What is "chit chat"?

[saximus]

I was part of a discussion in another thread and one of my comments (along with quite a few others) got deleted for "chit chat". I've seen this a fair few times and I was just wondering what constitutes chit chat and why is it discouraged? Admittedly this is the only forum that I am an active member of but I thought forums were supposed to be where people chat about stuff as well as sharing ideas/knowledge.
I'm not trying to start any problems and if a mod wants to delete this and just PM me about it I'm happy with that.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[Snakelove]

I think it's if your content is unrelated to the subject mate.

 

[Torah]

or when your comment is of no help , or when you just being nasty etc

 

[Red-Ink]

anything that's unrelated to the topic discussion can be considered chit chat, depending how distracting it is and how much it clogs and derails the topic it can get deleted to prevent further chit chat from others joining in further straying from the topic.

example: our little discussion on Michael's certificate thread can be considered as chit chat as it would have no real relevance to the matter at hand of discussing the idea of certificates for reptiles, rather we were "chit chatting" about breeder recognition and it's origins.

 

[saximus]

Ah ok that makes sense then. Thanks for the info guys. Guess I'll try to stay on track and be nicer to people from now on

 

[spotlight]

or when your comment is of no help , or when you just being nasty etc

ive seen so many new comers flamed down just for asking a simple question and the members have never been pulled up about it !,so i dont think its true about the being nasty thing?.

 

[saximus]

Or maybe for a bit of irony I should make it my mission to get a comment deleted for chit chat in the Chit Chat forum.

ive seen so many new comers flamed down just for asking a simple question and the members have never been pulled up about it !,so i dont think its true about the being nasty thing?.

I think in a lot of those cases it's because the mods agree that people who come here asking the same old questions every day should learn to use the search first. I don't agree that people should be abused or berated for it but it should be explained that a lot of beginner questions have been answered numerous times already and there will be more info if they look for it

 

[spotlight]

what is wrong with going off the topic anyway ?,what if the person starting the thread puts a comment at the beginning "saying open to chit chat" would that be ok?.
there is a lot of members who are to layed back or shy to start there own thread so they just wait for a related thread to pop up,we have all seen this a hundred times .

 

[Red-Ink]

what is wrong with going off the topic anyway ?,what if the person starting the thread puts a comment at the beginning "saying open to chit chat" would that be ok?.
there is a lot of members who are to layed back or shy to start there own thread so they just wait for a related thread to pop up,we have all seen this a hundred times .

Nothing wrong with a bit of "off topic" discussion in a thread as long as it doesn't get out of hand. It like this imagine you and your mates are at the pub having a good conversation about something then out pops Joe Blow into the conversation talking about something totally irrelevant to the discussion. In a real world setting you can tell him to **** off. In a forum situation this has to be moderated as another Joe blow comes into the thread picks up from where the first one left off as they can read it on there (unlike a past conversation) and on and on and on it goes away from what you were originally discussing.

OR

You need help with something in regards to your reptiles and a few people are trying to help.... example I need help with my jungle somethings wrong blah blah blah (insert drastic scenario). Then I pop in and say Ohh I've got a jungle here's a pic of him.... another member comes in says OHHH aHHH I got one too and your thread turns into a mutual appreciation society meanwhile you have a dying snake in your hands (mighty annoying isn't it for the original poster)

 

[saximus]

Yeah I've seen that too. Even to the point where the original point/question went unanswered or unresolved.
In the example I was referring to it basically got totally out of hand (not helped by the fact that the OP and his friends seemed to be aiming for that to happen).
I wish some didn't get deleted though. I love reading the really heated arguments but you have to be there right as they happen or you miss them

 

[slim6y]

Yeah I've seen that too. Even to the point where the original point/question went unanswered or unresolved.
In the example I was referring to it basically got totally out of hand (not helped by the fact that the OP and his friends seemed to be aiming for that to happen).
I wish some didn't get deleted though. I love reading the really heated arguments but you have to be there right as they happen or you miss them

I think too many people take these 'heated arguments' just way to personally... I for one LOVE a good argument... My favourite of course is the "How should I sterilise my bit of wood?" - to me that deserves the simplest of answers - which then gets followed by a chemical concoction of nuclear significance. So of course I'll argue my point, politely first, then more directly and assertively second... Why not?

But then some people just take it to heart unfortunately... They believe it is an attack on their person... on their very essence of life... Unfortunately, in most cases, I read it as an attack on their comment, not who they are... but some... and there's always a few, just love to make people feel as small as they can to make themselves 9ie the flamer) feel big and strong... Beating their fists against their chests as they show their hierarchy of power (in the form of name calling and sometimes knowledge).

To me - that is ridiculous.... But... If you look at this topic... I am chit chatting in chit chat!

So back on topic (the way to stop posts being deleted):

Chit chat is merely an off topic conversation.... blah blah blah... what he/she/it said.

 

[saximus]

lol Slimy you never fail to make me laugh. You're right though, stupid comments deserve to be responded to as such and it shouldn't be taken so personally. Though, once again, the personal arguments can be the most fun to read

 

[spotlight]

maybe there should be a extra forum for young new herpers to ask stupid questions with out being flamed down and if they go into the adults forum like this one they deserve what they get i guess?.
and also a forum for people who like a heated discussion about herp related issues (that dont get deleted).
i dont care much about the heated one but i think a forum for kids would really go well here.

 

[LiasisKing]

maybe there should be a extra forum for young new herpers to ask stupid questions with out being flamed down and if they go into the adults forum like this one they deserve what they get i guess?.
and also a forum for people who like a heated discussion about herp related issues (that dont get deleted).
i dont care much about the heated one but i think a forum for kids would really go well here.

please dont see this as rude, but i am (by rights) a kid... and the idea of a forum where we can all talk and ask stupid questions just sounds demeaning and belittling. the idea of a forum is for people to ask questions or for help, and if people can and want to help them, they respond. Everyone deserves the right to ask questions without being put down. Everyone starts somewhere, everyone asks a few stupid questions in their time, and everyone makes mistakes and stuff-ups.

There is an FAQ section for beginners, which if more people knew about, there would be much less "what should i do, my snake has tape on him" questions.

sure, there are a lot of young and upcoming herpers, but please don't assume that every young person (kid) knows nothing and asks stupid questions, you were there at some stage.

 

[Torah]

ive seen so many new comers flamed down just for asking a simple question and the members have never been pulled up about it !,so i dont think its true about the being nasty thing?.

oh but they are being pulled up now , isnt that what this threads about , comments being deleted etc I'd say thats being pulled up

 

[Sel]

Its common sense really...if you want to talk about Motorbikes, you dont put it in the reptile section.
The reptile forums are for reptile talk/questions...anything else is chit chat ..or just rubbish

 

[Colin]

General Rule 5 - No flooding of the forums. Posts must be meaningful and not waste the time of other site users.

General Rule 6 - Posts must remain on the topic of the thread.

General Rule 7 - Leave all non-herpetology related posts within the "Chit Chat" forum, in which you can talk about anything you wish (within guidelines left to the discretion of the Moderators/Administrators).

these rules can all relate to "off topic chit chat" in the herp forums.. herp forum posts are meant to stay on topic and chit chat should be reserved for the Chit Chat Forum.