This is sad. I too drifted away from Landracing.com months ago. That wasn't
really a conscious decision on my part. I guess it just stopped being fun
as I look back on it.
But I can understand Jon's dilemma. It's difficult to be a hard nosed
moderator on a forum you sponsor without hurting some of your customer base.
"The customer is always right" just doesn't mix with being a hard nosed
forum moderator. Especially when your business has serious competition.
That's not a problem here. But the downside of our format is that we have
no way to post files and pictures here. Sure one can write an article for
Jon but that's a project that takes a lot more time and really requires that
you have some authority behind your effort....i.e. you know what you're
talking about. Also there has to be a decent audience for your effort.
The Yahoo group format for all it's technical shortcomings is pretty good
for posting comments, photos and computer files like Word files, Excel
spreadsheets and Autocad .dwg's. There the commercial side of the forum is
often limited and moderators can wield a lot more power. I've seen lots of
cases where in some forums people posting are simply blocked due to
obnoxious behavior especially after being warned. Being a forum moderator
and running a hobby related business just don't mix. I do know of one very
talented guy in another hobby who runs a small business and moderates in the
forum as well. Even he stays on the soft side and lets the other moderators
dump on anyone who gets out of line.
Fortunately we have a few of the senior SCTA, USFRA and ECTA guys over here.
Kind of a civilizing influence. Like "Don't get City Hall mad at you".
Ed Weldon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dale Krumheuer" <dmirror3@yahoo.com>
To: "DougOdom" <dlodom@charter.net>; "LandSpeed List"
<Land-speed@autox.team.net>; "group" <ectalsr@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 12:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Land-speed] Landracing.com forum
> I don't blame Jon a bit. I've been on many forums over the years and have
learned more than I ever expected to learn. For all of the positive, I am
thankful for the extraordinary amount of talent, wisdom, knowledge and good
intentions, willingly shared and without agenda.
> I have also learned of the negative side, from the few that feel that
their unique opinion, usually laden with sarcasm and criticism, should
matter and be broadcast. They truly believe that their experience, opinions,
observations, condemnation, sarcasm and ultimately ignorance is of benefit
to others on the forum.
> If you ever wondered why there are so many Lurkers, this topic is is the
explanation. Why speak when you stand the chance of being jumped on ?
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