Question for the management and forum

[Angrydicky]

Funny enough i signed up to a Escort forum last night after spending ages looking for one, After posting some photos of my Mk3 i started to get snotty replies about me trying to sell it on the forum... (WTF?!) and then some wise guy posted this.

 

dont like 4 doors anyway lol,old fudders family cars and do nought for me, so no likey here.

 

So I've decide that they can poke it, I'm in two minds to delete my posts on there as well.

 

That sounds exactly like another (Essex based) "classic car" forum I signed up to last year. Sadly it's 95% OSF, I tried posting some pictures of the Maestro and just got a load of "OMG MEESTRO LUKS WELL GAY MY GRANDAD HAD 1 LOL GIV ME A CAPRI ANYTIME LOL". So I logged out and haven't been back since.

 

I think this deleting posts thing is utterly daft though - are they trying to make a point?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think moderating the site is a bad thing, if the members are 'grown ups' they ought to be able to moderate themselves, which in 95% of cases they do I reckon. As soon as you start 'moderating' its an admission that the members are not capable of restraining themselves to only post up worthwhile stuff. I think everyone should moderate themselves!

 

As for sub sections, I think the forum is better without these as well, but only if everyone can keep it on topic. As soon as one person starts posting up OT stuff, its a fact that several more will, and we'll end up with a forum about pets/holidays/politics/which is your favourite brand of instant noodles, with the occasional car nugget chucked in somewhere. This is a certainty and would spell certain death for the forum, except for the half-dozen members who would be filling it with spam day in day out. Who is going to bother taking a load of pics, or doing a load of scans or whatever, if their thread is bumped off after a few hours by drivel about 'OMG which member of the Sugababes would you do first LOL!!????1111?'

 

I would almost support an OT sub-section, if only because its a dustbin for rubbish posts to be put straight into, so that they dont dilute the rest of the forum. Much llike the GOM thread in fact, which, tellingly, gets 50% more hammer than any other thread on here.

[retrogeezer]

Funny enough i signed up to a Escort forum last night after spending ages looking for one, After posting some photos of my Mk3 i started to get snotty replies about me trying to sell it on the forum... (WTF?!) and then some wise guy posted this.

 

dont like 4 doors anyway lol,old fudders family cars and do nought for me, so no likey here.

 

So I've decide that they can poke it, I'm in two minds to delete my posts on there as well.

 

 

Which one Trig??

[Justin Case]

I come in here to relax and to escape from a real world where almost everyone I know treats their cars with the same indifference as I treat my toaster. I love the tales of your adventures in otherwise unloved cars, whether in the workshop or on the road and spend too much time looking at the pics that some of you post (hoping to pay back a bit by sticking up one or two of my own from time to time )

 

I don't want too many rules or regulations or sub-divisions, they only stifle the forum, just a friendly atmosphere where we can enjoy ourselves but feel free to disagree in a light-hearted way or even let off steam, without it developing into a slanging match. I will continue to drop in here and just ignore the stuff that doesn't interest me; I suggest everyone else, including those who have stormed off does the same.

 

*Edit - I have just realised that I have gone against everything I believe in and posted a serious comment. Sorry folks

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I think moderating the site is a bad thing, if the members are 'grown ups' they ought to be able to moderate themselves, which in 95% of cases they do I reckon. As soon as you start 'moderating' its an admission that the members are not capable of restraining themselves to only post up worthwhile stuff. I think everyone should moderate themselves!

 

Exactly, and that's why I voted 'no'. However, I think that SOC, aside from making an excellent analogy, hit the nail on the head- bringing back the approval process would ensure that most of the new members are going to be grown-ups as well as used to the atmosphere of the forum, thereby minimising the potential for friction/need for subsequent moderation.

[Craig the Princess]

I think moderating the site is a bad thing, if the members are 'grown ups' they ought to be able to moderate themselves, which in 95% of cases they do I reckon. As soon as you start 'moderating' its an admission that the members are not capable of restraining themselves to only post up worthwhile stuff. I think everyone should moderate themselves!

 

Exactly, and that's why I voted 'no'. However, I think that SOC, aside from making an excellent analogy, hit the nail on the head- bringing back the approval process would ensure that most of the new members are going to be grown-ups as well as used to the atmosphere of the forum, thereby minimising the potential for friction/need for subsequent moderation.

 

 

As a fairly n00b I could be wrong here, but weren't most of the recent problems caused by two senior members (one of which leads the board on posts on his old account) having a falling out? Now perhaps this was a result in the change of atmosphere, but I think it's a bit more that people who don't rub together too well over a serious period of time winding each other up. As was previously said using the "Foe" button or just ignoring what you don't like would save more problems than moderation (and cause fewer new problems). As a fairly n00b I could be wrong here, but weren't most of the recent problems caused by two senior members (one of which leads the board on posts on his old account) having a falling out? Now perhaps this was a result in the change of atmosphere, but I think it's a bit more that people who don't rub together too well over a serious period of time winding each other up. As was previously said using the "Foe" button or just ignoring what you don't like would save more problems than moderation (and cause fewer new problems).

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

As a fairly n00b I could be wrong here, but weren't most of the recent problems caused by two senior members (one of which leads the board on posts on his old account) having a falling out? Now perhaps this was a result in the change of atmosphere, but I think it's a bit more that people who don't rub together too well over a serious period of time winding each other up.

 

That's true, but my impression is that the member in question also tried to 'reinvent' his forum persona in a rather unsuccessful way! Would've been more bothersome doing that with an approval process in place.

[Cavcraft]

Just to chip another pennysworth in but what might work (though would be a right bleeding pain to sort out I concede) is that any potential new members have to 'prove' themselves before being allowed to join.

Not on about a 300 word essay or owt like that but maybe if they had to pm their username name on at least two or three other forums first someone could have a quick scan to see if they're wind up merchants or trouble causers or whatever?

That might also stop winkers like Mikey and the general spammers/scammers who try and sign up. I accept it'd be a pain as said and it's not guaranteed to work but it would help I think.

 

Message over, I'm off to day dream about driving a Cavalier automatic.

[Polystratus]

I think moderating the site is a bad thing, if the members are 'grown ups' they ought to be able to moderate themselves, which in 95% of cases they do I reckon. As soon as you start 'moderating' its an admission that the members are not capable of restraining themselves to only post up worthwhile stuff. I think everyone should moderate themselves!

 

Once you start appointing members as moderators, sorry to say the control freak factor always kicks in, seen it before in forums, despite said 'mods' promising to be 'fair', threads get instantly deleted or locked just because someone missed a full stop. The result is you get a forum which is 'dead' , I know several non-car forums like this.

 

This place manages itself quite well though without too much heavy handed moderation which is why I like it. I don't really live for forums like some, just the occasional post - most of my time is spent with my cars.

 

That sounds exactly like another (Essex based) "classic car" forum I signed up to last year. Sadly it's 95% OSF, I tried posting some pictures of the Maestro and just got a load of "OMG MEESTRO LUKS WELL GAY MY GRANDAD HAD 1 LOL GIV ME A CAPRI ANYTIME LOL". So I logged out and haven't been back since.

 

Thats why I didn't bother with Practical Classics forum anymore due to ' If it's not a MGB it's not a classic' and 'it'll never be a classic' sort of member

[theorganist]

I don't think there should be regular moderation, just someone to interject on the rare occassions that threads turn bad. With the threads that got "out of hand" it just became an argument.

 

It is a real shame the Tayne and Scooters have gone as they alway had interesting and funny points to make, certainly it Scooters case it was close to bullying.

 

Thats why I didn't bother with Practical Classics forum anymore due to ' If it's not a MGB it's not a classic' and 'it'll never be a classic' sort of member

 

I had an e-mail from them the other day asking if I would feature the Renault 14 on readers rides.

 

Who is going to bother taking a load of pics, or doing a load of scans or whatever, if their thread is bumped off after a few hours by drivel about 'OMG which member of the Sugababes would you do first LOL!!????1111?'

 

Amelle definately!!

[Guest]

The forum is currently having the same problem that many end up having, in that few people can be bothered actually posting up some worthwhile content as it'll just get drowned in a load of non-threads and end up off the front page after a day or two.

 

It's not anyone's fault per se and I'm not sure what seems to cause it, but ultimately the forum ends up in a situation where people can't be bothered, but they want to keep their hand in, so the forum ends up being a cycle of "What is your opinion of this?" type threads where a load of people reply one after another and no one really learns anything other than somebody's taste, possibly accompanied by some Google Images pictures we've all seen a dozen times before. A lot of the best and most informative threads often aren't engineered in a way that you can make much of a reply to - someone could do an enormous potted history about the history of the Sierra (for example) and often all you can say to that type of thread is "I found that interesting, cheers". A lot of the most interesting threads are like that, but once a forum ends up busy enough, there's so many non-threads in attendance to scroll it away after a day and leave them wondering why they bother trying (even if it was actually well-liked).

 

I also think that once a forum has been in that stage for so long, some people start to think that other people really care about their personal opinions on things, which inevitably leads to arguments. If people are just posting content, this doesn't happen much, because personal opinions aren't as valuable when it's just a load of people sharing info. It also brings out the different sense of humour in some people - some are a bit edgy, some are easily offended, things happen. Not really anybody's fault, it just seems to be that way - if people are mutually posting/discussing content, the friction isn't quite as obvious.

 

My view is that moderation should generally be lax - like Bollox says, we're adults and should be able to moderate ourselves. The whole PUSIDRY debacle was ridiculous, why should we need moderators to make us not post in a completely rubbish thread? That could have sunk without trace if it was completely ignored, instead it ended up being one of the most popular threads on the forum with people all swearing at a 12-year-old boy. Great stuff! If anyone asked me at that time if I knew of any general old crap car forums to go on, I'd have said no as I wouldn't want them to think I was an idiot. I can see why the site owners don't really pop on very often.

 

As-is, I'm sticking on here but I'm only around to see what's going on as there's some people on here I get on with, I can't be bothered looking through everything in the hope of finding a half-decent post so I might have to miss the odd thing. People might have a dig at my posting content on an alternative and much quieter forum, but it feels more worthwhile. I really hope this place does turn into something good again. The eBay thread is still probably the best thing on the Internet, so it's not like the place isn't worth salvaging. But my experience of forums is that it'll probably just be in a cycle where a popular member angrily leaves over something, a brief panic followed by a couple of days good content, before the forum settles back into its old ways and it repeats all over again.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I love the eBay tat thread and agree its the best thing on any forum anywhere.

 

I find it a great pleasure to scour the bay for desperate old shitboxes, total idiots and solid gold mental cases, and post them up here for folk to laugh at, some bank holidays i've sat on the sofa drinking a glass or two of wine and spent almost the shole day doing that!!!

[Alexg]

I love the eBay tat thread and agree its the best thing on any forum anywhere.

 

I find it a great pleasure to scour the bay for desperate old shitboxes, total idiots and solid gold mental cases, and post them up here for folk to laugh at, some bank holidays i've sat on the sofa drinking a glass or two of wine and spent almost the shole day doing that!!!

 

Me too - Its what I do every evening whilst the Mrs watches Corrie/Eastenders/Corrie etc.

 

 

Just to chip another pennysworth in but what might work (though would be a right bleeding pain to sort out I concede) is that any potential new members have to 'prove' themselves before being allowed to join.

.

Reminds me of this

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7080

[alf892]

Well I have gone for the No vote......Polystratus is bang on.

 

Surely if a post is shit it will just get ignored and die? Thats the best moderation although the PU51 thing did kind of shake my beief in this a bit I think a lesson has been learned.

 

On the posting thing I tend to say nothing.....unless I have something to say. I am also lazy. I am aware this does not help BTW.......will try harder!

 

There are quite a few 'characters' on here and observing the dynamics between them is good. I thought Pog was a good fella (met him at Stondon) and was really surprised ehen he changed into RP and lost his sense of proportion. Was also very surprised when Tayne copped the hump so rapidly and did the off.....again a decent fella.

 

There is no doubt there are a few posts that are there to provoke responses........when this happens just BREATHE........then post!

[Timewaster]

I love the eBay tat thread and agree its the best thing on any forum anywhere.

 

+1 Although I would like a seperate thread for all the Eurozone shite.

 

I think all the teddy throwing is probably over - although I thought that just before Tayne threw in the towel.

I'm sure they are all lurking on here, muttering bitterly that the forum didn't collapse without them.

[HBR]

Well I've voted for better moderation, but by that I mean just that: BETTER, who would'nt want it to be better?! So that means for me it's fair, not heavy handed, & by its very presence it makes itself little used as folk know what's appropriate & more importantly what doesnt belong & will require action by the mods.

I'm on a few other car forums & the sub sections work well & are definatly a benefit but here I agree with what many have said, this place is different, we come on here for a relaxing wander about, stumble upon something unexpected about some old car you aint thought of in years. At most I'd think an off-topic section might be ok, I've just posted in Luxo's thread about fitting a modern radio & that's the kind of thing I'd think might belong there. It relates to running an old car & as such will be of interest to folk on here but is'nt really about odd old motors itself. I dont think we need an off-topic section for stuff like the weather, your pet hamster, how the NHS is run or whatever else becasue I dont see a place for them at all here!

 

But that's just my thoughts & I'm still a noobie here, & saying that Trigger says it's gone downhill this past few months, is it me?!! Is it all my fault? Aww gawd I'm sorry!!!!!

[trigger]

I love the eBay tat thread and agree its the best thing on any forum anywhere.

 

I find it a great pleasure to scour the bay for desperate old shitboxes, total idiots and solid gold mental cases, and post them up here for folk to laugh at, some bank holidays i've sat on the sofa drinking a glass or two of wine and spent almost the shole day doing that!!!

 

And me, why do you think my post count is so high!, I have no life, It's true, thats why i spend it all on here.

[Formula Autos]

Is anyone brave enough to give us a quick round up of what happened in and around THAT Saturday?*

 

I don't get on here as much as I'd like and am a bit confused as to what exactly happened. For instance it took me a few days to realise that Revolting Peasant was, in fact, a regenerated Pogweasel, as I'd missed a few days on here.

 

Any chance of a round up of who exactly seems to have left? Scooters, Pog/RP, Tayne, and perhaps Leonard Hatred/Milford Cubicle all seem to have left. Have I missed anyone else?

 

*without going down the route of apportioning blame, please.

[Cavcraft]

RP/LH left, one 'officially' one 'unofficially' . New forum started, toys all over the floor. Unfortunately Scooters and Tayne went too because they'd had enough.

[freebird]

I have a theory. The recent turmoil is more to do with membership criteria than moderation.

 

I know that sounds a bit odd, but bear with me..

Think back to the "old" forum, and how hard it was to get approved for membership - you needed approval from a moderator to join, the mods are largely absent and it could take weeks before you could post, and often you needed another autoshiter to plead on your behalf, or join and post in a special purgatory forum to gain membership. This, obviously, takes some effort on the new member's part and only those truly dedicated to the cause succeeded. Result? Nice, cosy slow forum with good content and (mostly) good atmosphere. Kind of like a village pub in a way.

 

Now, the new forum. Easy, instant access for anyone who stumbles across us with google. Spambots, trolls, delusional teenagers and all manner of rubbish can now me full posting members with only an email address and about a 20 second wait. Instant gratification, and no need to spend 3 weeks "mute" reading the place and wanting to join in, just wade in and annoy the regulars. It's like the village pub got bought by wetherspoons and they are busing in people from slough. Old Ted is really pissed off, he didn't finish his pint and he's taken his dominoes home with him.

And what happens when the old fellas start dying off? They have spent so long making anybody who walks through the door unwelcome, nobody goes to that little pub anymore, the conversation amongst those there is merely regurgitated old chod and, eventually the Pub closes..

I hadnt been through the door of the village pub 5 mins before i was made to feel very unwelcome, possibly coz i must of sat in somebodys seat, you know, the seat that is owned by somebody else even if they are not the landlord but think they own the f*****g place.

By all means vet the newbies, disect them, de flea them and waterboard them if you like but that wont mean that you will have the membership you crave, it may actualy mean you will be welcoming clones of yourself, people that wont bring to the forum the very new threads, banter and discussion some of you desire.

The joke is many who decried the behaviour of certain senior members behaviour never actually came forwards to voice their displeasure! Why? Beneath them was it?

It became very obvious to me that the forum had issues long before i turned up and having been a lurker and previous registered member ( under a long forgotton name ) way before most of you even found this place, I cant say im too suprised. I past alluded to the analogy that this forum, like many others, takes on a bit of a " Lord of the Flies" look, the bullied vanquished and whos left keeping their heads down or making everybody else laugh like the class joker, deflecting any possibility that they could end up in the firing line themselves. Everybody is blaming everything but nobody is blaming themselves, because just like the dying village pub, the regulars are split into the "dont cares" "dont want to get involved" " its the outsiders at fault" and best of all, " It was ok till we started letting outsiders in"

Is it worth me posting up the chod i photographed in Tunisia last year? Anypoint me starting threads to illicit pictures and discussion? Probably not, I think my card was marked as the "outsider at fault" which means dont snog, dont marry and deffo avoid. I actually think some of you are utter cowards, lamenting the departures of people who would not accept being bullied but had no balls to tell said bullies to wind their necks in. All a bit like the World we live in, eh? Some will step up to the mark and some will sit there hiding till the bombing has ended.

You want a bit of moderation on here? Cavette. I dont neccessarily agree with him but i respect his opinions, at least he has salient one instead of handwringing ones. Its unfortunate that some of you that have been welcoming to new members have been overwhelmed by the minority of shite who "run" the gaff.

OT subjects are a fact of life in any "community" just deal with it, if people post it wont die, if people ignore it it will. Whats so difficult about starting an "Off topic thread for all shite non car related?" It could run in the same way as the e'bay one, people post OT stuff on that particular thread without creating new ones. Simples.

Ladies and gentlemen, you reap what you sow.

[Pete-M]

Is it worth me posting up the chod i photographed in Tunisia last year?

 

Yes.

[Alexg]

Is it worth me posting up the chod i photographed in Tunisia last year?

 

Yes.

 

+244564

[greengartside]

It saddens me to read about the past two and a bit weeks played out on here and the 'walk-out' of some valued contributors.

 

I'm not big with words and I don't pretend that I am but I echo most of what you guys are saying on here in the sense of that things some people say can be taken out of context and it gets to certain people more than most. At the end of the day it's a forum where people come to have a chat and a laugh and things should never be taken so seriously as to start conflicts with others. If they don't like it then they should just disregard the post or sort it out via a moderator.

 

I like everyone else has a stressful life and the last thing I want to do is to go on here and see a load of guys being stressed and letting it out on other people for frankly what were silly sniping comments as far as I read. Please let's all just get along and bring some of the happy atmosphere back that I used to love.

 

Regarding sectioning the forum, that would be a bad idea - I prefer this layout where I can just scroll down and pick and choose what topics I can read with ease.

 

This forum can be great once more I believe, we all just need to regroup and carry on posting great stuff - and I hope in the future that the likes of Tayne and Scooters will find it in themselves to come back here and rejoin a great community.

[scaryoldcortina]

Freebird. Do you want some ketchup for that chip?

I take it you are the resident smart arse.

Well thats fucking told me!

Many thanks for your warm welcome to a newbie.

 

Doesn't make for endearing yourself to the regulars, who have had 6 months of total strangers swearing/fighting, trying to sell dodgy DVDs, asking where the bog is all the time and then vanishing again having contributed nothing. Ok, someone was a little tetchy with you. Big deal, move on.

 

I'm not against newbies - I've only been here a year myself, but I made some effort to fit in and not annoy the old boys too much (except bollox) I was just observing that the happy accident of it being almost impossible to register unless you were determined to join was what made the old Autoshite what it was. Don't forget we are not dealing with normal people. These folk think a Talbot Solara (Brown, beige trim) is an object of admiration, desire even. Sudden change is hard on them, and it is the regulars who "make" a forum. Newbies have to fit in, not want to change the place to suit themselves.

[Guest]

If you join a forum and people suddenly start cussing you out, you probably aren't doing it right. I lurked on this forum for about 6 months before I actually joined and had no problems slotting in, I'm sure many regulars did the same.

[Mr Lobster]

If you join a forum and people suddenly start cussing you out, you probably aren't doing it right. I lurked on this forum for about 6 months before I actually joined and had no problems slotting in, I'm sure many regulars did the same.

 

Exactly ^ Thats how it should be done. I'd suggest that there should be some sort of delay between people registering and being able to post - maybe a week just to give them the opportunity to get a feel for the place.

 

In terms of moderation - well thats up to HS & EL but the impression I get is that they are fairly happy with it. As grown 'adults' we should be able to moderate ourselves anyway not requiring some e-nanny to come along and correct us. The only comment I would say is that it might be better if any required moderation happened a bit quicker, the ridiculous PU51 thread should have vanished long before it did although if so many people hadn't kept feeding the obvious troll then it would have vanished anyway.

 

I think that late 2010 and Stondon was the high water mark for this forum in terms of quality, community and content. Things seem to have deteriorated since then. I'm not sure if thats a slow and terminal decline or a passing phase, I certainly hope its the latter as I do like this place. I've been at Prescott today and met another few 'shiters and had a great (if rather long) day and know that the vast majority of people here are proper enthusiasts and that this should and could get back to being a really great forum.

[trigger]

I was a lurker on here for a long while also, Then one day i saw a Humber Super Snipe i was selling on ebay appear in the Ebay tat thread so i commented on it and then got a bit carried away!, But I've never had a problem with anyone on here, I just abide with a saying a work mate tels me. FIFO. Fit in or f*ck off".

[Spottedlaurel]

I lurked on this forum for about 6 months before I actually joined and had no problems slotting in, I'm sure many regulars did the same.

 

What probably helped at the time when we joined was that a good few of us were familiar with each other from Retro-Rides and were just talking about a different side of our motoring tastes.

 

Likewise, I probably lurked for a bit before I got to grips with what was going on - it was a little baffling/intimidating...

 

Perhaps we should remember your words from long ago quoted in Pogweasel's signature, something like: "Autoshite is a hub of internatioanl activity, cunningly disguised as a dozen blokes talking about Talbot Solaras".

 

Anyway, as I'd rather let actions speak louder than words I'm going to update my neglected spottings thread. It has to be said that Flickr reaches a wider, more varied audience and is possibly more worthwhile on a views per effort basis, but there are some things which still need to be seen here.

[Mr Lobster]

but there are some things which still need to be seen here.

 

I've photographed TWO Matra Ranchos today. Photos tomorrow when I'm less tired though.

[KruJoe]

Oh no SL!

As you may remember, your Spotted's Spottings thread was what brought me here four years ago, and started me on my great spotting journey. What a superb thread that is (was?)

I can only hope and pray you see fit to resurrect it at some time in the future, if/when you have a little more spare time on your hands and if/when you feel the atmosphere becomes more receptive again.