Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Greeney in France]

Natural conversation drifts in the same way, as you say its friendly chit chat
This site isn't so technical either like some its just a meeting of classic fans discussing cars like the "ace cafe"
_________________
www.OldFrenchCars.com

We do these things not to escape life but to prevent life escaping us

[bob2]

I am not a regular poster here but do post occasionally and go through the posts regularly to see whats new!!
I like this forum the way it is, maybe certain other users will not post because they do not have any subject in particular on which to post or mayb down to them being shy and find it difficult integrating!!

However Rick has done a great job here and my appreciation goes to him for creating this forum and the website!!!

[Giggles]

[62rebel]

i've probably got no leg to stand on, but i like the ability to put forth my thoughts pretty much unrestricted (i know there are civil boundaries you chaps must follow that we Yanks tend to ignore) and i TRY not to simply post for posting's sake. some folks like to sit in and "listen" to the conversations, fine, everybody's welcome to hear me rattle on; should we eliminate folks who don't tend to put their tuppence in? IMHO; NO. this is the one (or fifthieth) place we can be equal in stature, away from the realities of job/etc.
i can "rub elbows" here with Brummies, Manxmen, Scots, Diggers from New Zealand and Australia, Canucks, Liverpudlians, Noo Yawkers, and consider them all "friend".

[buzzy bee]

Hi

Wandering off topic, I am king! I think that being able to, and not having to many rules makes the place friendly and laid back, you are more likely to post then.

I am on a certain non car related forum, and they tried to show authority, banning off topic chat, no drifting, not allowed to post if they don't find your copmment useful, and what is the outcome, as it has become so serious, half the membership has stopped posting.

Stay as easy and free as possible, if people don't want to post then fair do's, let them just read for a while, they will may eventually say hi, then us posting members enquire about there cars, or interests and they introduce themselves.

I think this forum is one of the few that is working, people feel happy with it on a whole, if some one is anoyed they have a rant and feel better, but as a whole it is a happy place to be.

Leave well alone if it is not broken in my oppinion!

Cheers

Dave

[Uncle Joe]

Just to set the record straight, in case I was misunderstood, I dont mind the fact that drifting occurs. I'm as guilty of it as others. As I said, its part of the forums nature.

[pigtin]

Please allow drifting or I won't dare post. The state of my memory these days means that, with the best will in the world, I've usually forgotten what the thread is about by the time I get half way through my reply. Don.

[peter scott]

I'd just like to add my appreciation too for the good running of this forum and add my support to the general consensus in favour of sensible drifting OT.

Peter

[Den]

As someone who runs a forum, I have a few thoughts.

I have joined a few forums that I have never posted on. I joined for access and if I don't feel I can contribute, I don't.

I also go off on "Automotive tangents" and may not post for a few months. On one forum, I have been known to "wander" for a year and then come back and regularly post!

I just did some changing of my info on one forum the other day and I have been a member since April 2007 and only posted 3 times!!

As for intros, if it's got an intro thread or a suggestion to intro, I agree that it should be done out of respect for the wishes of the forum. I don't require it on mine but that is a reaction to a forum or two that I've been on where it isn't required and members (NOT moderators) have taken it upon themselves to routinely flame and attack those that don't do it!

But then my forum is a reaction to a lot of things I see that makes people unhappy on forums. Like flaming another member is reason to be deleted no matter HOW many posts you have or how long you been there! It's an actual rule!

(As is non-use of net/retardspeak and "HAVE FUN!!" LOL)

Now I have admittedly pruned the members list, and now having done it, regret doing so as a few people may have been deleted that may have taken it as an insult. (I did send an email to warn I was doing it) I have since changed my thoughts on this as I think how I'd feel. Some I have removed as I saw they had 0 posts and weren't likely to do so. I also made it a habit to see if they were ever online, logged in etc and I have a few that I see logged in but never post so leave them alone.


I have tried the sending an email to suggest those that haven't posted in a while maybe welcome the new members when I had an unprecedented 5 or 6 join in a few months. (LOL) But no reaction.

One thing that HAS dropped the membership from just over 50 to about 22 (I think now..) is that I moved to a new site and new domain. LOL. Results were what I expected, the members who actually post rejoined.

I have mixed feelings about if it ever grew to a bigger forum. The magic number that trouble starts on a forum (growing pains) seems to be 2000-2500 members. I have done a LOT of research on this as I have been working on what I call "The Forum forum" a side project that is a database of every auto forum I can find!!

Yeah, 2 years and counting and a "bit off more than I can chew" project but with the new forum I will be restarting it once again. Heeheehee.

I think, this forum is pretty safe with Rick's requiring what he requires to join. I think most trolls and spammers wouldn't bother with that much effort required. I know I myself have the forum set to me validating memberships and it seems to work.

I think my rules though few, have turned a few off as they took them to be too strict but we are fairly open about language etc and more or less self policing. It's a pretty "rough and tumble" place but as I said above, personal attacks will NOT be tolerated and though so far I have never banned or deleted anyone due to behaviour, I am fully prepared to do so.

As to drifting off topic. I have a thread just for random day to day "whatever" stuff and it seems to keep that to a minimum though we do drift anyways. One case was a magazine thread that went into one member's photography as he was doing pics for a few magazines. So I merely split the topic and gave him his own thread. I guess we'd call that discretion?

Anyways. I, after all this time have decided that unless given a specific reason will no longer remove non-posting members. I don't think I have any real reason to do so unless they're an obvious spammer. (And on the old forum I'd post the spammer's email addresses and invite my members to spam back. LOL. But I haven't had one in a loong time!)

Anyways, I did do an intro. LOL. And I do like this forum. Hope I didn't ramble too much and who knows, may have made a relevant post in here somewhere.
_________________
Den.
Reporter-"How's it feel to be Henry Ford the Second?"
Henry Ford ll-"I don't know. I've never been anyone else."