cb1100

[Cormanus]

Welcome back, Michael. What Pterodactyl said.

I had an enthusiastic exchange with Tortuga the other day that resulted in a fair number of posts being deleted. I was a bit annoyed because I thought it was just on the safe side of acceptable, but I know one forum member was pretty unhappy about the exchange. So, my initial thought about the proposal to have a humour area was that it would be a good idea. I like a lot of you blokes; you make me laugh and I enjoy that aspect of the forum. On reflection, though, I'm not sure. The problem seems to me to be that there are some interesting people with interesting things to say and some of the jokes arise from a witty response to a hastily expressed thread and it grows. While it's funny for some, it clearly isn't for others. People taking a serious interest in a topic may well be annoyed when it's hijacked by people just wanting a laugh. Someone—the long-suffering moderator—has to make a call about when to put a stop to things.

This is the first forum I've joined and I like it a great deal because it's interesting, generally polite and good natured. I've gone on and joined another forum in Australia which is far more robust and I don't like it nearly so much. While bits are interesting, many of the discussions are savage and some of the posts verge on bullying. Moderators participate in that behaviour which serves only to reinforce it. The treatment of female members is, in my view, often unpleasant.

Growth and popularity are a problem: the more people participate, the more there will be requests for change. Doing nothing may lead to stagnation, but too much change risks alienating the core.

As Michael and others have noted the forum is here courtesy of Guth and Ferret. I really appreciate it. So, whatever you guys decide about this is fine with me.

Thanks, yet again, for providing a great forum.

CB1100 (token bike content—thanks for the line Rboe)