[QUOTE=DMeister;2776860]I’m not an economist but, agreed, it’s heading nowhere good. This is for sure.

The debt of the US government is probably one of the scariest pictures out there.[/QUOTE]

Quite true, $35 TRILLION and counting...

 

Look, I really (really) like econ, and I'd *love" to launch into a discussion of national debts, the prospect of future austerity measures, etc...

... but this forum is supposed to be about F Types

 

Some on here think you need a national debt to run an F-Type!

 

I did have someone come up to me when I was at Costco with the F-Type and quip that I was driving the wrong car because the trunk is so small.
I responded that using the F-Type for Costco runs is how I could afford the car.

 

I've been on all kinds of forums over the decades and found the most interesting ones had a nice mix of the main topic and other areas of interest, as well.

Don't get me wrong because I love my F Type to death, but man cannot live on a diet of F Type alone. The typical response is, "Why don't you participate in a forum that is about, "whatever?" The answer is...simply having a niche car like this means you most likely have a fair amount in common with the people here so it might be interesting to explore other issues with them.

I know that's not the way it is here, but it would be a lot more interesting if it was. Porschephiles [back in the day] was a great example of how a forum of like-minded people could chat about all kinds of things and considerably raise the interest level of the site.

 

You'll find more of that in the General Jaguar Forums thread here, but let me forewarn you that the moderators lean toward the same position as many in Europe lean nowadays, that is in the suppression of free speech. For whatever reason, which I honestly don't understand at any level, the moderators became most oppossed to any discussions of Covid and particularly the vaccines and their efficacy, etc., going so far as to suspend accounts for even discussing pertinent issues of the day.

 

He seems to be joking around a bit, which is fine, but as they say: There is often a lot of truth in jokes.

Every forum I’ve ever been on for any interest has always been in the common direction of generally expecting that people stay on topic, but I do kinda get where you are coming from. It does sorta take some fun out of it if humans are not aloud to interact like humans.

I guess ya gotta be accepting to a degree to be part of any of these communities. I try to be because the positives on these kinds of sites far outweighs any perceived negatives in my view. The knowledge I have benefited from on here from many of the members has been fantastic.

SCM called me out recently for not being specific enough with a recent thread title. He generally seems to make good contributions around here so my first instinct was to try and respect his ask so that he has the experience he wants on here. It’s give and take. Just as an example.

You will find some horrible people on forums that are just looking to have problems with people and be annoying. I must say, I have the impression this place is one of the better experiences I have had in that regard. Most people around here are pretty nice, respectful, and knowledgeable. I think I only remember one guy during my time here that was off the rails disrespectful, and he was banned. Other forums I’ve been on, my god, these bad apples were present on a weekly basis.

 

Most every forum I've ever been on (including this one) has an 'Off-Topic' area where members are usually free to post about anything they'd like (within reason) and chat amongst the people they've met within the group. This F-Type sub-forum should really be reserved for only talking about the F-Type, since most people come to a forum dedicated to a specific topic/item to learn about and talk about that one thing. It makes it far easier to search for information in a sub-forum when you know the results are only related to that topic. So I actually applaud the moderators for keeping this forum on topic, even if a little heavy-handed. You can still talk about other non-Jaguar-related things with Jaguar-minded people in the Off-Topic sub-forum if you wish.

 

I basically agree with everything you said here, but at the same time let’s review how this played out above:

I, on topic, stated a weird bystander interaction where they inappropriately asked me direct questions about my job and wealth because of my car. Then synthesis gave a sort of related opinion on the state of debt around cars and other things that kinda in a way tied into what I first talked about, and we had a brief exchange about it.

Is that a big deal really? Should it be? We would have had that brief exchange between us and that would have been it. Instead someone decided to take “issue” with it (not really, he was sorta joking), and now here we are making it bigger than it should have been…lol

I don’t really care either way, but I suppose what synthesis is suggesting is that it might be nice if people gave a bit of latitude here and there for some brief side exchanges that will naturally come up in most human conversations. I would tend to agree. Now, if someone is going to start an entirely new thread that, at its basis, it completely off topic….Yeah, well I understand the resistance against that a bit more.

People shouldn’t have to walk around on eggshells here in the account of it being too rigid I don’t think. To me it would be nicer if ya didn’t have to.

 

The problem with off-topic areas is that very few people look at them. You want discussions to be organic and spontaneous [and somewhat related to F Type content]. I would also want to chat with F Type folks and not somebody rocking a mid-80's xj6. I get it though, this keeps things nice and clean...and incredibly boring. For example, I found the discussions about EV's to be pretty interesting. So might other conversations that are car and other subject related, such as the lack of substantial support in the West for the Kiev F Type and Abrams Tank Club's autocross event being held just over the border in Russia.

If you had to pick one thing out of all the craziness that has been going on in this country over the past couple of decades, the anti-free speech movement has been the most bizarre. If you have not been educated enough to understand the importance of free speech, then authoritarianism is at the doorstep...and it certainly reared its ugly head during COVID and is doing an encore in the UK with their jailing of people for speaking their minds.

Well, back to your regularly scheduled program where we can hear from more people whose egos have been inflated by somebody admiring their car.

 

lol, wow, I forgot how much of a fun one you can be around here at times…I assume you’re talking about me and atypical with your last curt statement…You know, the guy who just spent a bit of time defending your position on what we’ve been talking about…lol

Anyway, comments and attitude like this is certainly also something I would add to the list of things I could do without on forums, but I guess ya gotta take the good with the bad…

I and couple others just stated some facts around an experience we had on the road with our cars (you know, on topic stuff), and then you feel the need tell us we have ego problems…Good lord man…lol…Don’t shoot the messenger ;-0

 

Remember, in the end, the purpose of free speech is to allow ideas to die instead of people.

They are just ideas. People used to accept pretty much anything as simply another person's idea and let it go...and move on. And, btw, everybody has an ego problem [unless you have reached the stage of full enlightenment].

 

Yeah, okay…Above when I mentioned that people would have more resistance to folks starting threads that, at their basis, have nothing to do with the F-type. I had you in mind when I said that. You know, that recent super strange thread where you didn’t receive the feedback you wanted/expected, and then you proceeded to start making unfounded projection-like statements about everyone…Exactly like you just did here…So there is trend here…News flash for ya, your thinking and reality in your head may or may not be matching up with others…It’s bad form to think otherwise…You seem to have this arrogant nack for imposing your thinking and ideas on others in a manner that would suggest there is no room for the deviating ideas that might exist outside of your own head. Pretty ironic for a guy that is often going on about wanting to be able to engage and converse with others.

None of us are really all that important in the grand scheme of things. As children we don’t understand this, and we think that we are the centre of the universe, but for those of us who mature we eventually know this is not case. Once you do become “enlightened” by the truth/reality of this, yes, you will have less of an ego that can be damaged.

In any case, I guess we’re proving the point as to why we need moderators. I suspect the rest of them in the thread are having good laugh by now and saying, “See, I told you so”…lol

 

No need for so much drama. Look, there are some people who are interesting to chat with and some people who are not. You pick and choose. Obviously, we are not suited to discuss much of anything...and that's fine. It's not a big deal.

 

I think that goes further than me my friend, but fair enough...

Cheers

 

You're too much. Good luck with your car!

 

Yeah, I know, it gets to be too much when someone might challenge you on your conduct in a manner that is hard to argue against. Perhaps you're not used to that, I don't know. I would just request that you please be a little more respectful towards others on here. That is a sincere and serious request. Thank you. That other thread, you were being a bit offensive to many of us (myself included), and frankly you were doing the same here today. I didn't appreciate it.

 

DMeister
You hit the nail on the head. I didn't have the time to waste on arrogance.

 

Can we pleeeeze return to the thread title??????????

 

Did I hurt your feelings?