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An Off Topic Question Re Off Topic Questions

When pondering a question, I try to remember to scan and research old threads and posts on Audiogon first.

Reviewing old threads, I am often reminded what a wonderful community of experts Audiogon has been since I first participated circa 2000.

In particular, I appreciate how many of you are wise, witty, intelligent and very generous with your time and expertise - particularly those of you who are not professionals, and those professionals who give disclaimers and/or do not relentlessly promote their own products.

Knowing that very smart, enthusiastic people are as close as the keyboard has inspired many of you to ask off topic questions, albeit usually cloaked in a cheeky audiophile context:

What do audiophiles drive? What kind of watch do audiophiles wear? Best drink, best bike to ride etc, before a good listening session?

Perhaps this is the best way to proceed, and we can all not so cleverly camouflage our questions within an audio topic and hope the moderators accept them.

However, I for one, would greatly appreciate being able to come to Audiogon, knowing our smart enthusiastic community would most likely come up with some good advice.

It would be nice knowing the moderators wouldn't mind, and without rephrasing questions in the style of:

Which Subzero refrigerator best preserves snacks and drinks to later enjoy during a Blu Ray home theatre demo? Which cardiologist in the New York area might maximize my life span to ensure listening sessions until the age of 100? Which new sports car has the best handling and 0-60 times, even if the trunk is not big enough for any audio equipment? Which lightweight winter parka best alleviates the need to curl up next to my tube amps after being outside in sub zero weather?

I trust you get my point.

Could OFF TOPIC be added to Audiogon as a subset of the Forums, as its own category alongside SPEAKERS, MUSIC, TECH TALK, MISC AUDIO etc?

Would anyone else use and enjoy OFF TOPIC?

Cheers,
cwlondon
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I think it would be an excellent idea. It is sometimes called "Open Chat" on other forums, and sometimes "Off Topic" as you suggested. It is an idea that seems to work well in my experience on some computer-related forums, at least in cases where the forum as a whole has a culture of respectfulness and maturity.

I suppose the key question is whether the owners and admins would want to accommodate the additional traffic and message volume that it might generate.

Regards,
-- Al
markphd
667 posts
 
I've seen this type of thing on other sites. Seems fine if that's what you want. But I look at it this way. When the offbeat topics appear in the general list of topics, I stumble across them randomly and find them an interesting diversion that I might comment on at that time. If I had to specifically go to a different location to read posts that are not really audiophile related, I probably wouldn't bother looking at them at all. So in my case, an off-topic forum would be ignored.
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
I think it would be useful and interesting, and I am sure it would be pretty easy to set up for the powers that be (they would not even have to announce it). And it might draw more people to the site, which would only be good for the powers that be (and sellers that be).
hens
173 posts
 
Its a nice idea although I would probably be similar to Markphd and not specifically look in that forum topic section. I think the benefit of having them in the general section is that you then easily stuble across them and they are an interesting diversion and a bit of fun.
oregon
822 posts
 
Yes.
I'm with the "Marked Hens".
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