…and be thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and confirm it.

Or so the saying goes.

Yes, there is a lot of drivel posted on line (including by me), but two really pointless posts have iced the cake for me recently. I will paraphrase and not provide links.

1. In response to a fairly asinine piece of on-line purchasing pretending to be modelling, someone posted a photo of a small model diesel loco he had just bought, which was of an outline foreign to him, with a request for suggestions of what he might convert it to, as he had no idea and most of its features reflected railway practice developed after his preferred modelling era. To date he has received fewer than 2 responses, and it said: “I know nothing about this. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.”

2. In response to a short video showing recent developments on a layout, which included a train running, there was a response which said: “That reminds me of a layout that was in a magazine that ceased printing* 30+ years ago, and I can’t remember the name of the layout.”

We have in front of us a wonderful way to share information, happiness, warmth, sorrow, anguish and humour. But how on earth do posts such as that help with understanding the human condition?

* Yes. The magazine folded. **

** I did say some of the drivel was mine.