Hey Antiseptic, I'm not pointing the finger at anyone, I'm trying to spark a conversation about conversation in the hope that it might generate some threads that we all agree are worthwhile.

I sometimes throw myself into the fray if I think it is lagging too much, and start a few. But I don't like doing that, because it stops being a forum and starts to look more like a blog!

its because of fear grayham

i have tried to post topics 5 times,but they were so full of errors of fact you turned them down,where as i feel the private responses you gave for their refusal were valid,...i feel they would better have been as a corrected post,on an actual thread

one that comes to mind on the qld upper house[i incorectly called the senete,it made other points i feel we should fully have been developing higher understanding on..but that was not to be..the post was refused and the will to post went with it

no one is perfect,im full of error,but am well aware of my errors,i have a different and'unique'way with facts,but i feel my error[if error]should be publicly corrected,or,asked to validate,just as peoples biases should be publicly rebutted

while im on the topic[because i see more articles resulting;if only to put something up]is the links direct..straight to comments,whereas i feel they should go to the article posted

my other point is the 5[4?]comment limit that applies to the articles topics,we need to keep back comment in case some one rebuts a point[knowing the limit lets their rebuttal stand for 24 hours,be it right or wrong]

my other comment would be that of censure[banning]having gone through this process at other forums..[as well as here]and despite your very fair and civil way of banning ...it still has a negative affect on posting..you must be aware certain posters are good at getting banned those they cant refute with facts

i feel we are adults here and can rebut[or make our own case]that error is best revealed where the error[or lie]is made..[at the post]

i hate posting what i feel simply are truths or facts i have been conned or decieved into believing, ....but then getting the dreaded private communication[you are suspended]

the self censure dosnt help the free expression[or free correction of further comment]if fools say foolish things let the reader decide

i feel if we are aware enough to concieve the problem we must be man enough to take public correction[not cry to the moderator for censure]

Graham,

I think this site is excellent.

It is rarely censored, it allows people to vent their frustrations, it allows people to discuss and debate with people they would never meet in real life openly and it caters for a broad cross section of the community.

Furthermore it enables people to express opinions that maybe in real life they would be less likely to do.

Whilst we crow about free speech there are all manner of ways in which free speech is curtailed.

A simple example is a Govt worker who wants to discuss openly a problem concerning the Govt. or even just their political views. This site empowers these people through their being able to post under a nom de plume.

THIS IS A GOOD THING!

The fact that some people get heated and are blunt is also a good thing.

I find all posters most enlightening and wouldn't be too critical of most I have read.

So the place is full of left, right, middle, far left, far right, christian, non-Christian, strange , weird and wonderful people all speaking their minds - this is what a modern democracy should be.

As for the topics I think they are as diverse as the people who comment on your pages. Guest posters would be an interesting concept to try but I worry about people who don't reply to the topic they start.

Even with the modern pressures of "the credit crisis" and just surviving we see people willing to give their time to debate robustly on all manner of issues.

My only worry is that most of the people here are wrong and I am always right... lmao

Graham, I do appreciate the effort that you put in, to make OLO
such a great forum.

I can think of a number of topics to debate, and I do prefer the
General section, as the 4 posts a day make it easier to discuss
a topic, rather then 2 posts.

Where most of us are probably in a similar situation, is that we
can each only spend so much time per day on OLO. So I often
see many topics that interest me, but I tend to select one to
three at a time and focus on those.

Luckily my computer is also part of work, so I can sneak in and
catch up on a few posts, when I really should be working :)

I suspect that this is not so uncommon on OLO, but we do all benefit.

So thanks.

Dear Graham,

I'll add my thanks to Yabby's as well.

OLO does have quite a varied
choice of topics - not only in the
general discussion area but also in the
article section. So there's a good balance.

Perhaps the reason some topics may be by-passed
on OLO is that they've already received very wide
coverage in the media.

On the whole, my feeling is that OLO does keep up to
date with current issues.

Allow me to add my vote here. OLO has been an excellent find for me, too many other fora are full of "personalities" and personal attacks.
I've enjoyed the discussions, and while feelings can run high sometimes, everyone seems to keep more or less to the spirit of this forum. I agree more variety would add to the attraction, but that's up to myself and those others who want it to provide it, surely?
Keep up the good work guys!
And my personal thanks to those who contribute, even to dispute me, it's providing me with exactly the intellectual stimulation I have sought, and I'm learning new things regularly, always a good thing for a G.O.M, lol