We don’t mind this discussion being raised. People care about the Forum and have strong opinions about it, which is cool. This is Off Topic, however, as it’s not about the technical aspects of Cal-Look/High Performance, so we’ve moved it to Off Topic.
Now to the points being raised:
1. We have no plans to make this a pay site. Our goal has always been to provide a free Forum for people to exchange knowledge. Pay sites mean fewer participants. Less participants means less knowledge shared. On rare occasions, however, we have to step in (see below).
2. One of the cool things about this site over the years is how rarely we’ve had to actually step in. That usually manifests in 3 ways: I. leave the post up but stop further posts, II. delete the post, III. ban users for repeatedly inappropriate, caustic behavior. It is always a hard call (thankfully, one that we rarely have to make), and usually involves an exchange of emails between the moderators to check our judgment and make a decision.
Our we always consistent? We try to be, but that is not possible. One of the moderators may not be able to consult with his colleagues and has to exercise his judgment (the human factor). We will make mistakes. Other posts may also get through and not be noticed. There are a lot of posts by a lot of members, and we simply can’t read them all. We often have to rely on Forum Members to email us if they feel a post is inappropriate, which we will then investigate.
3. Advertising bias. We have had the odd advertiser email us asking us to delete a thread, which, upon our review, was have left up because, in our view, their was nothing inappropriate about it. We actually lost an advertiser due to this. We’ve also turned down attractive advertising offers from companies who approached us because our experience of them was that they were a negative drain on the industry. We also fired an advertiser because of feedback we received on their practices, which coincided with our own experience as a customer.
To suggest that this site has anything to do with money reflects a lack of understanding of the economics: Over 7 years of work and not one paycheck (let me speak with a financial analyst for their view on that and get back to you ;-).
4. Traffic volume. If that was a goal, we’d leave those posts up AND open, because as noted, they generate a lot of viewing (the aforementioned traffic accident factor).
5. A purely open Forum. We will not do this. I recall a VW high performance Forum that was started a few years ago that boasted it was unregulated and people could post whatever they wanted. It rapidly deteriorated into a disgraceful cesspool that no one could be proud of. People stopped posting because no one wanted to be part of it. We volunteer our time because we want to contribute to something we can be proud of. I would not feel any personal pride in a site of that nature.
In the end of the day, with 3400 active members, you are going to get numerous views on how we should moderate this site (in fact, I’m sure my response will generate more opinions from those who disagree with our approach). In fact, we receive many emails complaining that we don’t moderate the site enough! We provide a free (to users) home for an active, global online community for fans of Cal-Look/High Performance air-cooled VWs, and from time-to-time, have to moderate the content. There will always be Forum Members who both agree and disagree with our actions. That’s life. While we welcome feedback, and will strive to exercise restraint in moderating the Forum, I can guarantee that we will continue to (unintentionally) piss people off on occasion.
John Plow
http://Cal-Look.com
