Sunny I'm sorry to say IMO ppl are missing because certain posts are deleted by the mods cus they don't fall into line with what the mods believe in for example the sophy comp results thread the in lot of ppls opinion was not a so called bun fight but shared points of view from diffrent ppl I know a few ppl on this forum and they have said that that infuriated them but what you done by deleting it they like my self that if ppl can't express their points of view with fear of being deleted then what's the point of being on the forum after all not every post is a bun fight as you call it so look in your own back yard m8 to see why ppl have decided not to return and post on the forum as I have said not every one come here to cause trouble but to join in with their view
Ian,
Ouch.... nothing like a dig at me is there...enjoy !
I was sorely tempted to delete your post as it does nothing to encourage TOF to return...... which was the intention. Dragging the topic away from the thread title is not good practice.... but lets give this some perspective
To suggest that the forum has lost members because of me is like blaming seals for the demise of fish stocks. You will not recall the days of Solehunter, when you would have been instantly banned for questioning the decision of a Mod, when members were banned because they were not popular with some of the in-crowd. All when membership was at its highest...when the forum was actually expanding and growing in to other areas of the UK; we had regional boards. Then the fights started between the great-and-the-good. People left and set up their own forums and have worked tirelessly to steal members from this forum. Nothing whatsoever to do with Mods deleting a few nasty posts. But you would of course know all of this !
I say enjoy, also, because you need to remember that I'm just a volunteer, someone who has given up his free time, for several years now, to help run this forum..... and seen it suffer the abuses of other peoples bad behaviour, childish tantrums and nasty selfish intentions.
Letting the few who wish to come on the forum and exercise their right to speak their mind....sometime fuelled by emotion, sometimes by alcohol....yes I can see how that would work. But you need to remember that the vast majority of members do not wish to read the bitter opinions of the few. But I generalise; lets examine the thread in question.
I deleted posts that were made by people who had joined that day in order to argue with TOFs article. If you were watching and on here every other hour, as I was, watching it unfold; then you would have noted the new arrivals.
Yes the first post from some bloke called Keith contained some facts...but equally it was also quite confrontational in much of its language and there was direct criticism of TOF and his approach. Now that is going to go two ways. TOF is either going to respond rationally or he will get annoyed and respond in kind....and then a row occurs. So I can sit back and not give a damn or I can try to make sure it stays calm. Unfortunately my experience of running this forum and being on a number of others is that rarely does the argument remain rational.
I have never opened up access to my pm's to members, but here is my message to Keith and his reply below
I would like to point out that Keith has not logged on since that day, when he joined only to respond to the thread by TOF.
There followed a few posts that 'demanded' to know why some posts had been removed. As the only persons able to remove posts are the author or the Mods then it was clearly an argument levied against the interference of the admin staff; me !
I have on many occasions asked guys to pm me if they don't agree with my actions and direction of the forum....I'm more than happy to discuss things behind the scenes. I don't accept that anyone can openly challenge the admin staff.....I don't know of any forum where that is permitted; do you ?
Even WSF doesn't tolerate any criticism of the admin staff and you can be as vile as you like on there, threaten people with violence and make criminally liable allegations until the cows come home !!!!!
Ian, if anyone who is upset about my having deleted posts - on that thread - feels infuriated then send me their names by pm and I will discuss it with them personally.
In August 2008 you wrote:
very walm welcome to the forums its awsome here for every thing
Since 2008 your opinion must have changed. Its interesting to look back at your post history this year, prior to the TOF thread and one of your posts being removed (?).... you were absent for most of the year and last posted a catch report back on the 20th July this year. Before that, the last catch report was over a year ago, on the 17th October 2011. I don’t know why you have not been supporting this forum, or working to keep it ‘awesome’ as you saw it in 2008 ?
Perhaps your time to go angling has gone down, or you haven’t had much luck and caught nothing…or you are posting on other forums and neglecting us; I don’t know. The thing about forums is that they are only as good as the contribution from everyone, its members.
Would you agree that a person earns the right to have a greater say the more they contribute to that forum ?
So is it right that a guy can join – day one - deliberately to flame a thread and the Mods are wrong to censor that post ?
If keith had posted a couple of hundred catch reports and thousands of non-confrontational posts on other topics then I might have been inclined to stand back and not rush to act (delete his post). So are you saying that I was wrong, that I had no right to act to keep the peace. If you agree with me about contribution earning the right to have a greater say then I think I have every right – even as an ordinary member – to disagree with the post made by Keith and my own gut feeling that this forum is not the place for such disagreements. To be fair to Keith he understood that (as you will read in his reply to me) and I respect his acceptance of the situation.
The forum will sink or float based on the number of catch reports. If there are fresh catch reports everyday then guys will log on to read them....no catch reports and why bother to logon....nothing to read, no news. Nothing I would suggest to do with Mods rarely deleting the odd post.
So its up to guys like you to post catch reports. So the ball is squarely in your court Ian.......if you want to get our attention post some catch reports with photos...that will be more compelling than complaining about my attempts to pre-emptively stop arguments
To anyone (
not you Ian) that feels they have some god given right to gob-off online...please go to WSF or Facebook; or indeed join the poachers forums.
This forum is for anglers who wish to get on with each other. If it can’t survive as being just that and nothing more then I for one would not wish to be part of it ;D
