Explanation Please Mikey

[dave penn]

Jimi. Your thread is valid and I'm sure Dave did not intend any spoiling...

I've started a new thread because I feel you should explain yourself and what it is you feel 'I had no intention spoiling'. I replied to you with a valid post without making any derogatory remarks, but I am still at loss to understand what you feel I had done wrong. Even so you still felt the need to add something to a subsequent post that was something to the effect that I was 'compounding my error'  by explaining my actions to you in what I viewed as very simple terms.

As you are the only person who has made any kind of comment on my 'off thread & topic' post from last Friday I would appreciate it if you would respond in a way that is understandable to everyone on the forum because I certainly would not want to offend anyone again.

Dave Penn;

[mikey]

Dave,
I know you as an honourable person and so I was being genuine when I said you will not have intended to deliberately spoil the thread. However carrying on a dialogue of that nature within a serious topic is not very repectful as you must agree. I am aware that you wanted to contact someone active on the thread but would they not have got the message via a new thread opened by you? Also, since you asked them to contact you off-thread why was their repsonse slap-bang in the middle of Jimi's thread also? Whatever your ownreason was there was absolutely no excuse for that. It was insulting to Jimi - whether or not he admits  that to you is down to him but I know you Dave and I am sure you will recognise that. After your misjudged first post I hoped that would be an end to it but when the totally disrespectful reply appeared that then suggested that there was going to be a whole off-topic conversation which could follow  - unless someone said something. So I did.
No big deal Dave, we all make errors of judgement from time to time and I do not believe there was any malice intended by you.

[admin]

Mikey, this forum has an moderator.  It's me.  If people are out of line, I'll deal with it.  In this particular instance, I don't think they were.  Threads go off topic sometimes, and it's not a disaster.  If they stay off topic, then there's a problem and I'll address it.  If, as happened here, there are four posts off topic but the thread itself is clearly still on topic, then I'll leave it.  Nobody else apart from you had a problem with what happened, and there are ways and means of addressing problems which would be more appropriate than your repeated suggestions that Dave has somehow broken the rules of internet etiquette.  Traditionally, you say "can we get back on topic here?" and everybody does.  You don't lecture people about disrespect, and you don't appoint yourself the thread police.  If you really can't face that course of action, then you use the link at the end of the post you object to to report the post to the moderator.
 
I know Jimi, and he's a decent and lovely bloke.  I'm prepared to bet a crisp fiver that he wouldn't give a monkey's that the thread had deviated from its original course for a few posts.  Suggesting that he's nursing a secret sense of being insulted and is too delicate a flower to let on is disingenuous - you were the one who had a problem with the way the discussion had turned.  Your repeated digs at Dave in the thread and now here have been far more distracting than Dave and Simon's brief discussion.  You imply that there's a consensus among right-thinking people that Dave's behaviour is out of order.  As moderator, I haven't received any emails from people with problems with Dave or his behaviour over the last week.  I wish I could say the same about you. 
 
Dave, I know that you've started this thread to deal with this without further derailing the original thread, but frankly it's not worth giving it that much attention.
 
Ursula

[mikey]

How can one do anything but defer to such a balanced and moderated review of the situation. Case closed.

Sorry Dave. I meant no harm and you did ask for a response, so what was I to do but respond ?  ...but seems like we cannot talk about this anymore.