When I get with my model railroad buddies the topic of conversation is never always about trains or modeling. We talk about everything else as well. The common interest and reason we get together is the hobby of model railroading.
Are newsgroups like this more like a model railroad club where other topics are discussed and the common interest is the hobby, or is this newsgroup more like the editorial section of Model Railroader magazine where the content is strictly on the topic of model railroading? At MR they regulate the topics because they can and should but you know what I mean. Obviously we go off topic all the time but is that so bad? I, like all of you, have other interests and opinions beside model railroading.
I guess the argument to staying on topic is that if I want to discuss things that are off topic do it with my buddies but keep the topics here limited to model railroading.
As in "real life" no one wants to hear someone go on and on about a topic that has no common interest or topics that are very controversial but I think keeping it generally on a model railroad theme with the occasional larger discussion is alright and even enlightening sometimes.
We are self regulated here. If I started posting FREE MARTHA or TRY THIS LONG DISTANCE SERVICE every day everyone would agree these are useless topics here. However, if I posted a message about, let's say, trains in movies, and then the topic veered off to what you thought was your favorite movies would that be so bad?
CBix