This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements. Hopefully it
will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was so inundated with
inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it. Today I looked through the
messages and found few dealing with travel.

Isn't there another board available for political posts?

At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs the
show you can embarass them or even escort them out.

There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

[email protected] (Steltzjr) writes:

    >There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

The best solution is to killfile the users who get involved with these posts
and to flood the newsgroup with on-topic material, to drown the idiots out.

If these people are ignored, they'll go away.

--
Paul Dwerryhouse
Melbourne, Australia (X) Amsterdam, The Netherlands ( )

Paul Dwerryhouse wrote:
    > [email protected] (Steltzjr) writes:

    >>There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

    > The best solution is to killfile the users who get involved with these posts
    > and to flood the newsgroup with on-topic material, to drown the idiots out.

    > If these people are ignored, they'll go away.

My killfile is getting huge, and people keep responding. The OP is right,
I am considering leaving the newsgroup for a while. It's rediculous.

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Traval Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

On 20 Feb 2003 21:23:12 GMT, [email protected] (Steltzjr) wrote:

    >This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements. Hopefully it
    >will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was so inundated with
    >inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it. Today I looked through the
    >messages and found few dealing with travel.
    >Isn't there another board available for political posts?
    >At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs the
    >show you can embarass them or even escort them out.
    >There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

In reading down the long list of thread subject headers on my
newsreader for this newsgroup I see only a quite small proportion of
threads which are overly political.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Juliana L Holm writes:

    >My killfile is getting huge, and people keep responding. The OP is right,
    >I am considering leaving the newsgroup for a while. It's rediculous.

An alternative is to killfile the threads, instead of the people involved.

There only seems to be one or so new off-topic thread created each day,
so if you kill it off early, you get to avoid the majority of the flamage.

Cheers,

Paul.

--
Paul Dwerryhouse
Melbourne, Australia (X) Amsterdam, The Netherlands ( )

Paul Dwerryhouse wrote:
    > Juliana L Holm writes:

    >>My killfile is getting huge, and people keep responding. The OP is right,
    >>I am considering leaving the newsgroup for a while. It's rediculous.

    > An alternative is to killfile the threads, instead of the people involved.

I started doing so 2 days ago, both people and threads

    > There only seems to be one or so new off-topic thread created each day,
    > so if you kill it off early, you get to avoid the majority of the flamage.

????

I counted about 6 today. Maybe stuff is coming through different on my
nr (I think sometimes replies become their own thread in some cases on my
newsreader)
--
Julie
**********
Check out my Traval Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

Juliana L Holm writes:

    >I counted about 6 today. Maybe stuff is coming through different on my
    >nr (I think sometimes replies become their own thread in some cases on my
    >newsreader)

Oh well, either way, I don't think that leaving is going to help.

In my experience, when the idiots take over, a newsgroup goes into a
decline from which it never recovers.

I stand by my original suggestion that fighting back by posting lots of
on-topic material will drown out the off-topic threads. So I'll start right
now:

Why the hell do the various European rail operators find it so difficult
to put prices of international train trips on the web? At any time of day,
I could go to a railway station in Europe, and get a firm price on what
it would cost me to get from A to B, so why the hell can't this be done
online from the rail companies themselves?

--
Paul Dwerryhouse
Melbourne, Australia (X) Amsterdam, The Netherlands ( )

Steltzjr wrote:
    > This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements.
    > Hopefully it will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was so
    > inundated with inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it. Today
    > I looked through the messages and found few dealing with travel.

This has happened here plenty of times in the past. Eventually people run
out of things to bicker about and it goes back to normal.

    > Isn't there another board available for political posts?

Sure, plenty, but I think people are wanting to continue conversations they
are having with people who are here, not just randomly argue with zealots
found in some other forum.

    > At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs
    > the show you can embarass them or even escort them out. There's little we
    > can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

At a public meeting there's no such thing as a killfile (except maybe at an
Iraqi public meeting). Here, by contrast, you can cleanse the political
stuff from your view of the newsgroup with a few keystrokes.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Probably because it embarrasses agents. I need to travel from Madrid
to Granada on the Thursday before Easter by Renfe; a busy time so I
must book. On the Renfe site the preferente fare is euros 37 each, but
I can't book on the net because you have to turn up at a Renfe station
within 24 hours to confirm. A bit difficult from Oz. So my travel
agent contacted the only supplier in Oz - Railplus. The fare for two
is AU$256, plus $11 ea for seat allocation. Exchange rate is about 55
eurocents to the Oz dollar.
Even allowing for a reasonable profit, that works out at about an 80%
markup. I suspect you'll find similar equivalents on other services.
Cheers - Alan

Miguel Cruz wrote:


    > Steltzjr wrote:
    > > This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements.
    > > Hopefully it will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was
so
    > > inundated with inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it.
Today
    > > I looked through the messages and found few dealing with travel.
    > This has happened here plenty of times in the past. Eventually people run
    > out of things to bicker about and it goes back to normal.

Anytime there is a big world crisis people use Usenet as a forum to bicker,
argue, troll, flame, or whatever....

    > > Isn't there another board available for political posts?
    > Sure, plenty, but I think people are wanting to continue conversations
they
    > are having with people who are here, not just randomly argue with zealots
    > found in some other forum.


There is a diverse mix of posters on rec.travel.europe and some of the other
travel groups, and even on rec.food.cooking. This makes fertile ground for
a freewheeling exchange of ideas, insults, observations, and the like.....

There are plenty of moderated boards and groups on which to discuss any
number of interests: from cooking to air travel to Studebakers to John
Waters films. I make heavy use of these when I need a break from all the
usual Usenet "shenanigans"......


    > > At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs
    > > the show you can embarass them or even escort them out. There's little
we
    > > can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.
    > At a public meeting there's no such thing as a killfile (except maybe at
an
    > Iraqi public meeting). Here, by contrast, you can cleanse the political
    > stuff from your view of the newsgroup with a few keystrokes.

Usenet is by definition chaotic, and it is one of the few forums that is
pretty much open to any kind of view.

[And yes, skillful use of killfiles, "message rules", and the like can give
the reader a bit of control over whatever they don't care to see....]

--
Best
Greg

Paul Dwerryhouse wrote:
    >
    > Juliana L Holm writes:
    >
    > >I counted about 6 today. Maybe stuff is coming through different on my
    > >nr (I think sometimes replies become their own thread in some cases on my
    > >newsreader)
    >
    > Oh well, either way, I don't think that leaving is going to help.
    >
    > In my experience, when the idiots take over, a newsgroup goes into a
    > decline from which it never recovers.
    >
    > I stand by my original suggestion that fighting back by posting lots of
    > on-topic material will drown out the off-topic threads. So I'll start right
    > now:
    >
    > Why the hell do the various European rail operators find it so difficult
    > to put prices of international train trips on the web? At any time of day,
    > I could go to a railway station in Europe, and get a firm price on what
    > it would cost me to get from A to B, so why the hell can't this be done
    > online from the rail companies themselves?

It would have helped to have started a new thread instead of burying it
in one that's sure to be kill-filed.

Barbara

In article , [email protected]
(Hatunen) wrote:


    > In reading down the long list of thread subject headers on my
    > newsreader for this newsgroup I see only a quite small proportion of
    > threads which are overly political.

The subject headers don't necessarily reflect the topics, though. (Maybe
they should. But they don't.)

Steltzjr wrote:
    >
    > This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements. Hopefully it
    > will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was so inundated with
    > inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it. Today I looked through the
    > messages and found few dealing with travel.
    >
    > Isn't there another board available for political posts?
    >
    > At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs the
    > show you can embarass them or even escort them out.
    >
    > There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.

But there's also no reason you need to read them, if you disapprove, is
there? Since we are writing, not speaking, you can hardly talk of
"interruptions" or "hogging the show", since you are hardly a "captive
audience" as you would be in a public meeting. You have the same rights
everyone else enjoys here - if you don't like the direction a thread is
taking, don't read it; if you really strongly object to any of the
participating posters, put them in your "killfile". No one is forcing
you to read anything you don't choose to read, and there's certainly
plenty of discussion here, still, about accommodations in "X" location,
modes of travel to get there, and sights to see when you arrive. If
you're not concerned with the state of the world in which you travel,
then confine yourself to the threads that try to ignore it.

Paul Dwerryhouse wrote:
    >
    > [email protected] (Steltzjr) writes:
    >
    > >There's little we can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.
    >
    > The best solution is to killfile the users who get involved with these posts
    > and to flood the newsgroup with on-topic material, to drown the idiots out.
    >
    > If these people are ignored, they'll go away.

The trolls, yes (hopefully). However, when there is an international
situation that people around the world are concerned about, you're going
to have discussion about it by regular members of the group, also. (And
ESPECIALLY in a group like this one, where people are very aware of the
rest of the world, and pay attention to what's going on in it.)
    >
    > --
    > Paul Dwerryhouse
    > Melbourne, Australia (X) Amsterdam, The Netherlands ( )

Miguel Cruz wrote:
    >
    > Steltzjr wrote:
    > > This travel board is being overwhelmed with political statements.
    > > Hopefully it will not be undone by this. Another board that I visit was so
    > > inundated with inappropriate posts that people stopped visiting it. Today
    > > I looked through the messages and found few dealing with travel.
    >
    > This has happened here plenty of times in the past. Eventually people run
    > out of things to bicker about and it goes back to normal.
    >
    > > Isn't there another board available for political posts?
    >
    > Sure, plenty, but I think people are wanting to continue conversations they
    > are having with people who are here, not just randomly argue with zealots
    > found in some other forum.
    >
    > > At a public meeting when someone constantly interrupts selfishly or hogs
    > > the show you can embarass them or even escort them out. There's little we
    > > can do to keep inappropriate posts off the board.
    >
    > At a public meeting there's no such thing as a killfile (except maybe at an
    > Iraqi public meeting). Here, by contrast, you can cleanse the political
    > stuff from your view of the newsgroup with a few keystrokes.

Exactly! You may have to bring up one post (although no one's
compelling you to read it), but then you just click on the "Mark" icon,
tell it to "Mark Thread Read", and when you click "Next" all the rest of
the thread is bypassed. (You don't even HAVE to bother killfiling.)

    >
    > miguel
    > --
    > Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu