>->  ANY thread that
  >ever comes up on here is eventually going to become off topic. Its 
inevitabl
An astute observation... especially in the absence of an active
moderator.  To see the phenomena in extreme, visit an internet news
group.
  >you make a post about highway patrolling or something.. it goes here.. but 
i
  >bet even that will go off topic.
We all tend to think that because a thread is allowed to continue that
it is acceptable for the echo.   And, sometimes an off topic thread can
be so interesting and generally appealing that it IS good to let it
continue unabated.  Its when the tangential discussions evolve to, "you
said...." , "No, you said...", childish flame wars that echoes degenerate
and good people loose interest.
I wish the moderator were around and would do one of the "LEO roll
calls" that were popular here a two or three years ago.  I'm afraid
that because of unbridled off topic discussions, this echo is fast
losing its effect because there are fewer and fewer real LEO's aboard to
field non-LEO questions.   Law enforcement questions nearly always
evolve into flame wars unless an even tempered, rational thinking person
such as Tom Rightmer steps in.  I wish we had more like him around.
---
 þ QMPro 1.02 42-7029 þ If found, please return to The HEART OF DIXIE.
---------------