Taking a Break

Ron Earp · Jan 13, 2009

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I’m taking a break for the forum for awhile. Over the last six to eight weeks there is been more or less constant infighting on the forum to various degrees. Throw in the occasional pot stirrer, the normal password/login help requests, and the end result is that I am more or less overwhelmed with emails and PMs telling me what I should have done regarding situation X. <o

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Look, there is no way to please all the people all the time. I attempt to fairly enforce long standing rules that we have had on GT40s.com involving vendors, spammers, pot stirrers, and so on. Users of the forum agree to these rules when they register to post. But, maybe it is time to change the rules or make GT40s.com a free for all. I don’t know.<o

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Anyhow, I’ll be offline as an administrator for a week or so pondering future involvement. Sometimes a rest is good. Paul Thompson has agreed to perform admin duties if needed.<o

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Ron<o

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simonjrwinter · Jan 13, 2009

Ron,

I'd like to be the first to say you do an absolutely Stirling job as forum administrator. I think you have pretty much always been fair, and I'm sure I speak for ALL forum members saying that we REALLY appreciate the work you do on this forum to keep it's standards up to the very highest level. Something we (you included) must be very proud of.
Best wishes

Simon

Ivan UK · Jan 13, 2009

Ron you do a amazing job, and you have my thanks.

i do think that you need help though, its a huge job

marcel · Jan 13, 2009

Ron

From far Switzerland, all my respect for your effort and passion in this forum.

Marcel.

molleur · Jan 13, 2009

I agree with Simon's comments. You have done a terriffic job as administrator, fair and unbiased. Let's all keep with the current program. I'd hate to see this superlative forum degraded into a "free for all". Thank you, Sir for your efforts!

todh · Jan 13, 2009

Please don't make it a free for all or else it will turn into a boy racer site where my car is ALWAYS faster than yours...

CharlieM · Jan 13, 2009

Ron,

I for one am extremely grateful for all the work you put into this forum. I hope you enjoy the well-deserved break.

Charlie

slowhand · Jan 13, 2009

Ron,
Thank you for the efforts that you have put in to keep this site as great as it is. I know how hard it must be managing the chaos and I feel that you have done a spectacular job. From all of us who live and breathe the Mark, we thank you. Rest up and come back soon.
Garry
:uneasy:

Chris Melia · Jan 13, 2009

Hi Ron

well done mate, keep the faith

Regards

Chris.

EGLITOM · Jan 13, 2009

Ron

you achieved a very remarkable result and seeing what is going on i fully understand your move.
Take your time and come back as strong and motivated as ever to keep this forum whait it is.
Heck, instead of open it up, rather close it a little more. It wont hurt the wrong ones !!

TOM

molleur · Jan 13, 2009

Good idea Tom! I agree.

Martin Potts · Jan 13, 2009

I'm behind you all the way Ron.
Don't let it ruin your life, take a break and come back stronger. Please.
Martin

Johan · Jan 13, 2009

Ditto the above comments. In the end, this is or should be just a hobby for most of us. A way to socialize with others based on a common interest.

Ron Earp · Jan 13, 2009

One of the things that is so disappointing to me is seeing adults quarrel and bicker like children. Now a forum like this exists to help the community of enthusiasts learn about problems and situations that need to be avoided. As such it is good that folks who have an issue can bring the problem to a public forum and possibly get a resolution. This sort of action is encouraged.

But the kind of behavior that we've witnessed on a few of these sorts of threads really will put people off from reading the forum. Competing manufacturers taking digs at one another, over zealous owners taking digs at owners of other types/brands of cars, members/users trying to sell under the table, and more. It is demoralizing to me because my idea of the forum was to maintain a high signal to noise ratio, for GT40s.com to be a place that was unique among car enthusiast forums. For many years we, we collectively, all of us, achieved that goal.

But as of late I think that uniqueness has been lost. And we won't get it back unless the membership as a whole makes a conscious effort to hold themselves to some sort of standard. If we don't do this then we might as well throw in the towel because there are plenty of other car forums one can gravitate to that offer "the usual" internet car forum flavor.

Ron

molleur · Jan 13, 2009

Well said Ron, I believe we all should strive to this end..

todh · Jan 13, 2009

Why not create an advisory board (think of it as a jury of our peers) that decides whether a user should be removed temporarily or permanently. You could off-load the decision making process to a few trusted members of the forum to make the decision on whether someone stays or not rather than to shoulder the entire thing on yourself.

It's easy to feel dragged down by recent events, but this is an intelligent forum and we all need to strive to keep it that way.

Scott Calabro · Jan 13, 2009

Hi Ron,

To me its pretty simple, just change the forum over to something like corner-carvers , a great site IMHO.

All tech, no BS.

You could have paid private forums for those that want it, something like what you offer right now.

Just make sure everyone knows the rules and "signs" an email confirmation from a valid email address (no hotmail accounts etc), then its easy...enforce the rules.

No whining, no bitching, done.

Regards,
Scott

Ron Earp · Jan 13, 2009

Scott Calabro said:
Hi Ron,

To me its pretty simple, just change the forum over to something like corner-carvers
All tech, no BS.

*Comment replaced since Scott replied while I was editing*
All Tech no BS. You're kidding right?

Advisory boards are sort of tough. Who staffs them? I get accused by many of being partial because of a car I own, notwithstanding my behavior openly on the forum. I can't see how a advisory board would be similarly maligned.

Scott Calabro · Jan 13, 2009

Ron,

I like what I've seen so far.

I can't say ALL the tech is accurate, but I do like the format.

Cheers,
Scott

crossle43 · Jan 13, 2009

I can appreciate your exhaustion, Ron. I only imagine how challenging the job has become and, of late, I couldn't agree more about the behavior for which I've sent children to their room to think about for a while. Repeated demonstrations of ill-advised behavior actually got them grounded for a while. If memory serves, a little social Siberia does a child good from time to time. This would work well for the occasional GT40s participant also.

I also appreciate the support expressed by some of my fellow forum members... though I feel compelled to humbly and respectfully ask each one when are you going to put your money where your mouth is? This forum doesn't operate in a vaccuum and, the last time I checked, money doesn't grow on trees. Is 20 bucks a year too much?

Again, Ron, thank you for all you've done. If there's something I can personally do to be of help, let me know. You know where to reach me.

T.

Taking a Break

Ron Earp

Simon

Ivan

marcel

Jack

Tod

Charlie M

Garry

EGLITOM

Jack

Martin

Johan

Ron Earp

Jack

Tod

Scott Calabro

Ron Earp

Scott Calabro

Dutton

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