What has happened to this Forum ?

[mica]

I used to enjoy using this forum and was a regular contributor, receiving very useful information. Now when I visit, I find it has turned into a ridiculous chat room mentality, with insults and vulgarity. It seems that no matter what the question posed by genuine enquirers is, the tone of the forum is lowered by people ridiculing or downright insulting each other. Please, if you have nothing sensible to say, then don't say anything, or join a chat room where such conduct is condoned.

I for one, and I am sure there are many others, do not want to plough through all these inane comments, in the hope of reading a sensible solution to a problem.

I think the moderator should get tougher on those that are spoiling this site for genuine and sensible enquirers.

mica

<hr width=100% size=1>MICA

 

[aod]

As in all forums active contributors dictate patterns of change to suit what it is they think they want or need.

Personaly I find this forum very informative and entertaining and that is why I visit and read those messages that I choose to.

You also have the choice to either visit or not, and if the forum has evolved to the extent that it doesn't now meet your requirements, why don't you find another one that does?

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[Guest]

Seems a familiar thread ?

Few years back when the forum shut down due to hacking and then re-opened - there were similar comments then. I am not the oldest contributor - by a long way, but it seems to go in waves .... forgive the pun.
I find that often I am not 'spurred on' by most of the posts and then just as you start to think about leaving it .... up comes a 'juicy one' !!
There is another factor of course - One mans meat is another's poison .........


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[bedouin]

Are you referring to this forum (R2R) in particular or all the forums on this ite (e.g. SB)?

I would have agreed with your comments as applied to the boards (especially SB) a few months ago, but I think things have been improving a lot recently. I would particularly highlight that it is now comparatively rare for a serious post to be hijacked.

Forums evolve, that is their nature, and whether we realise it or not our attitude to them also changes as we pass from newbie, through regular, to old hack. A debate that seemed fresh and exciting first time we participated can get a bit boring on the tenth repetition.

It is also worth noticing that there is an annual cycle to sailing forums, with the number, style and tone of the posts changing with the changing seasons. Now we have arrived in October we can confidently predict that R2R will grow more practical as people address the annual maintenance tasks. Whereas SB is likely to get more diverse and chatty, possibly entering an almost manic phase in Jan/Feb and not really settling down again until the beginning of the new season in March/April.

Anyway I think the current ratio of good content to "chat room" is higher here than on many (most) forums and you do not have to read every post.

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[kimhollamby]

Health of the forums

The Reader to Reader forum generally looks after itself and I rarely have to intervene...99 per cent of questions seem focused and answers are refreshingly focused too.

There have been the instances of the VHF threads in the past few days that have been much more Scuttlebutt in approach and that perhaps has swayed the tone slightly. But you can be assured if it starts to look like RtoR is due for a little pruning then it will be done.

While I appreciate it is only me that is sensitive to the niceties, all forums were suspended for a period in 2001 to deal with a specific issue, namely identity theft. The previous incarnation allowed free and full posting without registration. Indeed it was something of an achievement that they lasted in that guise for so long (from 1997).

However it is also interesting to note that we have now got many more users, threads and posts since introducing some mild controls (ie registration) and the lesson is not lost on us.

I also very much welcome private feedback if you have any specific concerns and endeavour to answer most if not all PMs promptly.

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[onenyala]

I agree totally. I am finding I log on top the site less and less due to the amount of non informative rubbish which appears.

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[kimhollamby]

Please see my comments elsewhere in this thread...and please PM me with specific instances of things you think have changed as I am interested in feedback.

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[Guest]

Change happens because of posts ..

If the general trend is ...... it is because others post that way. If someone wants to start a trend ....then post.

The forum is only what contributors make it. Kim does a job in keeping us idiots in line - sometimes I think a bit harsh - sometimes I think he should slack off a bit ....... but honestly he does not dictate what you post - that is YOUR job as the postee.

The YBW gives us the opportunity to voice / ask / gybe / do a lot with a modern medium.

Complaints are a necessary factor along with genuine criticism etc. but we should avoid open ended statements that Kim is now trying to get detail for ......... Sorry to Kim if I stick my oar in ..... Kim will do all he can - but a little more help would be the call of the day. Remember that he also is human - I think you are Kim ????? well he will have opinions as well - but I think he will be generous enough to allow for that.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[ex-Gladys]

Re: Change happens because of posts ..

Wisdom from other forums (?fora?) "There's no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer"

<hr width=100% size=1>Larry Botheras

Anderson 26 "Amber"

 

[Spyro]

Mica
I am wondering who your remark is aimed at is it the forum administrator or the contributors. I am reletively new to boat ownership and have found this forum very helpful every question I have asked has been answered witha sensible answer or suggestion even people PM ing me and sending me e-mails with information There is always going to be lighthearted banter between friends this forum is as good a place as any for it. So I would suggest either you don't use the forum or be more selective with what you read I will be quite happy to use this forum for what I need and will continue to do so. Keep up the good work Kim

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[NigeCh]

Nothing has happened. Nothing has changed.

I've been around since IPC first gave us our 'free lunch' and it is free.

Here on the PBOBB the 99% tenure of all posts has been to ask practical questions and get back practical replies. Every now an again part of a thread goes AWOL and we all end up laughing at ourselves.

You may not agree with either the questions and you are more likely to disagree with the responses ... But so what? What you are saying is that you just want this BB to be a font of wisdom for you to pop in from time to time so that you can lift whatever shared knowledge, whether right or wrong, according to your whim.

Here's a vibrant place where info is still shared ... If you can't share and take part in the occasional bonhommie then that's your misfortune ... just as the Dying Flutchman is still roaming the seas trying to find himself.

Mica, (IMO) lighten up, learn how to share and learn how to grin



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[jimbouy]

As a newbie to YBW forums I have found them to be nothing but helpful and informative.


Jimbouy

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[AvanLoon]

Dear Mica,
Look at it as site visitors were the guys in the pub. When you ask something serious there, you'll get any advice that could provoke a laugh. But sometimes there is a bloke who understands what you really wanted.
You can turn your back to the humourists and have a beer with that single guy. Maybe you learn something, and often you only hear that he had/has the same problem.
After all, the whole atmosphere smells solidarity. Friends should sometimes laugh about each onther, and especially about theirselves!



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[Mudplugger]

Also as a newbie, I'll go with Jimbuoy, content ranges from informative to Hysterical ....have some difficulty in deciphering northern repartee on occasions, but overall helpful and humerous. Nice to know that there are other like minds floating about. TW.

<hr width=100% size=1>Tony W.

 

[LadyInBed]

If I have any thoughts on a subject, what I think - I say, like it or lump it.
If I give any info/advice that is incorrect, someone will jump on it and rip it to bits, that’s how we learn.


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[wishbone]

I for one enjoy most of the posts on this site, the bit of light hearted banta is needed now and again, even if it is aimed at serious post’s. No to stiff shirts, a little bit of fun is required, I thought sailing was for fun!! Or was it just for Christmas! Sorry was that for dog’s I’m getting high on varnish. If some of the post’s are followed, most of any personal remarks are made between people that know and meet each other. If you don’t like the tone of the forum, then you can vote with your finger and push the off button!!!!!no one is making you read what you don’t like..

Wishbone
“the cheeky cockney extradited to Barnsley, aye lad tha knows nowt ” which way is it to the sea???


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[mica]

Re: Health of the forums

Thanks Kim, I hope I did not give your the impression that you were not doing a good job, you are. My comments were aimed at the minority that change this useful site into a boring chatroom.

And to those that suggested I could vote with my fingers and press the off button... I often do, but when I see an interesting question, I find it timewasting and boring to have to read through the banalities between friends, in the hope of finding the sensible answers.

To the Newbies ...... yes, I have used this site often in the past and had some very useful advice, and answered questions where I have had a similar problem, therefore hopefully helping a questioner.

To those that wish to joke amongst their mates, go to the pub and do it, rather than fill this site with such rubbish.

You might think I am boring, but I see this site as a sensible font of knowledge to be shared. Long may it stay that way and the people wishing to exchange that knowledge not driven away by the chat room banter that takes over many threads. Not all threads are affected, but certainly a lot more than there used to be.

MICA



<hr width=100% size=1>MICA

 

[Guest]

Re: Health of the forums

The overall health of the forum is by its diversity.

That also means that some people view it in vastly different ways. I only know few on the forum and rarely get into 'banter' - yes it annoys sometimes, but that I think is because often I cannot share the hidden joke in it.

All posts are valid - whether you agree or not, whether you like or not ..... for you it is unwanted, for others they are happy to entertain and indulge.

I suggest leave it alone - otherwise you will become the 'flogging post' of some of those jokes !


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[jimi]

Re: Health of the forums

Hi Mica, Ive met and sailed with quite a few members of the forum and thoroughly enjoyed it sounds as if it'll be your loss by not being prepared to do similar.
I come from a rock climbing background where, in certain areas Schist, is associated with Mica as in Dunkeld , the Cobbler etc.. I also have a similar word association with this parteecular post!

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[kilkerr1]

I have to agree with Spyro, jimbuoy et al - as a new boat owner I've found that this forum (and Scuttlebutt, to a lesser extent, tho' I do find it hugely enjoyable and good for a giggle) is the single most useful source of info and suggestions for my many and varied queries and crises. The advice has been extremely helpful in many aspects of my boat ownership, from what sort of boat to buy to anchoring suggestions in the River Medway.

Yes, some users can highjack forums, offend, etc., but I think Kim has done a great job of balancing this forum's flexibility (i.e. allowing some silliness and highjinks) with it's usefulness as a place for serious discussion.

Cheers.


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