John F

My grump is that Louise2cv has just asked to have her Autoshite account deleted, after being a member here for 10 years. See page 45 of the Autoshite moderator election thread for her "resignation letter" if you're interested in why she left.

I really hope it can be saved, the Disco 300 TDi is a truly ace vehicle & fettled ones are already starting to fetch decent money. I can't do any more than wish you the best of luck unfortunately, I don't have the space or time for another project

Speaking of splinter forums, there are currently twice as many people logged into "AS after dark" than Autoshite. This is a massive grump as far as I'm concerned. We all belong in here.

I despair. Another once-great British brand circling the drain of taste.

W T actual F? How is that a thing? Unless, as you say, it's a Series with the roof off.

I absolutely love the Disco 300 TDi. I'd have another like a shot but I've got limited use of my spannering facilities at the moment. If I still had regular use of the unit I'd never have sold my old one, I still miss it.

I don't do spannering for a living, but fabricating a new rear body crossmember & plating up the floor in my old 300 TDi took me about 200 hours all-in...! I'm sure a proper fabricator could do it quicker, mind. And I did some gearbox work while I was in there. Also, you can get pre-fabricated crossmembers and panels, that would save a lot of time. I only used a pre-fabricated boot centre panel when I did mine. http://autoshite.com/topic/18001-john-fs-discovery-300-tdi-thread/

Er... why is there a thread about model kits on the main forum?

^ Good idea mate. There's a chance that the debate about whether a thread deserved locking might spawn another thread to discuss it, but if it's in the Open forum why not just let it take place? Mods can either participate or ignore it, and the community will decide whether the measures were justified or not. If not, maybe the mods can learn from the discussion? I'd rather be part of a community where we're all subject to review by our peers than have our social interaction dictated from on high, so to speak.

Alex, I've supported this site for many years. I'm rarely one of the trouble-causers, and have never received a warning. However what I cannot understand is why it is so difficult for the moderation team to seek the community's opinion when making important decisions, and to provide us with an element of transparency about decisions taken. Many years ago I suggested that a poll was held to decide whether to split the board into the Main forum & Open forum, or to leave things as they were. This was not done, the decision was taken by persons unknown behind the back of the community. Then I asked for a short message to be added to the "Members who have left" thread whenever (rarely, in all honesty) someone was banned, briefly explaining the circumstances. This has not been put into place. A decision has been taken by the moderation team about what subjects are 'banned', again without the community being consulted. And nor, importantly, has the mod team explained why the community cannot be consulted. Honestly, mate. It's like DaveGate all over again. The new site admins are doing a great job of running the website in a TOTALLY TRANSPARENT MANNER. Why can't the mods do the same? This is my point, and the reason for my current deep frustration. I love this community, but certain people here seem determined to mould it to their own shape without giving the rest of us a say.

Saabnut, I understand what you're saying about running a forum, and I appreciate that the job of a moderator is not easy. But I no longer get the feeling that Cavcraft is impartial. Impartiality, I feel, is a critical characteristic in a website moderator.

I'm probably left of centre myself. But so was the STASI, allegedly... I'm struggling to parse that sentence, are you accusing me of something? Not that it matters. Any thoughts on what I wrote, Billy?

Apparently he originally posted another video link, but then thought better & edited his post. I didn't view the video, but I bet it was hilarious*

Oh, The Moog. That's a shame, he was genuinely OK, but I can understand why he might have wanted to leave the moderation team. It might have saved me a bit of typing. Everyone that disagrees with a certain - and actually rather small - element within the Autoshite community has been told to "fuck off" to a new site. That site was created by the AS management, and then abandoned to its fate. At least one other member of the 'management team' have been closing threads for dubious reasons and pointing long-standing contributors away from this site. Now call me cynical, but what the fuck is going on here? So much for light-touch moderation, which is what we originally signed up for. Billy, I'm calling for you to step down as moderator. I no longer have faith in your impartiality, and you have repeatedly swerved any and all attempts made by contributors to introduce an element of community control into this website. After all, AS is its community - not its moderators. You were chosen initially as a long-standing member that had the respect of the community. I think you've lost that respect. And I'd like to vote Dave_Q in to replace him. From what I've seen he's done a great job of remaining impartial on the other forum, and he's been a member of our community for years.

Oh really? Which one is it?

Oh, well done for missing the point entirely. Threads are ALREADY getting closed because a small cabal of self-important people have decided how we should interact so that nobody can possibly be offended. Now you might not be bothered, but I remember when this used to be one of the most laid-back forums out there. And I'm becoming increasingly disgusted with the direction it's heading in.

He's a little monkey, isn't he? A benefit to the community, I'm sure. I'd added him to 'ignore' though, I wouldn't have noticed his amusing little cabaret if you hadn't quoted him

Sorry Grumpius, I'm not going to watch random yank videos. I've already tried explaining that. If you want to actually discuss this matter feel free to post your opinion.

OK then, looks like you aren't prepared to actually debate this issue. Here's a video for YOU then...

^ Soz, I gave up on that after 27 seconds (that I won't get back) because I can't see how it's applicable to the issue at all. Also, it's unpleasantly cheesy in a transatlantic way that doesn't gel with me at all. Do you not think that people ignoring threads that may offend them is a good idea, especially since it doesn't impose social constraints on others that might not be so thin-skinned?

Which proves that it can be done, if people behave like adults. I've been a member of this community for about 8 years now, I'd much prefer to stay here. Also, I feel morally obliged to give the whining cunts both barrels... It's certainly not a democracy at the moment. I'm not blaming the mods for this, but if they organised A POLL about how people wanted the site to be run then they wouldn't have to worry about people whining to them all the time... the majority will have spoken. Unless it ends up like a certain word beginning with B, of course... lol

Seriously, though... two of the most important social issues in Britain today are B****t and the Shamima Begum citizenship debate. And we're not allowed to have an opinion of either of them on the "Open forum", because they involve politics. And possibly religion, maybe even race. So what's better? To disagree about currrent issues, perhaps, or to be BANNED FROM EVEN DISCUSSING THEM? For fuck's sake.

OK then, I have a suggestion. Revoke the no politics, no religion, etc. rule - it doesn't work, and forces people into a deeply unrealistic minefield of self-policing with no strictly-defined borders... then we mention the naughty subject matter in the thread title, e.g. "CAUTION contains politics" so that these egregious perma-huffers don't get hot under their collars? You know, then they could just IGNORE THE FUCKING THREAD. Then we could get back to dealing with stuff like we used to do, without having these pathetic, dripping-wet petals constantly sighing and tutting and demanding that we all conform to their peevish Victorian social standards. Or maybe we could create an entirely new part of the forum for them, with nice primary-colour pictures of Red cars, and Blue cars, and with all the edges covered in strips of foam so they don't bang their little heads when having a tantrum? Oh, and there'll be strictly no naughty words in there, of course. They must be protected.

I am getting really fucking sick of the Professionally Offended getting illuviated man-cunts about stuff they could just fucking ignore. Simply put, these perennially-whining tossers are ruining the forum. If it's got to the point where we can't even discuss an automotive factory closure (ffs!) because it might stray too close to the strictly forbidden subject of politics, then this place has run its course. Mods, can you start naming & shaming these hand-wringing CUNTS so we can post them many, many Argos catalogues please? Ta muchly.

Did you at least badly draw a penis on the door whilst you were in there?