Ive not been a member here for very long, so I dont pretend to be qualified to comment, but I will try and give my opinion. This might be a long one!
Firstly, its a shame that Wayne & Kathy have decided to move on, and I for one respect their wishes. But thats happening so...
Ive been closely invloved with 2 websites. The first one I was an writer/moderator, and it was hard work being a writer forum user AND a moderator. Almost impossible to remain friends with the majority. The second site I actually owned the domain, and it was so much hard work that I evetually gave up entirely.
Forums are a funny thing. The more popular they get, the more trouble seems to be stirred up, but yet the more stable forums are quieter, and far less fun. There isnt a way around this rule, which says that the more users you have, the more personalities will crash.
If I may offer my opinion, Cliosport ISNT just a car club...thats the whole point. It has a prospering online community...a forum populated by all types of people who might not get on in a real life scenario, and might not ever meet. The line between club and site is blurred.
Some of them will never meet - most of us have different ideas about what is, or isnt, good reading. Some people start complaining that thread x is boring, or thread b is insulting, yet they still read...the complaints grow, and so do the responses. People get pissed off, yet they often forget that the alternative is a quiet forum. Its entirely normal that as a forum gets more popular, trouble stirs, and eventually it gets closed. Then.......those that were complaining suddenly realise that they needed it, and are bored without it.
So you reach a point, where as the forum community grows, the mods have to increasingly clamp down. I can utterly understand that things change - websites dont just appear - they require constant attention. There are always people behind the scenes tweaking this or modifying that. Things break, servers go down, things have to be fixed. I would imagine the vast majority of users here log-in and have a quick read or retort, and then log-out without a second thought of the effort and the work that goes into providing them with that service. Im guilty of this as much as the next man.
Software is an issue too. There have been comments about banning people. You cant just ban people. Your forum software has to support real banning, and theres all sorts of considerations - static/roaming IP address, web based or static email address etc. You need web savvy people to help with tech issues...Id doubt any of the admins here are code crazy web geeks, so again it all comes down to hard work.
Ive been a victim of two web communities crashing and burning, but I like to think Ive now found a new place to be when Im sat at my PC, so lets hang out and chill out. To the guys complaining about certain things...consider the alternative.
Much respcet to everyone involved in the running of the site. I for one know how much work it can involve, and Ill certainly be taking that into consideration more from now on.
Peace out
