Not sure how many posts I have or just how long I have been here.
Like life its self I have changed along the way.
Spelling is a bit better, wonder what happened to those thousands of posts in other forums?
I may find it interesting and a bit confronting to look back at them, even those early ones here.
For two reasons I ask this question.
Horus made me eat my words, proved I said something I no longer agreed with.
We all do, every one of us, change our views, do we understand we get it wrong?
Do we take ownership of our posts or avoid them if we no longer agree.
I have views I will not change ever.
Once I would have gone to threads to,,,,head butt,,, but I avoid many just because I understand my views will offend.
I never care about twists and turns in threads subjects ,,,, unless and it happens a deliberate attempt to kill the thread is made with a comment so of subject so weird it ends the thread.
Have we the thread starters the right to control it?
Not in my view speech should be free always, no subject is one sided
Yes ignore the foolish but until its clear we can differ some threads will not see me.

Hi Belly, I have always found you to be full of wisdom, highly intelligent, broad minded and your most wonderful heart warming attribute, that of caring for Aussie workers rights and the objective of improving their situation and encouraging people to work and have a go.

That all said, I agree wholeheartedly with everything you share in your post above. Yes, we do all change through life, learning from other people and their viewpoints, [myself included]. I have learned a great deal since joining OLO, whether it be from religious fanatics [LOL], the diverse views of people regarding AGW Climate Change, Politics, et all.

People need People to grow and learn. Coming across people with different views or strong views on certain subjects has been my greatest learning curve and to those people I am most grateful. These incidents test and teach my soul to improve upon my communication skills, to be more tolerant and patient, along with acknowledging that we ALL are learning and for me not to be a hypocrite. For I am learning from these people who are helping me as an individual.

Belly
As contributors we don't own threads and they can often go off in all sorts of different directions, and sometimes not so different directions if gender, politics or religion is concerned. :)

We would be a sorry lot if we did not continue to learn and build upon our knowledge and understanding of different issues or cultures etc.

The ability to change or re-evaluate is what makes us human. It is only in the most isolated and closed communities that education and learning is frowned upon as the enemy. Knowledge for some means questioning, and hence opportunities to learn and grow are limited.

In Australia we can be grateful that we are generally an open-minded people willing to accept those who are different in return for equal acceptance and tolerance - it has to be a two way street or it won't work.

What great posts!
And they both speak for me, every word.
I too we are unique learn and grow every day.
And OLO has been a school for me.
On visiting my mail the thread ok message too came with wisdom.
It reminded me we older people have had time to make opinions the young, not unlike us, will both make new ideas and change their minds with time.
I had intended this thread be two headed,,, understanding we do not own our threads,,,,, that just maybe wandering without intending to stop the subject is free speech in action.
And that keeping within barriers is a way of controlling the subject.
Yes we are a tower of Babel,, we have the right to be ,,, being such is both our greatness and our problem some times.
No idea how to put this in words but we should remain free to say whatever we want to, BUT know if we get it wrong.
We are unique my hardest task in looking after workers is resolving disputes.
If both sides go on the defense, will not budge, no resolution is ever going to come.
If we ,, every one of us, look back on opinions we had as teenagers few of us would want ownership of them today.
But EVERY opinion is Worth while and should be heard.

Belly I agree with the previous points. I don't think any us own a thread but it is legitimate to try and have the original point discussed and to make requests to that effect.

I enjoy the tangent's thread's take at time's but have the view that if a long side discussion evolves then it probably deserves a new thread.

R0bert

No we, the starters thereof, don't own threads, but we need more control over what is done with them. Don't get me wrong, I do believe i Freedom of Speech, but there are (1) recognised restrictions thereon; and (2) nobody has the right to derail an argument in order to take the topic onto their chosen rant.

Custard I STRONGLY disagree with you.
Diverting threads is against forum rules, yet we all do it.
In life standing on the street talking to a mate we coast from subject To subject, it seems it is natural.
I avoid every thread that appears to want control, not of subject but of contrary views.
I think our master here knows free rolling threads spill over the edge and maybe do not truly harm.
But yes some derail threads with intent.
If threads are property then I have got it wrong, its an invitation to talk, to put our thoughts in print.
A thread that shadows Foxys latest one ,to me looks to be fishing for a result.
Avoid both threads my input would not be wanted.
See I truly think we should be one,, all men.
And that as much bad as good comes from religion.
I have views good and bad about both subjects but think it is better to use other threads to put them in print.

Well it did not take off ,threads often do not.
I have seen brilliant ideas put by other posters not fly too.
But on leaving it to wilt I must say in my view.
We have no right as thread starters to take exception to others with views other than ours in threads we started.
ok insult them play verbal tennis inform them we do not agree but asking them to leave?
some threads I will not contribute to, am not reading.
Because free speech must be first in a forum or that forum is just looking at one sided views.
I am unafraid to be the one standing out side saying things other do not want to hear, and charge some with following the masses.
But must yet work out a way of dealing with such as Boazy myself.

Belly may not know how many posts he has made to OLO, or when he first posted on this Forum, but anyone can find out. Just click the link to this Twitpic I posted of the summary of Belly's posting history as at around 0845 AEST this morning. It will tell you how to do it if you don't already know.

http://twitpic.com/1wur3d

When you get there, just click the 'view full size' mouse-over option that will come up, if the print is too small to read at first viewing.

There are 3944 comments in total: 515 article comments, 3429 general comments. The first was posted on 7 November 2005, at 8:13:15 AM.



I wouldn't be too quick to write the thread off as a non-starter Belly. After all, it kicked off on the Sunday of a long (Queen's Birthday) weekend. Many users may have been off the air, or too busy with other socializing to post. Let's keep our priorities right, OK? I'll say it again, this was a LONG WEEKEND in Australia (or NSW at least). Such are sacred. You of all people, Belly, should know better.

Shame on you!

By the way, Belly, this is a topic you will have to own. Just wait till I tell the 'up and coming' people half your age in the Party how you have desecrated, yea, white-anted a long weekend. They'll set you to rights, being such upholders of tradition as they are, by golly! We could all count on that, couldn't we?

Incidentally, I thought Custard may have had a point earlier in the thread, but one that was not developed much due to the brevity of the post. Without suggesting any poster should be shut down for their opinions, there could on occasions be cause for removal from a thread of topic-derailing posts. It would be interesting to see a fuller explanation from dis Custard as to how topics could be kept on track.



Must get myself a thread!

FG

"dis Custard" har har har.

Back to topic. Haven't run any topics for a while, but I do believe the author has a responsibility for the topic. Have had no hesitation in pointing out to some who have tried to derail a thread. I see the author along the lines of a moderator, by either outing or ignoring derailers and making posts that keep on topic is one way I have managed threads. I also find that I require the energy to do this, which is why I haven't set up a topic for a long time.

Therefore, no we do not own threads, but we are responsible in that we are mindful enough to respond to reasonable challenges and to try and manage the inevitable trolls.

Sorry FG my mistake, I thought the NSW government had privatized the long weekend, cut it up and sold it as parking lots.
Yes threads do get sunk by silly diversions and while it is against the rules to do it?
Free speech may over rule that rule we can leap past those posts and continue.
not dead next few days just working away.

Well put, Severin. Starting, and responding to posts to a topic, does require a certain amount of energy. I guess that's why I like posting about electricity and like things, such as windmills. I find, too, that it is sometimes inspiration that is lacking. Sometimes in a whole general area of discussion, such as that of AGW, it happens that when something as unhideable from the public as the failure of the much touted Copenhagen conference occurs, it can act as a trigger for a general switch-off by erstwhile active posters.

Belly remarked recently in another thread that he thought the Forum generally was in a bit of a slump.

BTW I note that Bronwyn's last post to the Forum was on Friday, 15 January 2010, at 11:53:57 AM, to the topic 'Have debates on OLO degenerated into name-calling and hatred?', a topic started by OLO userID Johnj, on Tuesday, 12 January 2010, at 11:42:15 PM.

That means Bronwyn has had six months off from posting!

Time she started to do a bit, don't you think?

I know she says she does this (ie. has a break from OLO) from time to time, but enough is enough. There is a slow slide in grammatical standards and spelling. And then there are the boats. Oh, so many, many boats! All of which must be discussed, and a good example in English expression set in the process of comprehensively lambasting this dreadful traffic in human misery and avarice. So from where can we expect to see this corrected? Where else but Queensland? And by whom? Who else but Bronwyn? Bronwyn, of the Cysterhood of the Coup de Grace.

Let's hope nothing bad has happened to, or around, her. Like being hit in the back yard by a low-flying Yellow-tailed Black cockatoo, for example. Or getting Hendra virus from a fruit bat bite or a horse sneeze. Not to mention the taipans. Queensland can be a dangerous place, especially near Brisvegas, where there are many other sorts of snakes, and bogans.

Sorry Forest but you are behind the times. Capt'n Bligh found out that black cockatoo's, fruit bat's and taipans were all technically under state state government protection therefore by one interpretation of the law state government property. You can guess their fate.

The good news is that hendra virus is now so expensive that few Queenslanders can actually afford it. I think the plan is to slip a few free samples into the Blues traveling luggage tomorrow and see if the market picks up down south. Bogan's still seem to roam free but I think that's only because everywhere else has so many the market is in a bad slump, they are generally pretty harmless anyway.

Could you use one slightly use dam feasibility study? A good price to the right home.

R0bert

ps - did I manage to totally avoid the topic and will belly correct me for that?

FG

I too miss the bountiful Bronwyn. Maybe she has been spirited away by rock wallabies for her to tell them tales of waterfalls, hidden caves, ochre rocks and delectable herbs...

In this day and age, where gangs of hooligans and ne'er do wells roam the streets, one cannot assume ownership of anything anymore, especially after dark.

Each and every one of us has our own unique take on things, I reckon it must be more about what the perspective of an appropriate level of ownership is for the specific thread topic...
If the original poster is replying to individual posts within the thread contemporaneously to others browsing and adding their two bob at random, "ownership" in a literal interpretation could involve either enforcement of a rigid system of being directed back on topic forcefully (to use a metaphor), or an academically inquisitive approach operating in a more iterative manner.
And so it goes, being both ambivalent and subjective in such a way.
My main concern is that people will start arguing about it.

Good one RObert no you get an award for that post wooden spoon of the week.
My blues? pleased to say Santa will be bringing a coach, selectors, heart, spirit, a pinch of QLDs will to win, and a flogging again next year in front of a crowd of ten in Sydney.
OH yes the two thugs get? how about 6 weeks and 40 lashes? can we still do that?
Ref? while a far better team would have trounced us any case ref gets glasss other than beer and linesmen? no know its my thread but you an not say that!

Belly: >>Diverting threads is against forum rules, yet we all do it.<<

Belly to answer your question, no we do not have stewardship of our own threads, like farmers we sow the seed and watch it go.

I expect most answers to your question could be put that succinctly. More complex questions are well covered, pro and con by the first ten pages, and from that point the debate is about tangents, diversion, and personality. But there is always that mere six degrees of separation from the core thread. We have little intellectual control of our threads given we need more than one intellect for it to be a forum.

Recently in a thread started by Foxy (Positive Contributions of Muslims in Australia) the core question was answered in the odd reply. The rest of OLO was of the opinion that the premise and need to proffer that question in the first place was the question that they wanted to canvass. Poor Foxy tried to get it back on the rails while qualifying the reason for the thread, but to no avail.

Is this the sort of scenario that fits your question.