This has been an interesting thread and many excellent comments have been made by very articulate people. I definitely agree with our moderator that censorship is not the answer. What else would a librarian say? My thoughts on the subject:

When I think about the wide variety of Boomer topics covered on a daily basis, I am reminded of conversations had with friends while running. When my friends and I run together, we don’t limit the conversation to running only topics and I would venture to guess the majority of you don’t either. The conversations are as varied and interesting as the conversations are on Boomers. As you know, running with other people provides the opportunity to really get to know someone well, giving more meaning to the activity. My friends and I discuss all types of subjects – nothing is taboo. Some typical topics include sex, politics, family, sex, work, sex, and sometimes we actually talk about running. This freedom to share thoughts and feelings during an uninterrupted couple of hours is quality time that leaves us physically and mentally refreshed and most definitely bonded to one another. It is therapy of the highest quality.

In my mind, the Boomer forum is similar to this. People participate in Boomers because they love running and feel a kinship with the other people on the site because of this shared interest. Personally, I think it would be dreadfully boring if ONLY running was discussed. Variety is the spice of life and it seems natural to me that people who frequently post would want to share their thoughts on other subjects while learning more about others.

Keeping up with everyone’s daily activities is darn near impossible so each individual has to make a choice about how to best spend his or her time on the website. I find myself focusing on a few folks at a time in regards to following their running and/or life activities. Posting off-topic items in separate threads is appreciated as it helps me determine if it is something I want to read or not.

Larry, I also love the postcards… don’t stop posting them!


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choover[/URL" target="_blank">

One of the mistakes that I've seen people make in all special-interest forums, and one that I've made a few times myself, is to assume that because the others share a particular interest with you, that they are like you in most other ways. Sort of like "I'm a runner over 40 who is politically conservative, and all the guys that I run with around here are politically conservative; therefore runners my age tend to be politically conservative and I'm sure the runners on this forum would enjoy hearing this opinion of mine..."

Substitute "liberal" or "religious" or whatever, and you get the idea. This then leads to hurt feelings when that person posts an opinion and gets flamed for it. I'm a lot more careful these days about off-topic posts of that nature.

......I vote for choover's post........we tried seperating the chat from the numbers once before....
......it just killed the spirit of the thread, and shooting the breeze with other runners is just Fun.....

......(plus everybody posted when WRFB posted so they could hit him up for free beer)........

I've read this thread many times,it just fascinates me how many great thinkers and writers we have contributing to this thing we call Boomers & Beyond.

In my case I'm guilty sometimes of just reading a post and not responding.However in the case of Tall's post,I printed it out so I can use that knowledge at a later date,just like the Boston Tips thread of last year.

We all come from different walks of life...

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Gordon
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