Long ago....(Peach parts related)
 

James Taylor - Our Town - YouTube

Somewhat relevant.... I ask you not bring politics into this....

I joined peachparts 11-11-09. 4 days after I bought my 1987 300TD.... I had also joined over at another site.... but I felt this place was a community, people working for the betterment of not only the vehicles they drive, but the area around them.. this place was a community, For better, for worse. a family, We've had some Great members here, some of whom are no longer with us, some who are but dont post as much.... busy with their lives but still stop in, just to tell us they are ok, for a few years... this place was awesome, you can find help with almost any problem, with almost any car too. not just Mercedes, but I feel that this community we have...or had.... is gone.... I've met some Incredible people here, met some of you in person, Daw, Delibes, some I want to meet in person one day, CLK, Swamp, fair few others...

Fast forward to today.... I used to post a lot more in the past than I have now.... Things..... Turn to fighting... members fighting with others.... overrunning the simplest of topics, I've considered on several occasions to have my account here deleted..... but the friends I made here I cannot let go. for some, this is the only way to reach them just to say 'hey, how ya doin'... I guess I miss the way our community used to be.... I'm sure this topic will either devolve quickly into infighting or worse..... but, maybe one or two will read this... doubt this will affect change here. but. now you know how one member feels about this place.... how they wish it could be how it was.... but it's too late for that..

I concur with much that you say.

Quiz: 'Why do you think it is the way it is now' ?

Is it a reflection of what society has become...or are there other under-lying currents ?

loss of our long term moderators... Change in ownership. Change is inevitable really, I cant say why it's happend.... I've just noticed it's happened..

I joined around the same time for the same reasons. I believe the moderation in those days was quite different -- tighter on trolling and often for the better. If I recall there was a big backlash by some members who felt they were being slighted. I think it has gone too far in the other direction. Reining in the troll threads and posts (which are sometimes by the mods themselves) would be a start

Three things that would improve this forum:

1. Stop responding to the primary troll.
2. Stop responding to people who make unsubstantiated claims. When someone makes a claim without substantiation, ask for a link. When, not if, they fail to provide a link, end the conversation.
3. When making an unsubstantiated claim (we all do it), either have the courtesy to find substantiation or admit that you don't have anything and move on to another subject. Don't bore everyone by droning on. Nothing worse than a sanctimonious bore whose arguments have no foundation.

And a fourth thing, don't take any of the baloney on the forum personally. I've been called a racist, a liar, and an idiot. Each of these accusations is utterly ridiculous, but not because of any qualities I possess. The accusations are ridiculous because the accusers don't know me from Adam. It's comical.

You and me both, my friend.

4. The forum has a TOU. The moderators should read it and actually enforce it.

I wish I could be a mod. I'd be all over the TOU

I first joined the MercedesShop.com in January 2000. I spent a number of years here, under a different name that I have since changed. I had over 10,000 posts here, the vast majority of them in the diesel discussion and tech help forums. I came to OD a few times in the early years, and didn't like what I saw, so I avoided it like the plague.

My first 8 or 9 years on this forum were extremely enjoyable. It was quite satisfying to be able to help people fix their cars from time to time and get help in return with some of my own MB repair challenges.

Somewhere about 2008 or so, it was a slow day on the technical forums and I was in time killing mode. My job requires 100% of my attention about 30% of the time! and the rest of the time I am basically killing the time until the next crisis that demands my attention. I was mistakenly under the impression that OD was a no holds barred forum.

I started looking at some of the far left posts on the forum and since I mistakenly thought it was no holds barred, I started responding in a no holds barred way. It went over like a fart in a space suit, and I immediately found myself in the middle of some fights that I really did not want to be in. Given that it is against my nature to walk away from a fight especially when I didn't start them, I stood my ground, while unknowingly fighting outside the rules of the forum.

As the apparent hatefulness for me continued to grow, I continued to reply in kind. That hatefulness for me from some of the members here has gotten to the point where a few people that I used to really want to meet in person regardless of our political differences, I wouldn't bother to drive across town if they were passing through. I fully expect that those same people feel the same way about me. I find all that to be quite sad.

I realize that it takes two to tango, so a certain portion of blame for the situation is certainly mine.

If I could do it over again I would have never clicked on Open Discussion no matter what. Now I am at a point where I won't walk away from the ongoing fight. Again, it takes two to tango.

Aquaticedge. Whatever part I might have had in making this forum so contentious that you have to start such a thread, I apologize for it. I offer my very best wishes to you.

I would expect that a few PM's could result in your wish coming true, but be careful what you wish for. It appears to be a thankless job.

When the time comes when they tighten up security, I'll be happy to live or die by the same rules as everyone else, as long as they are enforced the same for everyone. I WOULD, however, feel that it would be fair to fire a warning shot before just clamping down, throwing folks in jail without warning of the enforcement changes.

I would expect that you would be a good mod.

I agree the present environment has become toxic, mirroring the national political scene. Enforcing the trolling rule would be a lot of work at first but not so bad after the bad apples roll up enough for a ban. In the mean time the ignore button is your friend. I have five or six on it but often see what they say anyhow because someone quotes them.

Talk to your friends, ignore the DB's. Kindof like real life but here a lot of folks feel safe to say things they never would say in person.

I wouldn't take the mod job back ever. You enforce the TOU, the members don't like it, ***** to the owners or return a big parts order and your thrown under the bus. Said members now run to the owners every time they step outside of the TOU. I don't know how the new owners are, but I suspect them are the same. They don't care about the forums and just don't want the boat rocked, keep the parts sales going. I can't blame them its a business after all.

A lot of members just want do whatever they want, and cry, if challenged. OD would be pretty easy to whip back into shape right now, its not an election year. All you would need is the owners standing behind you and not cutting you off at the knees when you start infracting people, good luck with that.


Being a civilian is best. Brian and I did have it running pretty good for awhile, OD was almost self moderating along with the diesel forum, and people stopped trashing cars for sale in the cars section.

Moderating TDIClub is way easier than moderating here would be... the general discussion forum was removed in 2003 because it got out of hand. I get enough people grumpy with me when I enforce the vendor rules, they'd probably throw a fit if we were trying to control an open discussion.

I also agree that the feel here is a lot like the political scene... very divided. And tiring.

One thing that always amazed me here is the people who are banned, yet come back. We have zero tolerance for that on TDIclub. When we find people who try to get alternate accounts (and it isn't hard) they all get merged, and their ban gets extended.

-J

Am I blind or did my survey on OD trolling disappear into the ether?


Funny if that thread was deemed too controversial.

I belong to the Studebaker club too. Over there politics and religion are off limits in the general discussion section of the forum. I don't mind it a bit. Of course its not as lively over there either. I don't even know if they have an ignore feature. In any case nobody annoys me much over there. If they had an OD probably the same folks who don't annoy me now would then (some of them)....you know about half them.

Also over there I am a young whippersnapper....whatever that is.;)