The majority of votes so far (18) basically want to leave things alone without intervention. 14 want complete banning or confinement of chat. Just some commonsense and acceptance of everyone else’s point of view is required, because we are not going to satisfy everyone. The chattering classes should voluntarily minimise their chatting in the serious threads and try to divert as much as they can to the Chat thread. I am now trying to answer off-topic remarks or questions by transferring to Chat as most people seem to read it. In the case of the Cholet and Bloomsbury threads, several members attended or are going to attend the sales. By discussing drinking and eating arrangements in the threads, it is an open invitation to others to join in and socialise. Those types of exchanges are the indicator of a very successful group. A certain amount of banter is to be expected among friends, and as long as it is short and not self-indulgent, it should not be offensive or too intrusive.
Jon, Guy, Alan D and I do joke and pass personal comments, but we also put in a huge amount of serious discussion in existing threads and new ones we have started. Let us all live and let live, but no one should indulge in excessive chatting or, conversely, try and censor a reasonable amount of off-topic comments.
Alan
