I have a question

[Aussie Hawk]

Hello all,
I've been visiting this forum for the past four or so years, and seen a few forum posters come and go, for whatever reason. But it's come to the point where I have to have my say. What the hell is it with the negativity of some forum posters? It is obvious that some posters seem to lay in wait for for others to post something they can attack, or nit pick. Whether it be grammar, or details of their projects, my God people we are all Studebaker owners, and supposed to be supporters of other owners - with some you would have to guess otherwise! I've had enough, I give you fair warning I will call you out. If some new Stude owner read some of the posts on this site they would withdraw and not visit again. Get it together boys, support the inexperienced, the uninitiated, help them don't get on your high horse and belittle them.


Matt Pettigrew
Brisbane
Australia

[Colgate Studebaker]

Matt, I have seen this also, and I realize that everyone is an individual, with their own personal traits. I understand that my viewpoints aren't the same as anyone else here, and those that have a "rough" edge to their comments are going to be out there, no matter what I say. I let those types to themselves and put little weight on their comments. The world is still going to turn, with or without their opinions. Your point about "newbe's" is very valid, as new folks haven't been exposed to these types of posters. Hopefully, they can figure out the way this, and many other forums, have both good and bad users. I prefer to be on the positive thought process, and I don't have a problem taking the detractors for what they are. Best to ya, Bill.

[avantilover]

Preferably report such posts to the moderation team so we can attend to them. I'm sure there are such "characters" in most clubs. They're not worth wasting time on in my opinion.

[hausdok]

Matt,

I agree with you 100%. There are certain folks here who it's clear don't like one another and when one of them makes a post it seems the person that's their rival, or whatever you want to call it, can't wait to almost instantly jump on and say something that's borderline rude or belittling.

The problem with "calling them out" though is that both sides have their acolytes and if you call one of them out there are going to be defenders that will jump in as soon as you do that. Then the thread, whatever it is, will devolve into a mess that we ultimately have to heavily prune or delete altogether.

As you can imagine, even for three or four different moderators trying to keep tabs on it all there are a lot of conversations going on here and we can't all monitor every conversation in real time. Sometimes we never hear about issues until someone tips us off by reporting the post. Not long ago, one fellow reported a thread that had gone sideways to me by saying that he was sick of reading rude comments made by "cranky old men" and he asked that those folks displaying those cranky old men tendencies be banned from the forum.

Banning should be last resort. We're all supposed to be adults here. If we walked into a local pub and saw a fellow there that we didn't like we'd most probably leave that fellow alone. If that fellow tried to pick an argument, most of us would refuse to be baited and would ignore him so we can finish our drink in peace and enjoy the company of those we do like. A few of us might allow ourselves to be baited into an argument or fight but that would ultimately get us bounced out of the bar so most of us don't fall into that trap.

For some reason, folks aren't behaving that way when they come into this place and they are taking pot shots at each other. It sure would be nice if they'd just learn to avoid one another.

[Champ51]

I agree that sometimes the conversation here gets a little ugly, BUT it is just like everywhere else in our lives. There are always some people I admire greatly and some I can't stand. I prefer to just ignore or gloss over those conversation which I think are offensive. I hone in on the people that have information which interests me, and when they occasionally say something stupid here, you chalk it up to the fact that they are human beings.

This is the balance between freedom of expression and freedom from being offended.

[53k]

Just another form of cyber bullying. I guess I have a thick skin- I just ignore bully posters.

[jimmijim8]

It can be attributed to human nature. cheers jimmijim

Hello all,
I've been visiting this forum for the past four or so years, and seen a few forum posters come and go, for whatever reason. But it's come to the point where I have to have my say. What the hell is it with the negativity of some forum posters? It is obvious that some posters seem to lay in wait for for others to post something they can attack, or nit pick. Whether it be grammar, or details of their projects, my God people we are all Studebaker owners, and supposed to be supporters of other owners - with some you would have to guess otherwise! I've had enough, I give you fair warning I will call you out. If some new Stude owner read some of the posts on this site they would withdraw and not visit again. Get it together boys, support the inexperienced, the uninitiated, help them don't get on your high horse and belittle them.


Matt Pettigrew
Brisbane
Australia

[hausdok]

It can be attributed to human nature. cheers jimmijim

I dunno, Jim.

My parents used to tell us kids that when we were in a group of people that if we couldn't say anything nice we shouldn't say anything at all. Maybe if more folks assumed that attitude here.....

[showbizkid]

Let me reiterate that when our members see something out of line, they should not take it upon themselves to correct the poster. That only feeds the fire.

Instead, click on the little triangular exclamation-mark icon at the bottom left of the offending post and it will be reported to the Mod Squad. We'll take it from there

Thanks!

[ddub]

Instead, click on the little triangular exclamation-mark icon at the bottom left of the offending post and it will be reported to the Mod Squad. We'll take it from there


I was on this forum several years before I was aware of that littlle triangle and what it is for, but it works.
Thanks![/QUOTE]

[Dick Steinkamp]

It can be attributed to human nature. cheers jimmijim

I don't think so, Jim. I don't believe this forum is an accurate representation of a cross section of vintage vehicle enthusiasts. I frequent other car forums and have yet to find one that has as much negativity as this one and that can get as deep into divisive politics and other non car related hot button topics. I'm sure WORSE forums exist, but it would be great if it was as good here as the best and not simply better than the worst. I believe the forum "culture" is due to the fact that there are more than a fair share of folks here that are "happiest when they are unhappy", combined with relatively "light" moderation.

Here's one I am on almost daily...

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/list.php?1

You will not find there what you find here. IMHO, MOST of the civility there is driven by members being respectful of others, but Skye (the moderator) does an excellent job of nipping any disrespectful comments in the bud and disciplining the offending member...but I'm sure that moderation to the forum standards also helps encourage the civility.

Here's another closer to home...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/23885/

Unmoderated, but the members take it upon themselves to quickly jump on anyone who starts to drag a thread into the dirt. A very different culture there than here. (OTOH, the unmoderated alt.autos.studebaker forum did not turn out well. The trolls outnumbered those that had higher standards of behavior. It crashed and burned. Studebaker Truck Talk is pretty special and the members there are to be congratulated for it.)

Another one for comparison...

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=103

One more...

http://www.dlcentre.com/forum/

Although IMHO this forum is not a cross section of vintage car enthusiasts in general, it is what it is. The "you kids get off my lawn" types are not going to change. In fact there will likely be more of them as the club membership continues to age and as newbies are discouraged from participating. The moderation will probably not enforce the forum rules more stringently. To do so would piss off a rather large portion of the membership who feel obligated to express their thoughts no matter who it might hurt, and enjoys the back and forth that develops from doing so (free speech, you know ).

I'd love to see the forum become again what it was 5 or so years ago, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a different group with a different agenda.

[studeclunker]

But, but, but... picking nits is so much fun!! I mean, have you ever watched the monkeys at the zoo? Not to mention all those Nat. Geographic movies! You know, the ones with all the neckkid natives jumpin' around? It's one of those inherited-cultural... thingeys.

Or maybe it's just that there are so many grumpy-old-men like me hanging around here.

[warrlaw1]

LOL. Thank you, Clark. Never noticed that little exclamation mark before. I don't see trolls as much as people just learning to express themselves in new ways (just kill me, now). If you have never written much and find this "new" medium, some passive - aggressive narcissism is bound to surface, as if we were all writing for the benefit of that great literary critic the sky. Humility helps.

[starliner62]

I see a lot more "grumpy" posts lately. I attribute most of them to cabin fever, but even during warm weather, I see a lot of snarky posts. Personally, I have pretty thick skin and most things don't bother me. What does bother me is the treatment of some of our older members, the ones that have first hand knowledge of the things Studebaker did and their opinions are usually a learining experience. Mama always told me to respect my elders and I still adhere to what she told me.
Too many times, I have told myself to just quit this forum, but I do have a friend or two here, so I continue to read the good and bad posts and hope that I continue to learn from them.

[Chris_Dresbach]

Here's my two cents worth, and I won't sugar coat it. I think the SDC as well as this forum has a lot of good folks in it but it also has some bad apples. Quite a few actually, they just don't post very often or just when they see the opportunity to strike. I'm a very thick skinned guy, but I finally got fed up with some SDC things outside of this forum and decided to leave, and lately I'm not the only one. If you want this club to survive, everybody better learn to get along. I think there are some people that also should be manned up to and be either kicked out or asked to leave for the better of the club and my opinion of that goes from the National level to the local level. That's my opinion, take it for what it's worth.