JohnnySharp2 said:
Blimey Alan - thats a bit harsh
If we did this for every thread that moved slightly off subject there would be very few on the Trip Planning Forum.
Sorry you feel it's harsh, perhaps my tone was a bit abrupt, one of the dangers of posting from work.

If I have upset anyone then I'm sorry that was not my intention, it's not supposed to be a telling off just a reminder about what the purpose of this board is.
I agree with any discussion that there are always elements that diversify from the original subject. As moderators we try and allow this to a point as it adds towards the good spirit and friendly nature of the board. There does come a point though where it looks like the off topic discussion has taken over from the original subject and one of the jobs of a moderator is judging when this has happened and then to give a reminder which gets thing back on track.
Karen posted a reminder last night, which although directed towards the discussion diversifying into one of animal welfare could be seen in the wider context of actually reminding people to stay on topic. Essentially just because the subsequent posts were of a less contraversial nature didn't mean that they were any more relavent to the OP, they were just less likely to cause an argument.
I decided that, having read this thread again this morning, the time had come for another reminder. The last post which was directly related to the question posed by the OP was post number 5, from that point onward nothing has actually been added which helps to answer that question - and we are now up to post 21. I also took the view that it was unlikely having drifted so far off track that without a reminder the thread would ever find it's way back to a discussion relating to the original topic.
Again, it wasn't my intention to upset anyone just to get the discussion back towards helping the OP.
