Posted By:
JoannLook at it this way, with me as the star example. I don't have the breadth and depth of knowledge of those that used to post here regularly and some of those that still do. So would it be more harmful to this board to lose 90% of the people that know more than me, or 90% of the people that know the same as me or less? I think that pretty much says it all.
As to related-topic posts about hobby issues (graded cards, auction house practices, etc) I tend to think they are okay. They give people like me a chance to participate - maybe long enough to acquire true card knowledge. Also, they do provide some volume and heartbeat to the board where pure card topics don't, or are too static.
To me, it's a spectrum, really. I tend to think of the topics (in order of being truly on topic to being truly off topic) as:
Vintage cards
Vintage card hobby issues
Vintage baseball (players, teams, etc)
Baseball
Sports
All other topics
Most of the time should be spent in the top two, with increasingly fewer posts as you go down the list and a large drop-off between topics 2 and 3.
And as to OT, I really like Leon's rule and think it works great in general. Take Jim C's recent steroid post. He contributes regularly here to the first two topics above, and I don't think I've ever once seen him start an OT thread. It's a great example of how Leon's rules should work and be used responsibly. So the policy is good, but we all need to be more mindful of it and where on the continuum a topic falls before starting it. We shouldn't make Leon ride herd all the time on it.
And I absolutely think that such OT leeway should go to regular posters and not new people. People "earn" the right to post OT by making ongoing contributions to the core topics. How can that not be fair and promote the interest and focus of the board? It makes perfect sense to me.
J