Excessive quoting off site

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:37 pm

ParkesHub · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:42 pm

arctic · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:17 pm

This thread started out as a thank-you to Tony Mercury. Frankly there is a time and a place to call it spam, if thats your view, and this thread was not it. Just plain impolite.

Pretty poor form IMHO.

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:30 pm

Gwiwer · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:36 pm

The last time I looked there was no time limit to making posts other than a request from the staff team which is noted in the FAQ section to not intentionally raise the dead by deliberately reactivating long-quiet threads.

It was actually TLD™ who began this present round of debate a full 53 weeks after the previous last post.

And I agree that in a thread which was created to thank a valued member for their quite substantial and educational contributions that this might not be the most appropriate way to have recorded that opinion.

CEO Penhayle Bay Railway. Ferroequinologist. BA Hons (Honourable Bachelor of Aquatarts

)
The wise yet mysterious Sir Gwiwer Greybeard

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:45 pm

OK, I'll listen to you.

I didn't notice the timestamps on this thread. Mea maxima culpa.

I've made my point. If the mods wish to split this thread off from my post downwards, I have no objections.

What happened last night (and actually the reason why it was posted so late) is that I was in that Friday night mood for trawling through RP, but I'd basically exhausted everything, so I came to the international forums. It is rare for me to come to these forums because, well, there's no discussion in them. It was actually one of the continent-specific forums where I was musing the wall-to-wall Tony-ness, and decided that somebody should really say something about it. So I came to the general international forum with the idea of starting a lighthearted (but still getting the message across) poll of "Should Tony ease off with the cut and paste? And the answer options being things like:
- Yes
- Yeah
- My oath
- Too right
- Abso-bloody-lutely

But when I got there, I found this thread, and it was actually positively encouraging him to post this stuff. This genuinely surprised me. So I knew it'd be a tough crowd, and decided to dispense with the joke routine and just say what I really thought. And I did. I don't dislike Tony, and I know he puts a lot of effort into this stuff - but I do really think it's misplaced. But I didn't see the age of the thread, no. If I had, I'd still have posted the same thing, but by way of a new thread.

Humphrey! We're leaving!

Gwiwer · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:07 pm

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:15 pm

dthead · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:11 pm

I will assume you have read the first post before proceeding here ?

Good - if not I do suggest you do.

There are several things to learn from all of this.

* Do check when a post you are replying to was done. Mistakes have been done, and we have to try harder. Easpecially if the date is close a year ago to the present one, and missing a single digit can be dire !

* You are responsible for your posts. You may blame sleep, the drink, the workload etc. but you did type it and you did press enter. This works the other way, we assume your post was correct and not a joke or posted in error. So take care.

* Context of a post, is it the right place to bring up a concern ? Remember the report post is there now, and you can PM a mod to ask about something, rather than publically ask.

In this thread these points are minor and I hope you all take 'em on board.
==========================================

So you have now read the thread. Now time to see what I have in mind. As you see the thread is titled "Excessive quoting off site "

That is the title and now purpose of this thread. We are not going on about what you have read, but are now going back to the core part of TLD™'s post - all about excessive posings of newsarticles etc from other sites, and when is too much bad.

So, lets get onto the discussion.

Regards,
David Head
=============================
Note: This message is posted as a Moderator.

PM me or use the "Report Post" button to bring issues up, report spam etc.

dthead · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:20 pm

Ok my turn.

The International Railway News section is basically a quiet place. So with MG & my permission he has been posting news and updates.

The other sections of Railpage Australia™ cater very well for news etc for Australian Railways, as does the other sections for models, photos etc.

What Tony has done is trawled the globe for information we generallyt would not see or find.

Now many may not have known this, and seen the sheer amount of postings in this international section. Well we occasionally do see some postings and discussion, but not alot. When JamesC was doing the same thing for Japansese Railways it was great, but that died down. That was also encouaged.

Yet the basic idea I see from TLD™'s post, was all this spam and trolls - and were the amount of posts a problem ?

Perhaps in the main sections it may be. But TLD™ may not have know we endorsed it (there again the original thread was a thankyou thread from a MOD so that should have got some thinking)

However the post was made, the "discussion" ensured. And now we can wonder when too much quoting is too much.

Should we never quote a article?, Or part of ? In the international sense we railpagers would never visit some of the online sources we can read, and this not deprive them of anything.

What do you think ?

Regards,
David Head

biqua · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:29 pm

I like modelling trains, photoing trains, and sharing it here. These are the more mainstream aspects of our minority hobby, but interests in worldwide news, or even clipboard gunzelling like the yellow doors stuff are no less legitimate in my view - just not normally my area of interest.

In terms of copyright, etc I agree with TLD™ that this sort of posting is treading on questionable ground at best. In terms of volume, given it has largely been in otherwise underutilised sections of the forum, I have little objection to it, as it doesn't get in the way of the majority, and yet keeps other areas of the board ticking over, possibly sparking other conversation of interest.

On a more personal note, I can't be smegged looking up overseas news most the time, so the lazy side of me is grateful to have the NZ news served up on a silver platter as it comes to hand, and would be happy to see it continue.

http://biqua.fotopic.net/

Recent updates:
- new camera, new photos

Also http://www.putfile.com/biqua/

3foot6 · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:24 am

I have read Tony's postings on several forums including Railpage Australia™ and QRIG and find them quite informative. I truly hope that he continues posting such information.

TLD™, I have quite a bit of respect for you and agree with you most of the time, but I can't agree on this occasion.

My portfolio at RailPictures.Net!
My portfolio at Flickr!

Non-Rail Photos from EuroTrip 2008

David Peters · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:41 pm

I am not going to agree or disagree with anyone but leave you with a thought really anything on here borders on spam if it is pushed enough, it just needs someone to point it out before it becomes obvious.

I do not use that section of the board unless I have nothing better to do, but everyone on here has their part to play in the bigger picture whether a person likes it or not, it is called freedom of speech and while there are a few rules, not only on here but for all Australians, each person is allowed to say or do what he likes within those rules, if it upsets someone such is life, you cannot please all the people all the time! Cool

National Railway Museum member.
The opinions expressed by my me in these posts is not the opinion of the N.R.M. and should not be construed as such.
Ferroequinologist and Microferroequinologist.
Photosite http://davidpeters950.fotopic.net

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:49 pm

I'll cut to the chase:
___________________________
A Public Apology to Tonymercury

I have said before that I stand by what I said the other night. And I do stand by it, even now.

Where the problem lies is in how I said it. Partly, this was due to my failure to notice that the posts in that thread were July 2007 rather than July 2008. This made me think it was still fair game. However, a positive thread of thanks to somebody is clearly not fair game a year later. I compounded this by being a tad artless in how I approached the matter. Not to put too fine a point on it: I pissed in Tony's cornflakes. I can do better than that, and Tony deserves better than that.

For this, I offer my unreserved apologies to Tony.

I also said that I wouldn't shoulder any guilt regarding Tony's subsequent departure. Again, I stand by this. So, when I say that I'd like Tony to hang around, it's a sincerely given statement given from a more fundamental basis than the desire to assuage my conscience.

Tony, you silly bugger, come home.

- Andrew
____________________________

I will post my feelings on the debate in general in another post.

Humphrey! We're leaving!

Tonymercury · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:16 am

Andrew,

Thanks you.

I shall return, but on a smaller scale.

Tony Bailey
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