Sy V wrote
"I'll just say this:
I have absolutely no idea why you guys feel the need to drag this and other threads down to such a pathetic level. A lot of people have spent endless hours and expended huge amounts of effort to make this forum what it is today and strive to continue to take it to new levels of helpfulness. Your antics appear to be trying to reverse this trend.
Of late, I have received a number of observations/messages of feedback about the recent propensity towards puerility, and I count myself as one of those who is becoming increasingly disaffected by the amount of unwelcome and unhelpful postings. I admit to having tried to counteract the trend with similar postings but it appears that you perpetrators and purveyors of prattle have numbers on your side.
Yesterday, I offered assistance to stem (or at least isolate) the flow of cr@p - almost to a man this was rejected.
I for one, will not stand by and watch you drive a wedge (either intentionally or otherwise) through this community.
Please keep your off-topic and unwelcome postings to your own area's thread and the Off Topic area of the forum, which (after all) was added as a depository for such derisory and divisive donations."
Firstly Sy, I'll say this. We all respect and admire the people who have put time and effort into developing LEC.
The only reason forums like this achieve any longevity is due to the continued activity by the users themselves. All such sites develop and change as time goes by. The reason the East Mids group has grown to become what it is today is wholly due to East Mids very active participation in all aspects of LEC especially the forum and promotion of the M100 Elan and LEC at many car shows through this summer.
You say 'we are affecting the level of helpfulness'- I would say that the opposite is in fact the case. East Mids members have been very pro-active in all aspects of LEC ethos.
The whole point about open forums is that they are open to the whole world to join and comment whenever and wherever they want. You cannot police an open forum to the level you are now demanding.
Those members who have complained about any puerility have the option either not to read it, or to ignore it completely. If you take the time to sit down and read your postings over the years, you will see that your own have not only been 'out of topic' but on many occasions not reflecting the standard which you now ask us to maintain. You will also see many non East Mids peeps posting on that thread- are you going to take them to task as well?
I certainly think your image of a wedge being driven through the community is a touch of over-exaggeration. The lively and tongue in cheek banter that exists has made LEC what it is today and forged many friendships.
Having said my bit, I would point out that I do not agree with some of the very personal issues raised on the open forum, as I do think these are damaging. However, there is always someone who starts these things and thus promotes comment or further feedback. If anyone is not prepared for such comment/feedback perhaps they should either not raise the issue in the first place or resort to the pm sytem instead. It is too late for someone to complain about the heat of the fire when it was they who lit the match.
DaveT