BOTTLEFED
Enthusiast
Lee, you are right, I have no idea what it was like before I joined. I know that skews my opinion of what it is now and that those that were here before see it as ten times better than it was. On the other hand, I have been a member of countless forums, and am a moderator on a couple smaller forums than this, so I see it and compare it to the other big auto enthusiast sites (RX7club, Supraforums, NASIOC, etc) instead of how this site was a few years ago. I believe the biggest, most debilitating problem with this site is the involvement of the national club and Dodge itself.I'm going to call BS on this. You registered here in 2007, you have absolutely NOT a freakin' clue about how the site was run up to the time we changed management two years ago. Luc was dead right there.
Give some serious thought to WHY the Alley exists. It absolutely was created by a group that was so unhappy here that theyactually created another site. I joined the Alley as a Diamond member and spent a lot of time there as I was sorta unhappy myself. Given the opportunity with a couple other guys to reform this site and take it in a different direction I came back. We did that and you can ask ANYONE who was here before 2006 how different is is. Ask anyone who witnessed the "Great Bannings" in 2002 and you will really get an earfull. That's what created the Alley.
And more BS, you have never had a post pulled that you were not notified about, if that did happen then it was part of a larger thread removal with multipages that was too time consuming to notify EVERY poster, sometimes that happens at the reguest of removal by the original poster or it was removed due to someone elses misbehavior, not yours.
The policy is always to notify and I know that you and I had a fairly cordial conversation, at least it ended that way, about something of yours that was removed.
I know you are a mod on a couple otther sites and it really surprises me that having had that background you would go after us with comments like these, you have to know how hard it is to be a Sheriff on a board.
And yes this board is more heavily moderated than others, it's not just a board but a CLUB, and the board is looking to the future when we may have to support the club. So to that end we are fueling growth here, both in membership and $$. And we are succeeding.
228,000 views a day, 7 million a month. We specifically do NOT want to run off the newbs like "Anything Goes" does. Just the opposite.
So try not to worry that it ain't like the Alley or your sites, and talk too much and you just may find yourself being recruited to labor on the work force here.
You would probably be good at it.
This is one factor none of the other sites have to deal with - public relations. If the site wants to add an "adults only" section, they can. The site, itself, can determine the rules and policies. They can accept donations or rely on sponsors. Membership is as easy as giving a valid email and password. There is no special protection of "sponsoring vendors."
And there is NOT one site that I have come across that makes important user info, such as a How-to section, limited to paying members only. I can see limiting avatar, signature, and # of uploads, but to hide valueable public info from visitors is just ignorant and selfish. The writeups I write take a lot of time and energy. If I knew they would be taken off the main forums to be hidden away, I would never have written them (and I won't do it again unless something changes).
And yes, I have had posts removed without notice - the streetracing thread, to name one.
I have nothing against the mods on this site. You do not make the rules, you enforce them. As a moderator I have enforced rules I don't agree with. Yet I also know I have a voice to the site admins on what the rules I enforce should be. Maybe this doesn't apply so much to this national club, but it should. Good luck to you.
