It appears the moderator has locked yet another thread, sometimes entire threads or portions of threads are completely removed. The most common reason for this is excessive thread drift that goes hopelessly off topic. In other cases it's because members burst into fisticuff and need to be pried apart.
As a solution to this problem I present this new Off Topic thread, expressly designed for having no specific topic and available for off topic conversation.
In fact, if the moderator accepts this new concept he could lock any instance where this thread stays on any one topic for too long.
Because I'm typing now on a keyboard inside a part 15 radio station this thread meets the basic requirement of being connected to part 15 radio.
You are welcome to change the subject at any time.
I'm reading this thread inside a Part 15 studio, so I'm also legal.
"You are welcome to change the subject at any time."
OK, how much are bananas in Sacramento, CA?
Mr. Morningdj asks: "How much are bananas in Sacramento, CA?"
How about this. Sacramento is the capital of California so there are many politicians, sometimes referred to as "bananas". I imagine you could get most of them pretty cheap.
My stepdaughter just switched podiatrists.
Carl, when you view posts on this site how do you do so? Do you click on the Forums script or do you click on the Recent Posts script or something else?
Neil
Q. How do I view posts on this site?
A. When I'm not logged in I select an "Active Post" and this takes me to a page where I can select "Recent Posts".
When logged in I can directly select "Recent Posts".
Those are the only ways I check to see what's going on.
Mr. III said: "My stepdaughter just switched podiatrists."
Carl asks, wasn't she happy with the podcasts she was getting?
for answering. This is also how I get updated on what's happening. When viewing thread topics this way all are mixed together regardless of in which sub forum they are posted. Your suggested "Off Topic" category, as does the "General Discussion" category would get mixed in with all the other posts and make it difficult for users to find radio related content.
This site is "powered" by Drupal and this is a limitation of this system. It would be better if the format was more like that of the ALPB site but, alas, it is not.
Neil
Following up on Radio8Z's remarks...
By "radio related content" I guess you mean radio technology in particular, in which even discussing program content is a departure, but we're talking about two different aspects...
"Off Topic" has in mind the matter of drifting away from the initial topic of particular threads be it radio technical or program content or industry news.
Being directed to select topics throughout the collection is something else, which you also touch upon in your post.
I get the message that a minority of users would prefer an exclusively technical format, but radio stations that broadcast to the public, even in miniature, are run by comprehensivists... people who live in a world where a universe of modular components form an information engine somewhat like a talking brain that speaks to the passing cars and indoor camp-ins where the underlying technology amounts to an autonomic system comparable to breathing and heartbeat.
Radio broadcasting belongs as much to show business as to electronic engineering.
Part15(dot)us exists in a "common hallway" where all members intermingle whatever narrow interests are preferred by individuals. Maybe there's a way of dividing it up into isolated channels each specializing in single disciplines.
I like things the way they are.
I liked where the other thread was going, tailor made for the way my loopy mind works, and I was having a good laugh. Mods can be gods, but posters also can claim some ownership of a thread they're posting in, due to investment in said thread, so that should be considered too. I think a 3 person assessment committee should decide on thread closures.
I don't know how other sites are dealing with this except through the strong will of the site's owner or going tribal and creating more subforums because of factions wanting to break away.
Keep in mind the theory of most forums, they want to have the maximum amount of visits from everyone, because more ads get viewed. The site is responsible for shoveling readers to the ad agencies, their real customers, (we are not the site's customers). I don't know about the intent of this site, but that's the usual model of how forums work. Don't blame me for the cynical view, that's what some Get Rich Quick on the Internet books say, the big secret of how it works.
Here's my idea for another forum, Part-15 Comedy. Serious issues, "outrageous" ideas are smothered in laughs by a comedian so that they can even be talked about. Maybe the Part-15 Comedy forum could be for the laughs, and topics where you're not quite sure if someone is serious or not. The object of that forum could be to relieve tensions by letting loose with stupid humor there.
I also thought about broadcasting from above the earth, not from heaven, but from the moon! They could put transmitters on the moon, beaming signals to Earth, that you'd be able to receive any time the moon was in view at your location. I thought of it probably when I learned that VHF signals were line-of-sight.
Nothing is outrageous in my view, we need the creative juices flowing to move on and make leaps in technology. We needed the Teslas, or students who discovered that radio signals could be transmitted on gas pipes at a college, no antenna needed.
A humour column would work very well because not only do we have some great humorists like Druid Hills John and Brooce Micro1700 but we have a few serious fellows who will stiffen at any reminder of the humour column, although they will read it as evidence of how much they don't like it.
The "other thread" still has one more chapter. On Tuesday morning, exactlly as promised, the Transcendental Court will open over at the ALPB Forums, but the plaintiff will fail to appear because he's not a member over there. I will be fully aquitted and he will become a fugitive from justice with posters going up at the post office. Yes!
What ever happened to "Lefty Gomez"?
Having just read at the hobby-snobby site that a licensed 160 Watt AM station exists in the LA (Los Angeles) area I literally went through every radio-locator station in that market, and there is no such station as they claim. The lowest power AM station in that area is 250 Watts.
But the thing about it is that Lefty Gomez was last hanging in that area, so maybe there's no connection between him and any low power AM station, since Bob MRAM is housing Lefty's AMT5000 on a pawn basis.
There are more reports everyday of missing part 15 people! Are we being disappeared? Is that what Tom Wheeler means by "tiger teams"? Is that why they are cavalier about low power radio... they are rubbing it out!
Run away!
If I stay off topic by posting about something different each time, I think therefore I'm posting on topic since the thread is about posting off topic.
So am I in trouble if I post on topic by posting off topic? I'm so confused...