Discussing the usage of the TEA thread

[gnif]

Oh well, I tried. I did not know that.

I wonder if the authors of the BB software might want to work on that. I have tried to make suggestions to one of those companies before and, since I was not the purchaser of the BB software, they completely ignored my suggestion. So the owner/purchaser of the software used here would have to make the suggestion.

BTW, as a person who greatly appreciates this board, I would like to thank the owner, demonstrator(s), and moderators for their contributions.

Unfortunately the forum/thread notify function is indiscriminate and still will "spam" mailboxes with notifications for stuff people are not interested in.

All good, suggestions are always welcome
This forum is open source, there is no real company behind it. It would be possible to modify it with this sort of feature but doing so can break upgrade compatibility which on this forum due to the existing mods and alternations to make the form scale so well in our hosting cluster, it is already a pretty nightmarish task to perform.

[BU508A]

This is a thing CAUSED by a few who couldn't pull their heads in not some sort of heavy handed policing issue.

It really makes me sad when I look at these smoking ruins here.
Let's see, where this will lead. I for myself will try to stay silent for the next time.

Really sad.

[tggzzz]

Exactly this.  It’s been turned into a Facebook group: pictures of meals, woodworking projects, family discussions, personal employment sagas and everything in between.

I have sympathy with that, and would add "twitter-like" posts, e.g. where a parcel is this afternoon. But I've learned to rapidly skip stuff that bores me; if you can't manage that essential modern skill, then you are stuffed on any and all internet-based services! (I pity those with dyslexia that can't read fast)

Having said that, I haven't complained to the mods but have made the occasional public comment about the content.

OTOH, I have little sympathy for lurkers expecting the thread to conform to their expectations. The zeitgeist is made by those that turn up and contribute.

Good job gnif.  I think you’ve had a very tough go of it, including all the intimidation, and you certainly don’t deserve the abuse being doled out.

Agreed, and seconded. Mods will never get it (completely) right; it is part of the job description!

[Peter_O]

As a newer member, old in live but kind of newbie in electronics, I've liked to follow the TEA thread for all good reasons already mentioned. Some OT helps the community and a nice level of humour, which is more difficult to live in pure technical content. I liked it most of the time, and it was part of inviting me to post own TE(A) stuff now and then.

I see that the "where is the line"-discussion was needed (weapons, 80% OT, ...) and it is interesting to see on this model scale, that  it seems to be a law of human nature that a civilized commuity (and this one certainly is civilized) from a certain point of escalation has to go through kind of a catastrophic crisis to manage that.

At the moment I hold my breath and it seems that some more of the average members are doing the same.

I planned to prepare some on topic posts about e.g. a current probe, maybe to post it in 'beginners' and put a short version in TEA to avertise it to 'the old guys' for comments, but at the moment I'm kind of paralysed, as it would feel more work than fun to take pictures and write up a post.

Just my status report of a 'down in the statistics' guy.

[m k]

Yes, really sad, but sort of inevitable.
It is also clear that we the message board people are heterogeneous group only from the surface.

It also seems to be a pretty same route and quite many times.
There, finally, out of the loop moderator fails, totally.

Reasons seem to be also the pretty same.
Group dynamics is more or less unknown to those who can do something.

The problem seems to be that growth will hide the bubbling and so old maintenance team think they can still handle everything.

Since people as a group are not changing something else must.
Regular user reporting is also continuing its route, generally people will mind their own businesses too long, it may change for a moment but it wont last.
I've seen lieutenant moderator of sub-forum approaches but right minded folks are not so easy to find.
Forum informants then has a bit negative tone.

Here TEA thread was quite special in it self, being a community in a community, maybe even a bit deeper and very active.
But what was the core reason for reporting now and not before, must hope there were no hidden agendas, though wouldn't surprise if there were.
I like to think that notification was it, I don't use it so don't know but flooding email is something I don't like, specially since the same address is also receiving something important.
But it doesn't make sense since there are always something new.
High expectations and big drop can also be one but surely 1000+ members know the drill.

[beanflying]

snip

Since people as a group are not changing something else must.
Regular user reporting is also continuing its route, generally people will mind their own businesses too long, it may change for a moment but it wont last.
I've seen lieutenant moderator of sub-forum approaches but right minded folks are not so easy to find.
Forum informants then has a bit negative tone.

Here TEA thread was quite special in it self, being a community in a community, maybe even a bit deeper and very active.
snip

Sorry but you are quite wrong about 'the group not changing' it absolutely has changed. It had become increasingly a sort of personal sandbox for a small handful of members posting ostensibly dribble from their daily lives and is far from what it was a few years ago where an off topic 'interesting post' might get dropped once or twice a day if that.

Around 18 months ago a weekly Discord chat session was created as a weekly chewing the fat session for a more freeform chat on life the universe and everything rather than have those conversations in the thread. Interesting it may have actually had the reverse effect due to the conversation held there being more personal and really off topic rather than on TEA. I suspect the behaviour on Discord came back into the thread outside of that once a week session which might explain at least in part why this is a thing and the content had shifted so far and so often.

I seem to remember Specmaster (not singling him out other than it is clearly OT in the Forum but welcomed content) several years ago being concerned about posting Aircraft shots to much but as a group the response was generally hey cool nice shots every month or so when added. Saskia's Pinball restorations and Rocket hobby was likewise a welcome intrusion from time to time as well. I was as guilty of posting off topic a bit too but it wasn't I hate my Boss/Job/Life or my left butt cheek hurts either

There is no hidden agendas here or people seeking to 'control' anything other than keeping the basic thread back toward what it used to be with less fluff and padding. I can't think of anyone that has contributed to the TEA thread over time that would want ALL off topic content removed or banned either often they are the good or memorable bits.

Much as Bitseeker the originator seems to think other alternates are needed the conversation he and I had today was more along the lines of it used to be great and in balance but it currently is not, anything more on this he can speak to if he wants apart from me paraphrasing our private conversation.

One persistent issue is 'effective content loss' in the mega thread in particular where a full rebuild of item X over a month is buried in it rather than a thread getting created and linked initially and maybe linked later when finished. Even using Google as a search engine (because SMF search sucks) finding contents or a specific topic from a year ago is a tough call because of the way content gets indexed and ranked without appropriate content headers.

[Cerebus]

Anyone have any ideas or examples why moderating forums like this is such a thankless PITA?

Look at the message directly above yours.

Why don't you do as threatened on discord after 'I don't know whether to go and see what's happening or just leave them until the tumbleweeds start rolling and pop up with a snide remark.' then just stay there you pompous windbag! You are out of order thinking you have ANY moral grounds to critique other members opinions here based on yours and the other dribble there.

The recent 'content' in the main reads like a primary school boys conversation at lunchtime figuring out who to beat up after school. I am staggered that collectively the 4 or 5 of you would have the gall to post here ever again after some of the utter trash typed and accusations and slagging off about Gnif in particular but also Dave and Halcyon.

The juvenile behaviour in totally AND WILLFULLY ignoring Dave and other Mods posts in the TEA thread from what was a few weeks ago now has led to this and the noise ratio has been increasing since to try and make some sort of point about 'our playpen and our rules'. This like all forums is not a democracy and has rules which 'in general' are evenly applied.

That said from when I first dropped in to the TEA thread 4 or 5 years ago there was ALWAYS a percentage of Off Topic when something in one of our lives cropped up that we thought others might find interesting or amusing. TEA or Electronics was always at 80% at a guess. It has descended to likely well under 50% as some have chosen to treat it like a chat group on their daily lives.

No I haven't reported ANYONE or ANYTHING in the TEA thread and until the BS of a few weeks ago was brought to my attention afterward by another member hadn't wasted my life sifting through the weeds for months.

This is a thing CAUSED by a few who couldn't pull their heads in not some sort of heavy handed policing issue.

Please don't attribute by implication to me things said by other people. And the one bit that you have accurately attributed to me I did say in Discord, not here. You're the one being deliberately inflammatory by posting stuff from people blowing off steam on Discord but who didn't post it here. Where's that moral high ground of yours now? I suspect that you've just burned bridges with some people who previously spoke quite well of you.

[Halcyon]

I fully support Geoff in the way he has handled things. I challenge anyone else to do better (and deal with the constant reports we get from users).

For those of you who are supporters, my post earlier is relevant: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/i-am-missing-something/msg4377916/#msg4377916

[beanflying]

Please don't attribute by implication to me things said by other people. And the one bit that you have accurately attributed to me I did say in Discord, not here. You're the one being deliberately inflammatory by posting stuff from people blowing off steam on Discord but who didn't post it here. Where's that moral high ground of yours now? I suspect that you've just burned bridges with some people who previously spoke quite well of you.

As Discord is linked in the opening part of the TEA thread and has been actively promoted by the members I regard this by extension content relevant to here and it is PUBLIC. You don't get to shit stir there then appear here to take pot shots at other members while claiming innocence.

My comments in the discussion about TEA thread are real BTW, I have struggled to find anything outside the TEA thread worth reading or engaging in. The same old twats picking pointless "not listening, here's my opinion" arguments - memberA and Member B andblog, someone etc. etc. and fuck all actual electronics content.

You are the one burning bridges HERE along with others which is childish over the inability to keep somewhere near on topic.

[pcprogrammer]

I fully support Geoff in the way he has handled things. I challenge anyone else to do better (and deal with the constant reports we get from users).

For those of you who are supporters, my post earlier is relevant: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/supporters-lounge/i-am-missing-something/msg4377916/#msg4377916

I thought about pointing that one out with the suggestion that the relevant post, if possible, are moved to this thread, but probably a bit late now.

It probably is part of the emerging of this thread, and set things in its place a bit.

Edit: Inserted the quote to make clear what I refer to

[Cerebus]

Please don't attribute by implication to me things said by other people. And the one bit that you have accurately attributed to me I did say in Discord, not here. You're the one being deliberately inflammatory by posting stuff from people blowing off steam on Discord but who didn't post it here. Where's that moral high ground of yours now? I suspect that you've just burned bridges with some people who previously spoke quite well of you.

As Discord is linked in the opening part of the TEA thread and has been actively promoted by the members I regard this by extension content relevant to here and it is PUBLIC. You don't get to shit stir there then appear here to take pot shots at other members while claiming innocence.

My comments in the discussion about TEA thread are real BTW, I have struggled to find anything outside the TEA thread worth reading or engaging in. The same old twats picking pointless "not listening, here's my opinion" arguments - memberA and Member B andblog, someone etc. etc. and fuck all actual electronics content.

You are the one burning bridges HERE along with others which is childish over the inability to keep somewhere near on topic.

You just seem determined to sow as much discord (pun unavoidable) as you can.

Discord isn't public, you need an invitation to join the discussion which very much implies it is less public than here. You had an invitation and you're abusing your privilege of being part of that forum to copy material from there to here merely it seems to score a few "nasty points". I'm not entirely surprised, when I or others have disagreed with you before you've been very quick to start swearing at people and throwing insults about.

I stand by my opinion about where the forum has gone over the last year or two. What's so evil about me saying that I think the forum has in my opinion got a little bit shitty in general? I made the same comments in this thread, but without naming names of a few people as exemplars of dragging the general tone and utility of the place down. You notably miss quoting the bit where I talk about the general standard of discussion and behaviour having first discouraged me from, and finally made me stop, my former practice of daily looking though beginners to see if there was something I could help with.

If you don't like my opinion, don't listen. I had already backed off the forum a lot, with the exception of the TEA thread, finding it had gone downhill. If you don't like that, well tough it's how I feel, but that's no excuse to try and escalate my partial disengagement and feeling of disenfranchisement into a personal feud. You seem to want to make it as personal as possible, throwing in insulting terms like childish when I've not addressed you in that fashion at all.

In fact it's the persistent tolerance of your kind of style of brutish argument - personalised, insulting, dismissive - that has led me to become disillusioned with the forum. Tolerating that across the whole forum while forcefully and insensitively moderating the TEA topic for being what it has always been is disheartening.

Burning bridges, me? No. Just noting that the bridge has seen better days and some new timber and a lick of paint is in order. And to continue the metaphor, hammering at one plank in it to find out that it's still actually sound, but pops out of the bridge while you're hammering on it, while ignoring the obvious rot in most of the other planks is not good bridge maintenance. Especially when someone then picks the perfectly good plank up off the river bed and installs it in their new bridge.

Should I decide to completely divorce myself from the forum there are some people and some content I'll miss. What I wouldn't miss is the attitude that seems to have settled in of a few bully boys dominating most of the conversations on here and nothing being done about it. And before someone trots out the "you should report it" trope, no I shouldn't need to. It's obvious to all and sundry who the trolls, gainsayers, and argumentative people who dominate 90% of the threads on the forum are. They too rarely engage in actual electronics content, and when they do it's usually to be dismissive of what someone else has had to say. They could have been calmed down long ago, instead they have been left to become the backbone of the forum, and that's sad.

[bd139]

I'll leave my departing comment mostly critical.

Firstly, the regular community members asking for moderation when they are not involved in an off-topic segment. If they are involved in it, they do not ask for moderation. This happens all the time and is plain hypocrisy.

Secondly, the moderators turn a blind eye to moderation under the same rules, evidenced by the numerous topics across the forum which moderators take part in regularly which are in violation of the forum policies. This is plain hypocrisy.

Thirdly the non-participants and silent readers/lurkers reporting moderation is also somewhat hypocritical, no different from someone staring in your window and reporting you for a misdemeanour.

These are the very worst characteristics of the human race embodied in a single event.

Ultimately it's not an environment which is healthy for a community and participating in it I consider a risk going forward.

[AVGresponding]

snip

Since people as a group are not changing something else must.
Regular user reporting is also continuing its route, generally people will mind their own businesses too long, it may change for a moment but it wont last.
I've seen lieutenant moderator of sub-forum approaches but right minded folks are not so easy to find.
Forum informants then has a bit negative tone.

Here TEA thread was quite special in it self, being a community in a community, maybe even a bit deeper and very active.
snip

Sorry but you are quite wrong about 'the group not changing' it absolutely has changed. It had become increasingly a sort of personal sandbox for a small handful of members posting ostensibly dribble from their daily lives and is far from what it was a few years ago where an off topic 'interesting post' might get dropped once or twice a day if that.

Around 18 months ago a weekly Discord chat session was created as a weekly chewing the fat session for a more freeform chat on life the universe and everything rather than have those conversations in the thread. Interesting it may have actually had the reverse effect due to the conversation held there being more personal and really off topic rather than on TEA. I suspect the behaviour on Discord came back into the thread outside of that once a week session which might explain at least in part why this is a thing and the content had shifted so far and so often.

I could be mistaken but by saying "Since people as a group are not changing something else must", I believe mk is referring to the continued off-topic posts, after Moderator warnings?

I tend to agree that there has been a "bleed-over" of content from the Discord to the TEA thread.

[Saskia]

it would have been nice if this TEA stuff could have been expanded to:

• purely test equipment
• chitchat of the addicts (purely offtopic)
• repair of vintage stuff (includes woodworking, etc for e.g. Pinballs, Arcades where the artwork plays a major role)
• This would have given everybody a chance without alienating half of its general populace.
• Ferengiing TE (aquire, ....)

Seems to me that this opportunity is gone and too many bridges burnt though.

[Per Hansson]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

Just a friendly warning from a fellow forum moderator: be careful about moving that thread without first having a full database backup.
It has issues already due to its size: trying to use the "print preview" causes a HTTP 500 error.
It would be a tremendous shame to loose the thread due to some database problem if it was attempted to be moved and that failed!

[gnif]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

Just a friendly warning from a fellow forum moderator: be careful about moving that thread without first having a full database backup.
It has issues already due to its size: trying to use the "print preview" causes a HTTP 500 error.
It would be a tremendous shame to loose the thread due to some database problem if it was attempted to be moved and that failed!

Thanks, the 500 error is due to a timeout trying to put all the posts onto a single page. Moving a thread otoh is as simple as changing the thread's parent ID in the first post in the database, it's a reference to the parent, it doesn't actually move anything.

As for backups, they are done daily to an offsite secure location, the data is protected even if the hosting provider has another fire.

[Specmaster]

Well then the ones that don't complain know they have to be more on topic, because it is them the others are complaining about.

I myself only briefly went into the thread, because of some "off topic" interest and went out again because of the warnings to stay on topic. As I'm not a real collector of vintage or modern test equipment, the on topic stuff does not interest me that much.

And Squarewave does have a point that following a specific topic about some cool piece of equipment is not simple.

But in light of the title of the thread it should not be about the fixing of the equipment, but about the getting it and the possible problems surrounding it. Think therapy. The more technical stuff, in my opinion, should go in separate dedicated threads, so that any one interested in that specific piece of equipment can easily follow what is being done.

Take from it what you will, just my 2 cents worth

In many cases that is precisely what was done, there are many dedicated threads that are duplicated in the TEA thread and using the search tool will enable these threads to be found if you are working on "XYZ" item, searching for that item will reveal the locations. You have to remember that these repairs can and do often take many days or even weeks with long gaps between postings so anyone following a long protracted repair thread in TEA section would have to skip past many postings and many pages to find all the postings. The clue is in the title "Test Equipment Anonymous", it is more of a self-help group for those that are addicted to collecting old test equipment. Think of it in the same vein as Alcoholics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous, this is explained on pages 1 and 2 of the thread and the threads adopted song was Hotel California by the Eagles and the following is a direct quote from Page 1 of the thread, January 16, 2017,

"TEA Anthem

"...Mirrors on the ceiling,
and pink champagne on ice.
Then she said,
'We are all just prisoners here; of our own device...'"

(Hotel California video removed since YouTube keeps deleting them)

"...'Relax' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave...'"

The obvious connection here is that it is an addiction, hence the lyrics fit our addiction situation.

So it would seem that people have latched onto "Test Gear" and have completely dismissed from their minds the "Anonymous" part of the title and apparently never bothered to look any further than what the current page number was.

[Vince]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

Just a friendly warning from a fellow forum moderator: be careful about moving that thread without first having a full database backup.
It has issues already due to its size: trying to use the "print preview" causes a HTTP 500 error.
It would be a tremendous shame to loose the thread due to some database problem if it was attempted to be moved and that failed!

[...] Moving a thread otoh is as simple as changing the thread's parent ID in the first post in the database, it's a reference to the parent, it doesn't actually move anything.

Great to hear !

Let's do that then, let's move TEA to a different part of the forum where the OT stuff would not be frown upon, and in 5 minutes TEA can resume business as usual with the peace of mind that if anyone ever complains about OT stuff, he can be legitimately told to get lost.

Or just edit the title of the thread to " TEA chat room, OT inside ", and that's all..... or do both, I don't know.... I don't see the need for all the drama that's been going on last night. Only problem I see here, is some people complaining about OT stuff. So let's just make it so that OT now becomes "legal" and problem gone.

Those who want an actual, dry, technical, dull boring thread are of course most welcome to start a new thread of their own.... how is that difficult ? I am sure there are tens of threads being created every day on this forum (well I guess... ), so it's not like this would be a major event...


This takes only 5 minutes to solve, click, click click and click click click click... something like that, I don't know I am no forum admin... but surely renaming and moving a thread is basic stuff for any forum software, I would think !

So let's do that and resume our TEA activities.... shall we ? Please ?   

Thanks in advance !   

[gnif]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

Just a friendly warning from a fellow forum moderator: be careful about moving that thread without first having a full database backup.
It has issues already due to its size: trying to use the "print preview" causes a HTTP 500 error.
It would be a tremendous shame to loose the thread due to some database problem if it was attempted to be moved and that failed!

[...] Moving a thread otoh is as simple as changing the thread's parent ID in the first post in the database, it's a reference to the parent, it doesn't actually move anything.

Great to hear !

Let's do that then, let's move TEA to a different part of the forum where the OT stuff would not be frown upon, and in 5 minutes TEA can resume business as usual with the peace of mind that if anyone ever complains about OT stuff, he can be legitimately told to get lost.

Or just edit the title of the thread to " TEA chat room, OT inside ", and that's all..... or do both, I don't know.... I don't see the need for all the drama that's been going on last night. Only problem I see here, is some people complaining about OT stuff. So let's just make it so that OT now becomes "legal" and problem gone.

Those who want an actual, dry, technical, dull boring thread are of course most welcome to start a new thread of their own.... how is that difficult ? I am sure there are tens of threads being created every day on this forum (well I guess... ), so it's not like this would be a major event...


This takes only 5 minutes to solve, click, click click and click click click click... something like that, I don't know I am no forum admin... but surely renaming and moving a thread is basic stuff for any forum software, I would think !

So let's do that and resume our TEA activities.... shall we ? Please ?   

Thanks in advance !   

Sorry don't take my comment as a decision to do so... as I stated I am staying out of these decisions and leaving it up to Dave and the other still active mods to come to a head on how to proceed. Once they do if my assistance is required from an admin POV I will do what needs to be done.

[Specmaster]

First he blows everything up, then he resigns and now he wants to apologise. All this in less than 24 hours. What a remarkable achievement.

How about a jolly leaving do in the garden of No. 10?

Is this really necessary?

Possibly not, but I think we're going to have to make some allowances here. There are some people very angry with gnif and biting their tongues to not be as vituperative in here as they'd like to be. Gnif has gone at the thread like a bull in a china shop, while admitting that he's not really familiar with the thread but has still charged on recklessly. So recklessly that, realising what he has done, he has felt it necessary to give up his moderating privileges. That leaves the people who care about that thread, some of them deeply,  to pick up the broken pieces from the floor. So if some those people's anger and frustration leaks out then I think we have to cut them some slack.

Totally agree, many of us have been here almost from day one and have built the thread upto to being the force and size that it currently is and it has to be a significant part of why advertisers continue supporting the forum as a whole, many other forums would kill for the exposure this forum enjoys but if it continues along the path it has taken the last few days, that exposure will whither and that would be a real shame

[Specmaster]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

The problem here is, that the same people who are currently dragging you into the fray, will still be there, where ever you put the thread as for some of those folk just seem to enjoy being killjoys, you come across them in every walk of life and their day is not complete until they have reported someone or something, they are the equivalent of a nosy parker neighbour, with not enough to occupy their minds, so they hide behind net curtains and become the neighbourhood whistleblower, the neighbour from hell, who is very often despised by the other neighbours. Those people need to remember that when they point a finger at someone, they have 3 of their own fingers pointing back at them.

[PlainName]

So, how about a rule that requires off topic posts to, at the very least, have the prefix "OT: " added at the beginning of the title whenever a post is about something not within the scope of the original, thread title?

I think many times one doesn't think one's post is actually off topic. At least, not enough to warrant self-incrimination, which is how threads get derailed - it's a little bit at a time that ratchets up and before you know it you're down a rabbit hole. There wouldn't be a specific post you could point to and say, "There, that's the one that caused all this." More likely, the post closest to criticality would be a reply to a slightly, not quite off-topic line or two in an earlier post.

A problem here is that there is no real threading. In a properly threaded forum you could easily ignore (or prune if necessary) the branch that's not of interest whilst still remaining on the previous tack. But this is what it is, and it seems this style is all anyone wants to build nowadays.

[Vince]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

The problem here is, that the same people who are currently dragging you into the fray, will still be there, where ever you put the thread as for some of those folk just seem to enjoy being killjoys, you come across them in every walk of life and their day is not complete until they have reported someone or something, they are the equivalent of a nosy parker neighbour, with not enough to occupy their minds, so they hide behind net curtains and become the neighbourhood whistleblower, the neighbour from hell, who is very often despised by the other neighbours. Those people need to remember that when they point a finger at someone, they have 3 of their own fingers pointing back at them.

I disagree Spec ! As I said earlier, once the thread is moved to wherever the OT stuff is allowed... then whoever complains about OT stuff can just go get lost ! 
They can report whatever OT stuff they like to the moderators, they won't have a "case"... rather the moderators would ban them in retaliation for spamming them with unfounded reports...

Have a bit of faith spec !   

If anything, it's well worth giving it a try ! Nothing to lose, and everything to win ! 

[factory]

In hindsight this thread should not be locked yet, discussion needs to be open for suggestions on how weto proceed with the TEA thread here.

Unlocked

Options which I see:
1. Held in place, try to keep on topic - it will lose a lot of the current spirit.
2. Move to general technical chat, and leave a link in the sticky place - this way I see a better chance to keep the original/current spirit.
3.-x...
Once the choices are clear, maybe put up to vote?

I personally like #2

Just a friendly warning from a fellow forum moderator: be careful about moving that thread without first having a full database backup.
It has issues already due to its size: trying to use the "print preview" causes a HTTP 500 error.
It would be a tremendous shame to loose the thread due to some database problem if it was attempted to be moved and that failed!

[...] Moving a thread otoh is as simple as changing the thread's parent ID in the first post in the database, it's a reference to the parent, it doesn't actually move anything.

Great to hear !

Let's do that then, let's move TEA to a different part of the forum where the OT stuff would not be frown upon, and in 5 minutes TEA can resume business as usual with the peace of mind that if anyone ever complains about OT stuff, he can be legitimately told to get lost.

Or just edit the title of the thread to " TEA chat room, OT inside ", and that's all..... or do both, I don't know.... I don't see the need for all the drama that's been going on last night. Only problem I see here, is some people complaining about OT stuff. So let's just make it so that OT now becomes "legal" and problem gone.

Those who want an actual, dry, technical, dull boring thread are of course most welcome to start a new thread of their own.... how is that difficult ? I am sure there are tens of threads being created every day on this forum (well I guess... ), so it's not like this would be a major event...


This takes only 5 minutes to solve, click, click click and click click click click... something like that, I don't know I am no forum admin... but surely renaming and moving a thread is basic stuff for any forum software, I would think !

So let's do that and resume our TEA activities.... shall we ? Please ?   

Thanks in advance !   

Wouldn't moving the thread break all the links to that thread? Not that moving it would help much, as many regulars seem to have deserted the TEA thread already. Personally I have zero interest in joining any groups on .io.

David

[pcprogrammer]

... Think therapy. ...

....
The clue is in the title "Test Equipment Anonymous", it is more of a self-help group for those that are addicted to collecting old test equipment.
....

Preaching to the choir here. See my posts after the first warnings about off topic in the TEA. For me it has always been clear that it is therapeutic.

But I also understand the point of view of others who argue that the site is about electronics engineering. Hence the name EEVblog. So we end up with a difficult situation that got out of hand.

As I have not read much of the thread lately I can't judge on what happened, but I can certainly understand a lot of it from both sides of the fence. And I think the regulars should be honest and acknowledge that the off topic started to get out of control. Anger about how it has been dealt with I can also understand but some of the grief towards gnif in this case was uncalled for. But that is my opinion.

Time will tell how things evolve.