Suggestions to Stefan...and all other users

Stefan, how about we keep the off-topic discussion automotive-related? Grandma's Honda stuff is fine....but happy birthdays and pet subjects, things like that....after all, this is a Maverick/Comet site not a dog or cat site.

I don't care for the 'trader rating' thing either. It's kind of like Ebay....feedback profile. I can see where some might try to just buy & sell stuff to increase their rating.

Lastly, this if for everyone that uses the boards. There is a little button up top that is THE most useful part of the entire site. It's called "search". I can't count how many times I've come onto the board, searched for a particular subject, read the opinions (and most of them are just that...opinions, not factual) and left the site with the answer I needed....with NO new post. It takes less than 5 minutes to get all the answers you need in most cases, whereas it can takes days or weeks to get a definete answer (if you even get one of those) by posting a new subject. Many times, the same subject has been discussed in detail before. Example, 351w swap headers

I am a paid member of another message board....if a particular "new post" has been discussed before in detail, and I start a new thread, the new thread is deleted almost instantly. Saves bandwidth. Plus, I usually get an answer VERY quickly. Also, if you can't find an answer, there is always the PM button....PM your favorite member who is in the know and ask them....most of them are eager to answer questions as best we can.

 

The only thing I would ad is that I like the trader ratings. I sell parts from time to time, and I occasionally get a potential buyer who wants to check out if I am legit or not. Can't blame them....nobody wants to fire off a money order just to be ripped off. I can now show them my mmb "feedback" and it takes care of the situation.

 

Time for me to take the bully pulpit. These thoughts will be in no particular order.

1. In a forum like this, people will and do become friends. Conversations tend to take place between groups of people. And, as it is with any other group dedicated to a specific cause, i.e. a church, Weight Watchers, bowling leagues, 12-step groups, etc., somethimes people talk about other things than just subject matter specific to that group. "I'm sorry Tom. I can't discuss the footbal game here at the Optimists meeting. We'll have to go to the staduim to talk about football." Doesn't that sound totally stupid? The off-topic forum takes care of that. Leave it.

2. Rules and the enforcement thereof come as result of very few, somethimes only one or two, not behaving and not being responsible. We had a episode recently, where someone got their shorts so knotted it affected his brain and he tried to lock out another user. We've had a couple get indignant and a little too personal, mostly due to selfishly waging a self-perceived war. These situations were resolved quite well.

However, as a result and as happens with society and ruling bodies, more stringent enforcement of the rules (and what only seems to be additional rules) was determined to be the cure. Going from leniency to strict adherance will always be interpreted as punishment and reprimand. There will be negative responses. In time, things will get back to a sense of normalcy.

I'd like to suggest that the moderators function, in a modified way, as the code enforcement officers of my county operate. Due to the small staff and large population, the code officers only respond to and check out complaints. They simply do not have time to go looking for violations and somewhat take the approach that if no one is complaining, then things must be okay. I feel Stefan functioned this way to a very great extent. But, he has increased staff and situations are able to be corrected before anyone can complain. However, there is one small flaw in only acting on complaints. That flaw is that there will always be some moron whose agenda is "more important" than anyone else's and some sanctimonious schnook that insists there be the strictest enforcement of the rules - the same group will be constantly complaining. They will beed to be taken with a grain of salt.

3. I watched the Galaxie club's participation decrease as a result of a very few abusers and some anal retentives on the e-mail loop. Abusers were dealt with, but the insistance of a very adament few that only Galaxie stuff be on the loop drove several away, including me. Probably only 12-15 regualrly participate on that loop. The attitudes carried over to the club and the leadeship and as I result, I even dropped out of the club. It is just not a fun place. As a result, a forum that distances itself from the club is now more popular.


4. People should be trusted to do the right thing until they prove that they cannot. Participants of this forum should be free to be self-responsible until such time they show they are not. A few rules are required, a very few. I think the rules can be summed up thusly:
A. This is a forum for the 70-77 Mavericks and Comets.
B. Do your best to place your topic of discussion in the appropriate section and follow the rules of that section, especially the for sale section.
C. Anything not Maverick/Comet related goes in the off-topic section.
D. Be ladies and gentlemen, being courteous and considerate to all.
E. Indifferences and disagreements between participants should go the PM or e-mail route.
F. Remember to have fun and keep this place fun.

What other rules do we need?

That's my nickel's worth.

 

Well said Terry. You get a gold star by your name (Stefan, is that possible?)

 

Thanks Ray, but money will suffice.

 

well said Terry.

 

terry, i agree with all but one point... as we saw in another post these were made "public"...frank...
E. Indifferences and disagreements between participants should go the PM or e-mail route...

 

Terry hit it on the head. This place has been getting way to Nazi ran for me to lately.

If a topic gets out of hand someone should bring it to the attention of the moderators and it should be locked. If one of the people involved decide to start a new topic about it, it should be deleted and that person should get a sharp warning (in private, such as PM or email).

One other thing that makes this place so great to me is the fact that someone can start a topic about something that has been answered before, and get it answered all over again without people moaning to search about it like so many other forums I'm on. Alot of the time new things have came about since the last time it was talked about and the new thread ends up with mostly diffrent answers then before. That just adds to the whole database of information here. Take the seatbelt interlock threads lately. I think that is a prime example. It never had a definate answer before, but a few members took the time recently to figgure it out once and for all and nailed it up on the wall, "this is what you do to by pass it".

I think the majority have been speaking there mind here lately, and the few are saying that ain't gonna happen because there are rules against it. Yea, there are rules. But where would you be right now in your life if you got in trouble for every law or rule you have broken. I personally think they should be "guidelines" more then "rules".

This is a community of people that like Mavericks and Comets. I enjoy talking about Mavericks and Comets. I drive one daily and it's nice getting answers to my questions without haveing to search through 500 previous posts about it to get the exact answer I'm looking for.

I also enjoy talking about things other then just Mavericks and Comets all the time with other people that like Mavericks and Comets and judgeing by the people that have left lately, I would say I'm not the only one.

I think there should be a certain margin of things that just need to be left alone, like happy birthday posts in the general section.

If you have a question or want to discuss something that in no way shape or form has anything to do with Mavericks or Comets, like why your VW beetle won't start, it should go in the Off Topic section. Not sure why some people have such a hard time figgureing that out. Common sence.

There are going to be conflicts now and then, it's bound to happen when you got hundreds of people posting messages on one forum. They should be delt with and lets move on like I said above.

Just my opinion, and I'm sure theres plenty wrong with it, and I don't always stick to it. But in general..

 

I agree with Stefan...

 

Stefan, what is wrong with the happy birthdays going in the general? I thought we were one big happy family of mav/com people here and as such this topic is very mav/com related. Or since we have so many Maybe you could change one of those seldom used forums into a birthday forum.

Also I can't believe we can't sell other things in the sale area. What If I want to sell my f-250, there could be any number of people that might need a truck and I'm giving some one in my mav/com family a chance to get it. We all don't just have mav/coms to drive and we might need something another one of us has.

And lastly I thought other than a very small amount of times we did a good job policiing ourselves. I don't remember very much ever really getting out of hand enough to warrant the need of people watching our every post to see what might be against the rules. I really think it should go back to the way it was before. JMO thanks, Ward