Quote:
Originally Posted by TiltonBB
It seems to me that the Webmaster does a good job keeping the focus of the site on the Lake's Region. It is a thankless time consuming job which does not give him a salary. Most people have no idea how much time he spends correcting grammar, removing problem people, or deleting what we would consider spam.
There is a tab on the site to contribute and I have done so. I wonder how many people who complain (Or have no complaints) have offered their financial support to help keep the site going? If you enjoy the site, please consider it.
When the posts head off into an area that may be controversial I understand why he closes them out. For over 20 years the Webmaster has made it clear that he does not want threads to become arguments and he has taken the appropriate steps to keep that policy in place.
There are plenty of online places to post your thoughts or have your arguments. This is not that place.
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FWIW, I have two close friends who own forums. Those forums have Admins and Moderators. Those folks help to maintain the direction of the forum. Point is, help is available to forum owners should they choose to seek it out.
In your example, limiting the arguments, politics and bickering is totally understandable.
What about the topics that don't result in arguments?
How about the artists on the forum that no one will ever know about because we can only post reviews about restaurants?
Or how about the craftspeople who simply want to be able to share the work they are proud of?
We have motorsports enthusiasts, creative types, technical people, artists, musicians...does any of the forum talent get recognition? No because it's not a sunset, a restaurant, a drunk captain, a wake boat, loud music or the lake speed limit.
I posted a boat repair thread a while back. It was locked for whatever reason. I asked why it was locked (so I didn't make the same mistake) and suddenly it was unlocked. No information provided whatsoever but I stopped posting in that thread because of that experience.
I love motorcycles. I'd enjoy sharing that passion with others on this forum by posting group rides or upcoming trackdays or race weekends but I don't because it's not within the current scope on what's allowed. I'm actually surprised my thread about the Loudon Classic this year made it through.
What I'm trying to convey is, there are a whole lot of other topics that can be shared on this forum that don't result in arguments....topics that barely require moderation and topics that can bring people together or perhaps help people find something else in common beyond the topics that get regurgitated here.
I see an opportunity to create member participation in a positive way and also bring people together for new discoveries. This forum is an incredible source of information with some amazing, smart and talented folks.
Please take my comments as constructive criticism rather than complaints as I am keenly aware this isn't my house.
Respectfully,
Poor Richard