Quote Originally Posted by Steve Ashton View Post
Hi folks,

I pose a question to all.

Just how far does a thread have to go off the original topic, or off the chosen topic of this forum, before someone must step in a call enough?
Here's my answer to Steve's question.
When a member poses a question or an item for discussion, and it gets answered and/or discussed all that's necessary, and then somebody introduces a new topic, which leads to its own discussion, then XMTS is working the way I think it should work. When the new, not-original-topic is deemed "Off Topic" and its thread gets locked, then XMTS is not working the way I think it should work. In my experience, the conversations that arise from and spin off from original topics are far more interesting, creative and enjoyable than the ones that stick only to a specific topic with no chance of introducing new material. In this thread, the issue of the churches being against the Tilted Kilt has been discussed thoroughly and all who wanted to say something have had their chance. Somebody introduced science fiction and Hobbits, which I thought was a beautiful way of defusing what could have become an inflammatory thread. In my opinion, this thread shows what XMTS is supposed to be: adult-thinking people who can post ideas, pictures, questions, criticisms, etc., and who can also "steer the ship" away from danger and back into an open, polite, free-form conversation. When I meet other X-Markers, discussion of the kilt is usually the conversation-starter, but from there we talk about anything anybody brings up. I think we should be able to do the same thing here, as long as we abide by the rules concerning forbidden topics.