Let me preface this by saying that I'd be upset if you leave this forum Darrin. Your posts are enjoyable,funny and interesting. I also love making fun on your headtube length.
But, it was most certainly in bad taste to bring up starting another forum when I was obviously trying to build this one up a bit. I do not see your point about MTBR or Singletracks as they are not a Tampa Bay area forum. If you need to start a forum where you have more control of your charity work and group ride schedule then I say go for it brother. I will request that you take these damn roadies with you though.......jk.
In my strong opinion the forum activity has dropped off due to a hostile environment that surfaces at times. People would often come on to the shout box and then get run off by jokes,that were sometimes hard to tell were jokes (ie Luis). I am guilty of taking things a little to far with people I know or have met. I think at times mm may have honestly thought we hated him cause he rides a Trek. When I met mm I was glad that I cleared things up with him as he could pop me like a pimple.
I thought that proedge was gonna end up having a heart attack over the squeaking Specialized comments. I sure am glad we started playing nice cause his videos have no doubt brought a lot of attention to our trails,the club and TripleT's alter ego (Bono).
The MAIN reason for the slow down in my strong opinion would be the meltdowns that have occurred when someone, who is only guilty of using a common expression, some very non-offensive analogy, a slight mistake or nothing at all, is delivered the online beat down from the super-hyper sensitive. I have witnessed these meltdowns get to the point of personal insults and even calling people out to a parking lot brawl (not to be mistaken for BillT's parking lot brawl with his own bike). I really glad we didn't get to the point of being like 15 yr old youtube commenter
Seems like most of us have no interest in being in this forum if that is allowed to take place. I myself, took a break from the forum due to the nonsense that was taking place. Since I'm pointing the finger I may as well point it at myself by admitting that I enjoyed baiting the hyper sensitive but even if I wasn't the actual source I was still a contributor to the bad atmosphere......well, according to Slowfatguy
. eclark may make his feelings known about people who complain about the trails and don't work on them, or people who start other bike groups with rides that conflict with workdays but I personally don't agree that he is dragging down the forum (maybe he'll wave at me from his road bike now).
As for this "overmoderation" I keep hearing about I have to say that I may have only been affected by such a thing a few times out of over a thousand posts (note to self: get a life). Typically I type out a long comment to find that the thread is locked when I go to post it. While that can be annoying I am often able to see the reason for locking or deleting. 98% of the time I agree that the mods did the right thing and sometimes it seems as if they are just stopping stuff before it has the chance to attract the super-hyper sensitive. I'd much rather them go a little overboard then let things get to the point of people hurl personal insults.
We're here to have fun, debate bike related stuff, pick on each others bikes, put in some e-miles in the shout box, get tips, and then meet up Sat(note that I said "Sat" Darrin) to do it all over again face to face
The forum helps keep me interested in mtb'ing as I have a tendency to ride the couch more than my bike. Now start posting some interesting things you slackers!
Topic: Lurking (Read 4552 times)