Use of "Gravel Trap"

[Craig]

Having read Dave Brand's last post all I can say is to repeat what Maisie said: I GIVE UP!

[Dave Brand]

Originally posted by Craig Antill
Having read Dave Brand's last post all I can say is to repeat what Maisie said: I GIVE UP!

Fair enough; we obviously have a very different outlook on life.

What I was trying to point out, in my halting, inarticulate manner, was firstly that many of us have the, probably annoying, ability to discuss serious matters in an apparently frivolous manner, secondly that the marshals forum is not a little enclave from which its 'members' never venture, thirdly that anyone, marshal or not, can & does post in the marshals forum & finally that this whole issue has been blown up out of all proportion - motor sport & internet fora are supposed to be fun; let's not get too serious!

I can understand your comments about 'in jokes'. In any community in jokes, jargon & shorthand terms will exist; can I just say, from a personal point of view, that if anyone doesn't understand, for any reason, any comment I may make, then feel free to ask - I'll be happy to explain.

I'm sorry that you're getting bored with this forum. I certainly am not - in my opinion it has grown, over its short existence, into a valuable forum which reflects the views, the attitudes & the opinions of its many participants. We may at times be unruly, frivolous & somewhat obscure in some of our comments, but we're having fun & also engaging in some very serious debate.

Marshals are s funny bunch of folks - let's face it, putting on orange clothes & standing by a race track all day hoping somebody will throw a car at you isn't really rational behaviour......this forum is, for better or for worse, a reflection of the sort of people we are. It ain't broke......let's not try to fix it!

[sss]

mr brand, you mention 'will throw a car at you' what about bike marshals and lawn mower marshals etc. or are we creating a them and us ( i would put a smilie in here but i can never be bothered as its to much like hard work)

[Brushpusher]

Originally posted by sss
mr brand, you mention 'will throw a car at you' what about bike marshals and lawn mower marshals etc. or are we creating a them and us ( i would put a smilie in here but i can never be bothered as its to much like hard work)

We haven't even started properly on the subject of breakaway lanyards, solar powered toasters or the best whistle to blow. (SSS give Bigyin a shout see what he makes of all this!)

On a serious point, Marshalls are not cliquey in general, however work on post for a couple of days, there will be moments that only you can share and even with fellow marshalls at the raffle you cannot explain to them the in-joke - lighten up everyone!

We should remember why we do this marshalling lark, first to enable the drivers to race and secondly so we can also enjoy their sport.

(Steve should we repost our water pipe adventure from "The Other Place"?)

[Brushpusher]

Originally posted by sss
mr brand, you mention 'will throw a car at you' what about bike marshals and lawn mower marshals etc. or are we creating a them and us ( i would put a smilie in here but i can never be bothered as its to much like hard work)

We haven't even started properly on the subject of breakaway lanyards, solar powered toasters or the best whistle to blow. (SSS give Bigyin a shout see what he makes of all this!)

On a serious point, Marshalls are not cliquey in general, however work on post for a couple of days, there will be moments that only you can share and even with fellow marshalls at the raffle you cannot explain to them the in-joke - lighten up everyone!

We should remember why we do this marshalling lark, first to enable the drivers to race and secondly so we can also enjoy their sport.

(Steve should we repost our water pipe adventure from "The Other Place"?)

[Dave Brand]

Originally posted by sss
mr brand, you mention 'will throw a car at you' what about bike marshals and lawn mower marshals etc. or are we creating a them and us ( i would put a smilie in here but i can never be bothered as its to much like hard work)

Er, what can I say......it's a fair cop. As it was Bemsee that got me into marshalling (Pixie's got a lot to answer for!) & I do just about equal amounts of bike & car marshalling I should have known better!

Me, I'm just a marshal; I don't discriminate.

[Woolley]

Wild suggestion to keep everyone happy. We're all familiar with 'Go to channel 2' messages. They're not secretive, I was disappointed to find, generally a bit of idle gossip to save bunging up the more important airways. So why not start a Channel 2 thread - if you feel the need for flippant banter post 'Go to Channel 2' and carry on from there. We can then all enjoy the fun without diverting the original thread.

[Maisie]

I will say this once again, and for the last time - this is NOT about whether you're "allowed to have fun" in threads - you're allowed as far as I'm concerned to be as silly as you want within threads that start with marshaling issues - as long as the original point is done with... BUT threads deliberately designed for general banter or chit chat belong in the Gravel Trap. This forum, whatever you may think, is for marshaling issues - you're not supposed to have your own private version of the Gravel Trap for marshals only within this forum - that's why (hint: read Craig's post if you haven't been bothered to yet) the Gravel Trap exists - it's for everyone, and for chitchat, so that's where the banter threads belong.

[Woolley]

Okay, maybe that didn't quite keep everyone happy...! Seriously, If the Channel 2 thread were in the Gravel Trap would that be acceptable? I'm just trying to be helpful. I agree that this isn't really the place for chit-chat, and don't join in, but it's still entertaining to read it, just as it is to be on post with a group who take the Mick all day.

[Maisie]

Christ, someone finally gets the point! Of COURSE it's OK in the Gravel Trap - that's the POINT of the Gravel Trap being there!! And of COURSE the chit-chat can be entertaining, just not in excess - one thread extoling the virtues of breakaway lanyards is sort of fun - once, but don't turn every thread into the same old thing over and over again!

[EvilPumpkin]

Ok couple of comments - Badoer - it's common practice (Craig correct me if I'm wrong here) for affliates to just show the forum that's most appropriate to their site - otherwise it's just a 10-10ths portal - not that I have a problem with that, it's just an observation. Since the websites in question are not mine, I can't comment on the decisions made by their webmasters.

Whistles - you haven't heard anything until you've tried the Acme Tornado - denizens of Post 6 can back me up on this one!

ALL lanyards should be breakaway ones. Duh! Even my flashing pumpkin necklace has a safety lanyard. Who wants to end their days strangled by a whistle tangled in a Formula Ford - how embarassing would THAT be!

[redshoes]

EP, most affiliate do link directly to a single forum, however all the navigation to other forums is left in place - the "Home > Discussion Forum > Other Racing Forums > Marshals Forum >" at the top of the page and the " Forum Jump:" dropdown on the bottom left.

[EvilPumpkin]

ahhhh cool - thanks for that RS

[pinki]

Originally posted by Maisie
They? It shouldn't be a case of "us" and "them". It should, if anything be "some of us" - we are all one collective community. Not "the marshals", "the racers", "the staff", "the rest of them" or anything like that. You are all most welcome in any forum, or should be - if you don't understand an in-joke, ask, and if you think the subject matter is sad and anoraky, post your own topic.

You missed my point Maisie, I'm not interested in going into the other forums and as I said I don't really want to go into the Gravel Trap and trawl through such titles as

The Antilliad, an Epic

Do you keep Fish ?

Nyaaaaarrrgghhhh!!!!

I haven't got the time to waste.

I want to be able to pop into the Marshals Forum and see what my colleagues have posted, read the content that's of interest to me and then leave.

Nuff Sed.

[Guisbro Rod H]

Originally posted by pinki
I want to be able to pop into the Marshals Forum and see what my colleagues have posted, read the content that's of interest to me and then leave.

Your approach is perfectly logical, to see what your friends are saying in the marshals forum.
But that forum is the marshal's forum.
If you or others wish to see what your/their friends are saying on a wider range of topics one option is to select their profile and look at their most recent postings.
Now somebody might jump on me and say use the buddy system. (I have yet to explore that system.)
I now use the excellently revised <HOME> page to view new topics of interest outside the marshal's forum.

Pinki, you rightly say that many items in the Gravel Trap are of little interest, that is why in this thread people argue that such items should not be within the marshals forum.
I congratulate the moderators for the courage in transfering such inappropriate threads where appropriate.

Dan Friel, you have certainly started a discussion!!

[wickedwitch]

Well said Guisbro Rod H. I wade through the silly threads in the Gravel Trap when I choose, but I don't feel that I should have to wade through silly threads in the Marshals Forum too. That's not to say that funny remarks and a bit of silliness shouldn't occur within a thread that is marshalling oriented, nobody is saying that just because the thread is about marshalling issues that they have to be deadly serious. But some of the threads we've seen in here were in no way related to marshalling, and the only reason they were in the Marshals Forum was because they were posted by marshals. Breakaway lanyards is a marshalling issue and so it definitely should be in the Marshals Forum, but the thread like A Silly Thread and This is Not a Silly thread had no place in this forum.

Well I'm a marshal, so does that mean that I should be posting my threads on anything that's not to do with my marshalling (eg., religion/womens-issues/job/life/relationships/favourite songs, etc.) in the Marshals Forum? No, I prefer to post them in the Gravel Trap where they can be discussed with my non-marshalling friends too, and I'm sure that most of you are glad that I don't post them in here as you would rather not have to wade through all that stuff of mine when you come into the Marshals Forum.

[Stephen Green]

Right, time for the Moderator to step in!

In order to make life easier for all concerned I propose that we try to keep the topics within the marshals forum to marshalling issues. That is not to say you cannot have fun within the threads, but please try to keep the thread on topic. If you want a joke thread then I don't have a problem with their being one in this forum. If however threads do get hijacked and stray so far off the subject that the original thread is lost, then I will transfer it to the Gravel Trap. Given that most of the participants will by then be members of that particular thread, it really shouldn't cause too many problems.

The Marshals Forum has been a success story within ten-tenths this year and I want it to continue to grow. We have managed to attract many other ten-tenthers into our forum, most of who make valuable comment or at least inspire good debate.

As many of you have already said, marshals by nature tend to be happy and sometimes offbeat people and I don't wish to try and change that at all. I have said before and will reitterate once again, if anyone has a problem within a thread then please send me a PM and I will attempt to deal with it in a fair and open manner.

Please don't forget that we are ALL here to ENJOY ourselves and if that means some light hearted banter on occasions, then all the better. However, lets not lose sight of the reason for the Marshals Forum and the good work it has achieved to date.

Enjoy your postings, serious and funny. I appreciate we are not going to please all of the people all of the time, but moderation is a good thing to bear in mind.

Your Moderator.

[EvilPumpkin]

Does that mean no more happy birthday threads? The ones I put in here are usually for people I never see in GT so I put them where they're most likely to see them.....

[Stephen Green]

Happy birthday threads are fine and as I said, I don't have a problem with one or two silly threads in the forum providing other threads are not hijacked. That should mean as many people as possible are placated?

[Dan Friel]

Sorry everyone for the hassle.. just got back From work in Cornwall to find 3 pages of this!

Not going to comment further - but just redirect everyone to Craig, Masie and Stephen's posts above...

[Guisbro Rod H]

The Trackside forum is to arrange for people to meet.
I presume that advertising, I beg your pardon, informing others of marshalling oportunities is permitted within this forum.

"For example:
Sunday the 10 November sees an unusual meeting at Blyton RallyCross Track. Its unusual because the 114 car entry is of Grasstrackers wanting to try Rallycrossing. Will they just revert to grasstracking around a Rallycross track - IF that is any different???

Apparently the drivers are members of NORA (Northern Off Road Association)

Marshalling oportunities? Sign-on at 08:00 racing at 08:30.
Their system is that marshals pay to get in! The marshals that ACTUALLY marshal will have all entry fees fully refunded. Otherwise ring the Queen of Blyton (or PM me and I will tell her) and she will leave your name on the gate. With name on gate you get in FREE (but no refund!!) No passes are being sent out.

A wierd Sunday in prospect."

Me advertise in a thread and be out of context. Never.

[redshoes]

As you're not selling anything I don't see why anyone would consider that advertising. If you want to post details of marshalling opportunities and maybe try to encourage some newcomers, then go ahead, that's partly why this forum is here in the first place.

If it's a serious post then can I suggest you re-post it as a new thread before it gets lost in the noise.

[Stephen Green]

Exactly. Absolutely no problem with you guys and girls advertising race meetings that require marshals. That's one of the things ten-tenths has become very good at doing and it doesn't go against the ethics of the site. As Redshoes rightly advises, post it as a new topic. That way everyone will be able to see your objectives from the outset.

[Guisbro Rod H]

Thank You.
New new topic posted.
See <Marshals Forum>"Marshalling as Grasstrackers try Rallycross"

[EvilPumpkin]

I won't be putting up any more Happy Birthday threads as they're only of use if the people who a) have a birthday or b) want to wish someone a Happy Birthday - get to see them. I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone who has a birthday in the next year a very happy birthday. Read this post quickly before it moves.