Dragon
04-25-2008, 01:09 PM
I have taken the liberty of copying some posts to make up this topic, these are from a long HAMB thread about closing condolence-threads over there.
But they very much apply to and mirror our principles and guidelines here, as to off-topic and other personal posts on the main board, and to our Classifieds operations. Just subsitute "bikes" where they say "cars".
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posts by Ryan -
"Now, this post might seem defensive. It is... Because this place is personal to me. And as the guy that has ran the joint for a decade, I can tell you that it has done nothing but gotten better as a hot rod site. Just in the last month, we've had more important posts than this site had in it's first 5 years of existence. If people don't recognize those posts, maybe it's time for those folks to find another site.
My goal is not to build a place where a guy can find an excuse to "straight talk" or "put someone in their place". My goal is to build a site where people can talk about hot rods and customs. Frankly, I don't care too much about the other stuff.
If you do, this probably isn't the place for you.
If you don't like our direction, move on... Life is too short."
"I see it as a 50/50 problem:
50% - Some people just need to shut their pie holes. They need to stop complaining and post productively (rather than negatively) or leave. That's a real issue and one that's hard to grasp.
50% - I need to do a better job of catching posts that cause legitimate complaints and delete them without causing too much collateral damage.
In the end, this has always been a weekness of mine. I'm sick. Seriously. SICK. All I really care to read about is cars. I don't care to read some guy's diatribe about how things aren't right just the same as I don't really care to read about some guy's neighbor that just passed away. To me, that time is wasted when I could be reading or writing some of the pretty darn good content we have here.
It's a choice that we all have to make for ourselves I guess. I chose to read about cars and pretty much ignore everything else. Others like to get involved in other areas... Those "others" will never be satisfied with the hamb."
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post by Rashy, Classifieds moderator -
"I find it interesting that most of the people who complain are the same people who have little respect for the rules and want to bust our balls when they are treated like everyone else when they break a rule.
I'll admit I've become a WHOLE lot more "don't rock the boat-ish". And I'll tell you why.
Back in the day when there were 1,000 members it was easy to police this place and those members TOOK THE TIME to figure out the ins and outs of the joint. 10,000 members it got a little harder. It's a numbers game and more rules would get broken. Some members could understand and take the rules to heart and move on. Others had to really stir it up and waste a bunch of our time. Time I'd rather be spending doing something else. (don't get me wrong, if you need help with ANYTHING I am on it. If you want to bust my balls, you're barking up the wrong tree)
So, now that we have 40K plus members there is an overwhelming number of people who don't care/know/take the time to find out what made this place what it is today.
No way we can educate them all. They have to do it for themselves.
I'll tell you one thing that has gone way down since I came on board. Members policing members. We don't allow it in the classifieds because it causes too many other problems but a WELL THOUGHT OUT AND WELL WORDED reply to a post on the main board can make or break a new guy who just might have more to teach than we know..."
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**note this one is re closing "R.I.P." threads, when it's not re a member or a motorcycling icon, but a friend of a member, and/or who no one here knows.
post by Metalshapes, moderator -
"As one of the Mods that Closes these Threads now, I can tell you that we struggle with these things.
Because of the terrible situations people suffer with.
And we Close them instead of Deleting them so the other users still can find them and send P/Ms if they want.
I can honestly tell you that Closing these threads is not a pleasant task, but we have agreed to do this because there were just too many of them.
Not everybody will agree with why these Threads are being closed.
But we dont do this out of Callousness..."
----------------------------------------------
post by CorncobCoupe, Classifieds moderator -
"40,000 + members and be realistic about this guys that there is no way everyone is going to be happy with how or why things are done here.
Maybe sharing with you that as Moderators before anything gets closed or deleted we discuss with fellow Moderators if we should, or should not close anything unless it is plain as day obnoxious or off the wall.
Cars are what binds us all together.
Do we like to here someones life has been altered through tragic events etc. ?
No - we as moderators are saddened by it but with 40,000 members everyones life here has daily challenges and it would take over the focus from cars to people.
Does that make us cold hearted ?
To some yes - but 99% are here for the cars - lets be honest.
If everyone shared their daily struggles with life, it would over take the HAMB, plain and simple.
All of you have a choice to open a thread or not -
Make it what you want to make it, but lets just keep in mind that this is a
Old Hot Rod and Custom Car Web site and the focus is sharing cars.
Some times we close or delete threads - that's just the way it is."
---------------------------------------
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=246051&showall=1
-------------------------------------------------
.
But they very much apply to and mirror our principles and guidelines here, as to off-topic and other personal posts on the main board, and to our Classifieds operations. Just subsitute "bikes" where they say "cars".
************************************************** ******
posts by Ryan -
"Now, this post might seem defensive. It is... Because this place is personal to me. And as the guy that has ran the joint for a decade, I can tell you that it has done nothing but gotten better as a hot rod site. Just in the last month, we've had more important posts than this site had in it's first 5 years of existence. If people don't recognize those posts, maybe it's time for those folks to find another site.
My goal is not to build a place where a guy can find an excuse to "straight talk" or "put someone in their place". My goal is to build a site where people can talk about hot rods and customs. Frankly, I don't care too much about the other stuff.
If you do, this probably isn't the place for you.
If you don't like our direction, move on... Life is too short."
"I see it as a 50/50 problem:
50% - Some people just need to shut their pie holes. They need to stop complaining and post productively (rather than negatively) or leave. That's a real issue and one that's hard to grasp.
50% - I need to do a better job of catching posts that cause legitimate complaints and delete them without causing too much collateral damage.
In the end, this has always been a weekness of mine. I'm sick. Seriously. SICK. All I really care to read about is cars. I don't care to read some guy's diatribe about how things aren't right just the same as I don't really care to read about some guy's neighbor that just passed away. To me, that time is wasted when I could be reading or writing some of the pretty darn good content we have here.
It's a choice that we all have to make for ourselves I guess. I chose to read about cars and pretty much ignore everything else. Others like to get involved in other areas... Those "others" will never be satisfied with the hamb."
-----------------------------------------------
post by Rashy, Classifieds moderator -
"I find it interesting that most of the people who complain are the same people who have little respect for the rules and want to bust our balls when they are treated like everyone else when they break a rule.
I'll admit I've become a WHOLE lot more "don't rock the boat-ish". And I'll tell you why.
Back in the day when there were 1,000 members it was easy to police this place and those members TOOK THE TIME to figure out the ins and outs of the joint. 10,000 members it got a little harder. It's a numbers game and more rules would get broken. Some members could understand and take the rules to heart and move on. Others had to really stir it up and waste a bunch of our time. Time I'd rather be spending doing something else. (don't get me wrong, if you need help with ANYTHING I am on it. If you want to bust my balls, you're barking up the wrong tree)
So, now that we have 40K plus members there is an overwhelming number of people who don't care/know/take the time to find out what made this place what it is today.
No way we can educate them all. They have to do it for themselves.
I'll tell you one thing that has gone way down since I came on board. Members policing members. We don't allow it in the classifieds because it causes too many other problems but a WELL THOUGHT OUT AND WELL WORDED reply to a post on the main board can make or break a new guy who just might have more to teach than we know..."
-----------------------------------------------------
**note this one is re closing "R.I.P." threads, when it's not re a member or a motorcycling icon, but a friend of a member, and/or who no one here knows.
post by Metalshapes, moderator -
"As one of the Mods that Closes these Threads now, I can tell you that we struggle with these things.
Because of the terrible situations people suffer with.
And we Close them instead of Deleting them so the other users still can find them and send P/Ms if they want.
I can honestly tell you that Closing these threads is not a pleasant task, but we have agreed to do this because there were just too many of them.
Not everybody will agree with why these Threads are being closed.
But we dont do this out of Callousness..."
----------------------------------------------
post by CorncobCoupe, Classifieds moderator -
"40,000 + members and be realistic about this guys that there is no way everyone is going to be happy with how or why things are done here.
Maybe sharing with you that as Moderators before anything gets closed or deleted we discuss with fellow Moderators if we should, or should not close anything unless it is plain as day obnoxious or off the wall.
Cars are what binds us all together.
Do we like to here someones life has been altered through tragic events etc. ?
No - we as moderators are saddened by it but with 40,000 members everyones life here has daily challenges and it would take over the focus from cars to people.
Does that make us cold hearted ?
To some yes - but 99% are here for the cars - lets be honest.
If everyone shared their daily struggles with life, it would over take the HAMB, plain and simple.
All of you have a choice to open a thread or not -
Make it what you want to make it, but lets just keep in mind that this is a
Old Hot Rod and Custom Car Web site and the focus is sharing cars.
Some times we close or delete threads - that's just the way it is."
---------------------------------------
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=246051&showall=1
-------------------------------------------------
.