On 1, May 2007, at 5:31, Ken Hornstein wrote: > So, let me pose serious questions to everyone here: is the tone of > this group geared toward boat owners/liveaboards? Are renters > unwelcome? How about wannabe renters? If I'm in the wrong group, > hey, my bad ... I'll leave and go searching for the right one.
Sorry to hear from Ken & Callum in this way. I arrived here by accident about 6 years ago and I just blunder about on the list not taking myself or others too seriously. Sometimes my quips are inane, sometimes smutty, sometime insulting and on a good day possibly humourous. Let the reader decide. You can only develop your persona by participation, but it's OK to stand and watch/listen. I have learned a helluva lot about boating and received very much help on diverse and sometimes perverse topics. Our boating has been enhanced by all the folk we have "met" here and the numerous, mini-gigs, gigs, pie-fests, rallies & etc we have attended. When you have boating (or any) questions just deliver them. The response depends on who is around, what they know and how they are disposed. So it's very lifelike in that respect. I think the mood <has> changed here, perhaps because of the pressures on the waterways from recent political events. Perhaps because the waterways themselves are changing, not least as a result of the higher population afloat. I agree with you about the untidiness of some postings which is, to my mind, discourtesy by the originator . You just have decide if, on the balance of your experience, the content is likely to be worth the ferreting about and context finding. If not just skip over that person's contributions, it's not difficult to cock a deaf 'un in certain directions. Oh . . . . . . . . you just did ! Captain Beeky PS - for the record, and pursuant to Phil's reply earlier. There was another American correspondent who communicated here and we talked through his intended itinerary and we arranged a mini gig for him and his family. About 8 of us drove to the venue, some covering more than 50 miles, and the evening was good, we thought. We admired the rented boat and we thought we had done a good thing. But never a squeak from him thereafter. Perhaps there is something wrong with us !
