Question for Sam Oleson

[Bill Greenwood]

I thought about the topic over lunch and went back to edit my posts to make sure I was staying in polite bounds, but find I cant edit my posts.

I do have one question, recently there was a topic, not mine, about which tents were best and/or where to buy them. Its not aviation. but as far as I recall no one objected to it and it ran unopposed on the forum? Also one of mine about food, someone else last year about water bottles. Why that one and not Randy's today?

[Kyle Boatright]

I thought about the topic over lunch and went back to edit my posts to make sure I was staying in polite bounds, but find I cant edit my posts.

I do have one question, recently there was a topic, not mine, about which tents were best and/or where to buy them. Its not aviation. but as far as I recall no one objected to it and it ran unopposed on the forum? Also one of mine about food, someone else last year about water bottles. Why that one and not Randy's today?

I'm not Sam and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but the tent conversation is directly related to Oshkosh and air camping.

[Floatsflyer]

I do have one question, recently there was a topic, not mine, about which tents were best and/or where to buy them. Its not aviation. but as far as I recall no one objected to it

C'mon Bill, I think your arguing now just to be oppositional. C'mon man, you don't have to be a member of Mensa to see the distinct difference between discussing tents for Oshkosh and Equifax's massive security breach.

The tents and so many other inquiries within the topic Oshkosh are clearly aviation oriented because it's about Oshkosh which I don't have to remind you is 100% aviation(well, except for the mattresses and recliners).

The Equifax fubar is as far removed from aviation as you or I are from The Vatican. When was the last time any of us discussed our credit rating at the airport with anyone? If you say yes to this, I'll never believe you! I don't do any hangar talk/hangar flying because no one is ever at my hangar. If by chance it ever happened I wouldn't be discussing credit ratings and identity theft....guaranteed! Now cut the crap and move on.😎

[Bill Greenwood]

Kyle, Floats, let me make 3 points and Ill try to be straightforward and clear. Now I am assuming the Equifax thing is about credit card use, not just credit rating as a separate matter and I honestly dont know for sure.
Yes, lots of people camp at Oshkosh, thousands of them ,so they use tents, there was even a thread about best generators etc, maybe best coolers.
But do many of these campers at Oshkosh as well as thousands of other non camping Airventure folks also USE CREDIT CARDS THERE, at an EAA AVIATION EVENT? I know I do seems to me I see lots of credit card use, just like I see tent use or golf cart use or generators or cell phones, or camera lens or sunscreen, etc. I paid my weekly EAA pass with a credit card for instance, not to mention food etc. So would a topic about id theft related to credit card use be related to EAA just like tents?. How about a topic on dark glasses to watch the eclipse, not directly aviation, but handed out at EAA by NASA etc.? Or about rent a cars or motel prices?
My 3rd point is my main one, I think it is good manners to be accepting about another"s post on EAA, if you dont like dont read it but dont try to cut someone else down. I know the idea of free speech is an anathema to some people, but I dont think a holier than thou take on who is pure enough to be on the forum is nice. Dont think the tent topic did any harm nor the recent one on bicycles and I didnt feel called to attack someone who posted them, the bike one was interesting. Who posted that, was it Floats or 1600 ?And what harm does it do, especilly in Randy's topic where he was trying to help.

P S if you dont think credit card use is a fit topic for EAA, to be consistent will you try to get EAA to delete it from their member benefits brochure?

[Floatsflyer]

Yes Bill, and if my uncle had breasts, he'd be my aunt.

[rwanttaja]

But do many of these campers at Oshkosh as well as thousands of other non camping Airventure folks also use credit cards there, at an EAA AVIATION EVENT? I know I do seems to me I see lots of credit card use, just like I see tent use or golf cart use or generators or cell phones, or camera lens etc. I paid my weekly EAA pass with a credit card for instance, not to mention food etc. So would a topic about id theft related to credit card use be related to EAA just like tents?. How about a topic on dark glasses to watch the eclipse, not directly aviation, but handed out at EAA by NASA etc.?
The problem, as I've mentioned before, is that one can use that sort of logic to justify discussion on ANY topic. One can shill for Mr. Clean, to help cleanse your home and reduce changes of developing a medical condition that prevents one from flying. One can plug an investment service, to help you save enough money to afford to be able to fly. Or the Schmedly Diet, to lose weight and increase the performance of your airplane.

A key factor, I think, is how *unique* a subject is to aviation. Few other locations discuss the right tent for Airventure. Every news source...TV, newspapers, radio, and online...is discussing the Equifax breech. Nothing is added by discussing it here.

Have you asked the EAA to set up a new forum section to be the unmoderated, anything-goes forum you apparently want?

Ron Wanttaja

[Kyle Boatright]

Kyle, Floats, let me make 3 points and Ill try to be straightforward and clear. Now I am assuming the Equifax thing is about credit card use, not just credit rating as a separate matter and I honestly dont know for sure.
Now lots of people camp at Oshkosh thousands of them so they use tents, there was even a thread about best generators etc, maybe best coolers.
But do many of these campers at Oshkosh as well as thousands of other non camping Airventure folks also use credit cards there, at an EAA AVIATION EVENT? I know I do seems to me I see lots of credit card use, just like I see tent use or golf cart use or generators or cell phones, or camera lens etc. I paid my weekly EAA pass with a credit card for instance, not to mention food etc. So would a topic about id theft related to credit card use be related to EAA just like tents?. How about a topic on dark glasses to watch the eclipse, not directly aviation, but handed out at EAA by NASA etc.? Or about rent a cars or motel prices?
My 3rd point is a big one, I think it is good manners to be accepting about another"s post on EAA, if you dont like dont read it but dont try to cut someone else down. I dont think the tent topic did any harm nor the recent one on bicycles and I didnt feel called to attack someone who posted them, the bike one was interesting. Who posted that, was it Floats or 1600 ?And what harm does it do, especilly in Randy's topic where he was trying to help.

Bill,

Nobody has attacked you personally (cut you down) that I'm aware of. People have posted clearly thought out views that many of your threads are not within the scope of EAA's intent for these forums. To the best of my knowledge, the discussion has always been about the posts, not the person. The great thing is that there are forums elsewhere that welcome virtually any topic. And then there is social media where pretty much anything goes. Wouldnt it be better to discuss Equifax or other non-aviation topics there and respect the desires of EAA to maintain this as an aviation forum?

[CHICAGORANDY]

Crikey! I am SO sorry I brought the Equifax issue to the EAA Forums. I've admitted I didn't know that topics are required to be aviation related and my post was meant entirely as a warning to my EAA 'friends' and was indeed NOT at all aviation related. I made the same post on several other forums/social platforms again as a friendly advisory to my internet 'friends' and family members.

I will know better for my future posts here.

please, please let's all stay 'friendly'?

[rwanttaja]

Crikey! I am SO sorry I brought the Equifax issue to the EAA Forums. I've admitted I didn't know that topics are required to be aviation related and my post was meant entirely as a warning to my EAA 'friends' and was indeed NOT at all aviation related. I made the same post on several other forums/social platforms again as a friendly advisory to my internet 'friends' and family members.
DON'T take it personally. It was just a restart of a regular argument. Would have had some other trigger, at some point.

Ron Wanttaja

[Bill Greenwood]

Floats, I thought you of all people would have an honest response. You may disagree with everything I wrote, facts notwithstanding, but I wouldn't have made a flippant response to what you wrote.
A molehill has become a mountain and lets leave it there. You guys will want to rest up to resume vigilance for any other post that dont measure up.
P S, Randy nothing wrong at all with what your wrote and thanks for your desire to help others on the forum. I tried to do the same thing bout a month ago.

Kyle, first it wasnt my thread it was Randy's and as for your suggestion that I write on another forum, Ill make the parallel one to you, why dont you read on another forum and not anything I write here? Fair enough?

[Bill Berson]

I checked twice. Could not find any forum rules.
The "Hangar talk" says "general commentary about aviation", "or what's in the news, experiences, etc.". (whatever that means)
Only thing I see.

[Floatsflyer]

Floats, I thought you of all people would have an honest response. You may disagree with everything I wrote, facts notwithstanding, but I wouldn't have made a flippant response to what you wrote.

It was honest. It was surely not flippant but rather succinct and right to the core of your logic. I just said it in 10 words instead of 300. An old prof of mine would have been proud.

[rwanttaja]

I checked twice. Could not find any forum rules.
The "Hangar talk" says "general commentary about aviation", "or what's in the news, experiences, etc.". (whatever that means)
Only thing I see.
Yep. Tough to find.

Go all the way to the bottom of the page. It's in the "Posting Permissions" box. It's a link, called "Forum Rules."

Ron "If this weapon were to fall into the wrong hands, Farnsworth, it would mean total disaster for us all" Wanttaja

[Jeff Point]

Crikey! I am SO sorry I brought the Equifax issue to the EAA Forums.
You know what they say- no good deed goes unpunished!

While your intentions might have been good, the simple fact is that the story was a good week old, and anyone who frequents any sort of internet forum(s) or reads a single newspaper was already well aware of it. So all that was really accomplished was a waste of bandwidth and the restarting of an old argument. If there is someone out there for whom the EAA forums are their only news source... well, you might have helped that person, but unlikely. The rest of us come here for airplanes and such- we have plenty of other forums for non-airplane stuff as you mentioned you do as well.

Another analogy just popped into my head- this is sort of like wandering through exhibit building D at Oshkosh and seeing nothing but mattresses, ginsu knives and massage chairs. With so much junk and so little aviation, it's almost enough to make a person not want to go in the building. Let's not do that to our forums too.

And, so Ron doesn't have all the fun...

Jeff "My name's Friday and I'm a forum cop" Point.

[Sam Oleson]

Hey guys,

I suppose it's about time to formally introduce myself. I'm Sam Oleson -- EAA's new social media coordinator (starting a few months ago). Myself, along with Hal and a few others, will be moderating these forums.

I can't specifically speak to Bill's original question, but I'm assuming those threads were included in the AirVenture topic, where basically any questions concerning AirVenture (or Oshkosh) are allowed. Pretty common sense stuff in that regard -- questions about tents, food, water bottles, appropriate clothing to bring, firewood, etc. are all fine. It's not specifically about the aviation portion of AirVenture, but it concerns the event and the logistics of camping in Oshkosh.

Speaking only for myself, I'm not going to be a super strict moderator. I'll allow some flexibility in topics as long as there's a legitimate tie to aviation. As Ron pointed out, it has to be a real connection, not something where a mention of aviation is simply thrown in to keep it "on topic." NFL teams use airplanes to travel to games, but it doesn't mean this is an appropriate place to discuss your fantasy football teams. Obviously that's a bit of a ridiculous comparison, but you understand what I'm getting at.

All that being said, I'm not going to go about just deleting threads unless the initial post is wildly off topic (or is spam), the conversation has veered completely away from aviation or is simply users arguing back and forth. Let's just try to keep it aviation (or AirVenture)-related and we'll all be fine. Again, I'll allow a little flexibility.

One more note: If I or someone else closes or deletes a thread, it's nothing personal to the user who started it. We're just trying to keep these forums on topic.

Any questions, feel free to ask Hal or myself.

Thanks!

[Bill Greenwood]

Gosh, Sam are you sure you want this job? You seem like too nice and calm a guy. Did you lose a bet? Do you have all your hair? Remember when Pres Obama came into office he was young and handsome and when he left 8 years later, in his own words " now I look like Morgan Freeman". Well moderating this forum is not quite that bad, and it shouldnt be hard but some people are pretty stubborn, not me of course, its those other guys.
Yeah I am a little stubborn when I think there is an real principle involved.

[Floatsflyer]

Yeah I am a little stubborn when I think there is an real principle involved.

Agreed...and with no recognizable one as well.😄😄

[Anymouse]

Crikey! I am SO sorry I brought the Equifax issue to the EAA Forums. I've admitted I didn't know that topics are required to be aviation related and my post was meant entirely as a warning to my EAA 'friends' and was indeed NOT at all aviation related. I made the same post on several other forums/social platforms again as a friendly advisory to my internet 'friends' and family members.

I will know better for my future posts here.

please, please let's all stay 'friendly'?


No internet forum is complete without its whiners.

Speaking of which, the emoticons STILL suck!!

[rwanttaja]

Pilots? Stubborn? Nahhhhhhhhh.......

Ron "Ref Steven Coonts on brake use" Wanttaja

[Kyle Boatright]

Kyle, first it wasnt my thread it was Randy's and as for your suggestion that I write on another forum, Ill make the parallel one to you, why dont you read on another forum and not anything I write here? Fair enough?

Bill, you could be a valuable contributor to this forum. You have a very interesting and historic aircraft you could discuss, and I'm sure you have other valuable aviation thoughts and experience you could share. I'd hate to miss it if you actually shared some of that experience and knowledge. On the other hand, it baffles me that instead of being a real contributor here, you seem to focus your efforts on challenging (flaunting?) the forum rules.