Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:27 pm Post subject: The diminishing value of this forum as a source of info
Just an observation, as a boating newbie of less than three years.
When it was decided that we shoudl spend our weekends fishing, and knowing bugger all about boating, this forum along with several others was a valuable source of Infomration, with many helpful members posting responses to questions, and a wealth of knowledge available using the search function.
Over the last three years the quality of the Infomration available has degraded, with personal conflict taking precedence of technical comment. The value of forums like this one to newbies and veterans alike is huge, sharing ideas and Information. There are posts on here with in exces of 100 thousand views.
The "white noise" created by the personal remarks and derogatory comments, which strays well beyond technical/logical/practical disagreement is really detracting from the readability of the information.
I hope the antagonists can find a minute to read this post and consider whether or not their posts will contribute positively to the boating community, and ask themselves if their posts add value rather than just display less than desirable social traits.
I woudl like to thank everyone who has posted technical and practical posts, and encourage everyone to consider thinking about the purpose of forums before deciding to hijack threads with personal attacks. Each personal attack reduces my enthusiasm to read and contribute to help out those who genuinely seek information based on respect for experience and an opportunity to find out without having to spend the dollars to realize they didn't consider all aspects of their problem.
So how about it guys? Is there any chance that everyone can take a deep breath and bring focus back to boating?
I may be the only one that is disappointed about where this forum has gone, it is almost like burning books. This poll is an opportunity to put forward the views of the many and send a message.
I thought that a poll may be a way for the Users of this forum to express their views
Most internet forums have gone downhill in recent times, not sure why, maybe too busy on facebook and twitter. Traffic seems much less on a couple of others I visit occasionally ( not boating or fishing related).
it is easy to winge and complain about the state of affairs here and blame the mods for the demise of the site but I have an alternative view to this.
We the members are what will make or break this site
we can complain that there are no reports, or we can actually post reports of how well or not we went on our last trip.
we can offer advise to those who ask instead of worrying about recieving abuse for having an opinion.
we can respond to debate with other members in a way in which we would like to be spoken to ourselves
we can agree to disagree on some things that is ok not everyone can be right all the time
we should treat everybody whether they have 1 or 10,000 posts equally,
if you have any other suggestions (positive)add them
just an idea anyway _________________ If it sounds too good to be true, its because
IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 4:55 pm Post subject: Re:
Deepsix wrote:
Most internet forums have gone downhill in recent times, not sure why, maybe too busy on facebook and twitter. Traffic seems much less on a couple of others I visit occasionally ( not boating or fishing related).
I tend to disagree Jeff. Certainly activity has reduced, but the issues we are experiencing here are down to a few members. Also interesting to note is that they cause the same crap on other sites they frequent.
I am a member of numerous fishing and boating forums and share my information across them. On all others the feedback is always positive and no attempts are made by others to derail. Also, on many of these forums, I have not witnessed any agro or unpleasant exchange between members.
It only takes a few to ruin a good forum. Unfortunately it seems some of them are on here.
Facebook and twitter etc do have an advantage however. You can unlike those who give you grief and not have to worry about them. _________________
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject: Re:
Southern Belle wrote:
it is easy to winge and complain about the state of affairs here and blame the mods for the demise of the site but I have an alternative view to this.
We the members are what will make or break this site
we can complain that there are no reports, or we can actually post reports of how well or not we went on our last trip.
we can offer advise to those who ask instead of worrying about recieving abuse for having an opinion.
we can respond to debate with other members in a way in which we would like to be spoken to ourselves
we can agree to disagree on some things that is ok not everyone can be right all the time
we should treat everybody whether they have 1 or 10,000 posts equally,
if you have any other suggestions (positive)add them
just an idea anyway
Great post, all members should read it and remember who it is that is responsible for the state of the forums ... _________________
it only takes one clown to ruin it for all. I do read the forums most nights but do not post a lot due to the amount of snide remarks that go on.....some is in good fun which I do find funny but others do get personal. Personal attacks are not warranted under any circumstances and one person who goes on the attack has the capability to turn away many other people for good. Agree we are responsible for our posts and keeping this alive however when people are not playing with the same set of rules as the majority then there is little that can be done by the mass and if the moderators dont step in (which is the duty of the moderator to moderate!!) then people will lose interest. So ultimately its a shared responsibility. Maybe we need more moderators???
I don't believe the majorty of posters, the subjects and the proper discussion is a problem and has never been a problem.
Over the past 10 years and especially in recent times what has become more obvious these days is the increasing number of "self interest" groups and affiliates within these groups pushing there own barrow or some mates barrow under the attempted disguise of the every day boatie, some of these people are far from the every day boatie. These are very clicky groups and query one of the clan and the reaction is sometimes quite amazing.
Some days the same subjects (read that "disguised intent") appear across a spectrum of sites and clearly the exact same subject but of course different handles.
It has become quite comical lately to watch the response from some of the affiliates, it's so predictable it's rather sad the way they go on the attack like a mob of fire ants. Many of these groups once burnt then take every opportunity at every turn to try and extract some form of revenge, like fancy anybody questioning the integrity of their little games.
These types of hustlers are fairly well in the minority but tend to make up the majority of the posts, typically for their own pursuits and keep these posts of self interest on top of the tree either by their many other handles (oh yeah many have multiple handles) or their mates.
So don't expect everything to be above board some people can play them at their own game _________________ ** Tomorrow is another day .... oh joy .... what great responses will that bring **
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Today's Forecast: Fine this morning extending well into the afternoon with flakey clouds arriving by early evening but quickly dissipating.
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Hey check the mail fleegle
I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment expresed in this thread. I have been boating for a couple of years and am currently upgrading my boat as some of you may have seen. I asked for opinions in a thread over which of 3 boats did people prefer and got some good responses but some others simply abused each other in the thread. I PM'd one to get some specific issues with one boat but have not received an answer so I assume he was just spoiling on the thread. Some of the comments have made me question the value of forums and have led me to seek out other fishing/boating forums for opinions. This should be a rich source of knowledge to counter the spin and smoke of salesmen confuses the new boater.
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:12 pm Post subject: Re:
Kerry wrote:
I don't believe the majorty of posters, the subjects and the proper discussion is a problem and has never been a problem.
Over the past 10 years and especially in recent times what has become more obvious these days is the increasing number of "self interest" groups and affiliates within these groups pushing there own barrow or some mates barrow under the attempted disguise of the every day boatie, some of these people are far from the every day boatie. These are very clicky groups and query one of the clan and the reaction is sometimes quite amazing.
Some days the same subjects (read that "disguised intent") appear across a spectrum of sites and clearly the exact same subject but of course different handles.
It has become quite comical lately to watch the response from some of the affiliates, it's so predictable it's rather sad the way they go on the attack like a mob of fire ants. Many of these groups once burnt then take every opportunity at every turn to try and extract some form of revenge, like fancy anybody questioning the integrity of their little games.
These types of hustlers are fairly well in the minority but tend to make up the majority of the posts, typically for their own pursuits and keep these posts of self interest on top of the tree either by their many other handles (oh yeah many have multiple handles) or their mates.
So don't expect everything to be above board some people can play them at their own game
Tell us all about it then? _________________ ** Tomorrow is another day .... oh joy .... what great responses will that bring **
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Today's Forecast: Fine this morning extending well into the afternoon with flakey clouds arriving by early evening but quickly dissipating.
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Hey check the mail fleegle
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