Good point, Mike.
The thing is that many people who access this forum board are genuinely asking questions. When they see a topic that suits them and that then veers totally off course, they'll get disinterested.
More to the point, the more threads, more banter etc etc, the better this all will become.
If someone can't be bothered to do a search for their info, then it all gets a bit worthless.
Echoing the points above, not everyone on this board are expats and familiar with each other. The majority of readers are indeed holiday makers and people genuinely looking for answers so reading through reams of banter that is only jolly to the people that wrote it is futile for them.
I have created an entire section called Foo which is perfectly suited for banter.
Every forum needs moderating before it turns into mindless drivel dominated by a couple of posters and every now and then some members feel hard done by.
Ok I sort of understand where you are coming from but we had a good thread going there and most of us were just waiting for the person who posted to come back.
I have a forum on my tuk-tuk site now and i hope i dont feel the need to close a thread so easily.
All in all its a good forum, but as i said allow a little leeway.
At least if as you seem to think most are holidaymakers or potential holidaymakers?????? they will realise we all have a sense of humour here.
I have nothing against humour. The thread was not closed, simply split into two separate threads with the banter removed. This way both discussions can continue on their own paths.
Up until recently all the leeway in the world was allowed as it was a very small forum, we have grown somewhat since then and I'm afraid more moderation may be required to keep it in order. Afterall we dont want our little home on the web turned into a free-for-all.
I totally agree with you on the humour side however when it takes over an entire discussion it no longer becomes a valid discussion and will end up putting potential posters off as they dont know the "inside jokes". I have seen this happen many times on forums.
I have to say that I was a little surprised the other morning when I blearily fired up my compurer and opened HHAD to see my name emblazoned on a new thread I started thinking 'Wow I really do have to cut down on the drinking - my memory lapses are worse than I first thought'!
The moderators on here do a great job as trolls and offensive posters disappear pretty quickly normally, and the above mentioned splitting of the thread made complete sense - the only thing I am not sure about is if I am the one being accused of taking the thread off-topic
Keep up the good work guys and I promise not to do it again
Not at all Wanderlust, a few errant posts were removed for readability and yours seemed to be the most sensible place to start the new thread.
The moderator did suggest that it stayed on topic and all he got was sacrasm and abuse from other members so I decided to take action and split the thread.
Moderators and Administrators are there for a reason, we cant please everyone but generally our intentions are for the best.
I wasn't going to contribute to this thread until my name was mentioned as the bringer of all evil. I can actually see both points of view in this discussion but just hang on a cotton pickin' minute..... Sarcy!!?? Me!? It was just a bit of admittedly off the wall but nevertheless light hearted banter as Mike says and followed a wander off topic that Buksida had contributed to and, I thought, played along with in good humour. And there was me thinking I was the touchy one, with Mike reeling me in at every opportunity! Sorry if my comments were taken the wrong way, as if I am the bitter instigator of some insidious anti-moderator plot. Or maybe it's just that I'm not allowed to play with the big boys? Grief!
I really cant believe how far this has gone. The original thread was way off topic and ended up as pure banter and digs at each other (with no particular person more to blame than any other). An Admin decision was made to split the thread, live with it.
I started thinking 'Wow I really do have to cut down on the drinking - my memory lapses are worse than I first thought'! 
