making your reply easier to read. ----- If you find an example where you think a quote is unjustly deleted, post a link to it and I will discuss the reasoning behind the deletion. I might also be wrong and I am willing to modify this. However, I will repeat one thing that is consistent: the only posts that are deleted are ones that quote the entirety of a previous post. If you trim your quote, it will be left alone.

In the past couple of weeks, the forum has been inundated with new threads that border on repetition. You, yourself, Betsy have just done so this morning on a topic concerning the auto sector. What gives?? The irony! Here I am spending time pointing out the obvious. Sometimes you guys post things that are clear and obvious repetition. Sometimes you guys try to climb through the kitchen window by adding a slight twist to the angle of your Opening Post to make "different" enough from an other active thread. Balancing all of this is a challenge but I am resolved to minimize clutter. A few days ago, it seemed like some people did not know the difference between posting a reply and posting a new topic. New topics have sprung up like leaves. Everybody should remember that this is a discussion forum and not a community of blogs inter-mingled with news aggregates. Your posts and replies should be presented to engage fellow members in discussion but it is a two way street: you should make an effort to engage the discussion of other fellow members before starting a new thread. In other words, if you want to talk about something and somebody else is talking about it too, you should talk together! I really would like to send a PM to each member after I merge, edit or delete a thread -- that would be the ideal. However, I just can not always do so. During the course of typing this post, I dodged a couple of drinking boxes from one person, changed the diaper of an other and refereed an ultimate fighting match between the two.

It was deleted because it violated an oft-missed rule the rules: All it needed was a few sentences in the Opening Post to direct the thread. The reasoning is because without a complete Opening Post, there is really no way to judge whether the thread stays on-topic. Incidentally, the thread immediately delved into a non-political discussion.

Everybody should try their best to avoid creating new threads when an active thread is discussing the same topic. Scan through the list of recent discussions and see if there is one in which you may post your thoughts. There has been a lot of threads on similar topics created over the past few weeks. I have been merging threads without being able to post notes to indicate the mergers. There has just been too many. If you think that your thread has disappeared or has been deleted, check your own list of posts under your profile. If your thread was merged, your posts will still remain under your chronological list and they are publicly available -- i.e., you should be able to find them in a thread. However, if you can not find your post under your profile, it has likely been deleted in an inappropriate thread.

Everybody, Stop the baiting and personal attacks. Play the ball and not the person. Discuss the topic off the thread or do not post at all. Ch. A.

Both. Using your best judgement, keep the focus on being brief.

Bump! Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to start nagging you if you quote too much. Here is a good rule of thumb: If you quote more text than you contribute yourself in your reply, you have quoted too much. There has been a resurgence of sloppy and excessive quoting. I will send out warnings to trim your replies and your quotes. If you get a warning and you continue to quote too much, posting privileges will be briefly suspended to bring about a change.

Everybody, Stop the bickering. Amen to that.

A few posts have been deleted from this thread because they were divulging personal information about forum members without the consent of the members in question. If anybody attempts to convey personal information of an other member, posting privileges will be suspended. Prevention is out of the question because your post is made public as soon as you reply. We do not hold posts in queue for moderation and approval before they are visible.

A post has been deleted from this threadbecause it could be construed as advocating violence in a manner which may put the operation of this forum in jeopardy. Other posts have been deleted as well because they quoted the original offending post.

Everybody, Stop the personal attacks and this childish off-topic banter. Ch. A.

Everybody, Stop the personal attacks. Ch. A.

Everybody, Stop the personal attacks and the trolling. You are free to disagree with eachother and to defend your points of view so long as the discussion remains at the level of the topic. Ch. A.

Everybody, Stop the personal attacks. Discuss the issue without personalizing the debate. Ch. A.

If somebody "attacks" you or violates the forum rules, please just report the post and ignore that member. Let the moderators deal with it. From this point onward, the situation is handled as discretely as possible between the moderators and the offender. Just follow the forum rules and you will be fine. The focus of the moderation is to encourage all members to follow the rules and foster civilized debate. Do not expect a public flogging or a disciplinary report. That is just the way it is around here. The moderating team is made up of two guys: Greg and myself.

It could have been improved by making the Opening Post more focused. The presence of women was the only thing that you added to the discussion and a previous active thread was discussing that already. There was nothing objectively wrong with your Opening Post other than it could have been a lot better. I am confident that you are able to do better and so I recommend that you take this opportunity to focus on putting more effort into your new threads.

Why have that included in the forum? If you guys want to chat live, you can do that through various Instant Messaging servers already. Register with one and include your IM identification in your forum profile.

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