IMO,<br>Regulation will kill this forum. Techies are prone to OT rantings and ramblings.<br>An example is Slashdot.org. open  Any post on slashdot and you&#39;ll immediately notice numerous OT remarks and discussions. The unexpected result is that many interesting - but barely related or totally unrelated  - child discussions are spawned within the main topic. Eg, any discussion involving lasers is almost guaranteed to spawn comments/remarks about sharks.<br>

End result? An extremely lively discussion, with very many  INTERESTING diversions. single discussions spawning 600, even 800 comments on slashdot are not uncommon.<br>Users LEARN many new things in the process. LEARNING is what most of us are here for.<br>

If we are to start dropping anything &quot;OT&quot; (depending on what definition of OT is agreed upon), we shall realize just how narrow IT really is. Granted, IT is a wide field, but we cannot have purely IT posts - at least not enough to sustain much daily interest in the forum anyway.<br>

NEMA Anti-Noise Laws? OT. Engine Performance Tuning? OT. End of the World / 2012? OT. Ukambani Anti-Gravity? OT. Fraud at Old Mutual? OT. Alternative Fuel? OT. NCC 45* Slanting Roof Law? OT.<br>Besides, the forum is to some extent self-moderating - really OT posts (abortion ? ) are ignored, while INTERESTING posts get all the attention. Posters figure out what is / is not OT based on the replies generated, they learn.<br>

Lets not be too hasty here.<br><br>------------------------------<br>&lt;...motobaridi, return to sender, address unknown...&gt;<br>------------------------------<br><br>=============================================<br><br>

<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Lmwangi <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:lmwangi@gmail.com">lmwangi@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">

Hi all,<br>A few folks have noticed the downward trend of thread quality on the forum. To increase the S/N ratio of this mailing list, the admins have decided to start moderating threads that do not match the rules posted at  <a href="http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94" target="_blank">http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&amp;t=94</a>. This will start taking effect as of midnight tonight EAT. Banned/moderated users will be listed in a topic under the same forum. Essentially, if your post is<div class="im">

<br>
 - Not IT centric,<br> - Offtopic<br> - SPAM<br> - Obscene<br> - Work positions/Product ads and solicitations<br></div>You&#39;ll probably incur the wrath one of the admins ( and of khan:) ).  Please refer to the forum thread as these rules are amended occasionally.<br>


Regards,<br>Laban<br><br>
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