OT about OT (any comments ?)

Hi !

It look’s like there are lots of OT questions popping up, do we have any policy on these stuff, should we try to have a consistent way of responding to theese, or do we already have one… ?

  1. Answer the question any way (any maybe point out that it is OT)

  2. Don’t answer the question at all.

  3. Just pointing out that this is not the correct forum for this.

Or maybe something else.

I just think it would be good if we all tried to handle this in the same way, to minimize the amount of OT stuff here.

Mikael

I usually do a combination of 1 and 3, although I have been guilty of some off topic threads myself (I’ve got 2 on the advanced board at the moment!). My OT threads have been to the advanced board, and only if I think it’s something that the rest of the frequent contributers might find useful, or if it’s a question that I know the frequent contributers might offer some special insight into. I don’t mind OT posts so much on the beginner board, but when beginners start posting OT FAQ’s on the advanced board it can be annoying, especially when a quick search will give them the answer.

I think on registration there should be a set of unofficial rules, like if you have a question, search the boards and FAQ first since the answer is often there. Also, don’t ask common questions about Win32 and MFC unless you know it’s specifically related to an OpenGL framework that others might have used. No religious questions either (although I often answer for example C vs. C++ ones).

PS, if any frequent contrib’s don’t like my OT threads (I’ve only ever done 3) let me know and I won’t ever do any more - I don’t want any bad vibes from anyone.

Hope that helps.

i dont mind the OT posts at all, if ppl are concerned about them perhaps they can pertition (whatever that means) www.opengl.org to stick up a lounge/offtopic/general discussion forum

Hi !

It’s ok with me to, I am sure I am guilty of one or two myself. just wanted to see if we do have some kind of policy on the subject.

Mikael

I second zed’s suggestion for a lounge area.

I don’t understand why OT are such a problem for so many people here. I don’t think the goal is strickly to speak about OGL and ONLY about OGL. I am very happy to have found this place where I can learn things et speak with people who have the same hobby than me. And if somebody need help with a VC++ problem or other stuff, if I can answer and help him, I am very happy to do it because I keep in mind that I was a beginner one day and I didn’t know these kind of forum. So don’t be so strong with these OTs… If someone open a new topic about windsurfing, ok but not for annexe programming question. I don’t understand people who spent some time to flame somebody about his topic. Ignore it if it is hard for you to read something that is not pure OGL.
Just a last thing, this is NOT a OGL topic so… GET OUT OF HERE ! ;D