Dislike of Cali owners!

[TomC]

I'm sure there are people who browse the forums who own nothing, but dream one day of being fortunate enough to take any part in the lifestyle. T2,3,4,5,6 who cares. Trolls always find a pond to fish in. Ignore and keep up the positive vibes. Brilliant forums and I for one have learned a ridiculous amount in a very short time. Also helped in getting a great dealer discount with tips from those in the know.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CaliWidow]

One person has run amok, and one person has ben trashed. I doubt if she will bother coming back.

 

[rippers]

I got to page 2 then read the calidreaming post :-

'I have just been bought to this page by a thread on the Cali Forum and I have to defend us Cali owners.

Yes, we may own £50k plus campers but we work hard to get them, I think the only reason we get this abuse is because people that convert their own vans just can't afford a Cali!!!'


I then felt embarrassed by this 'cali owner' close the thread and walked away.

Pathetic is all I can say

 

[welshwestie]

It's a sad affair that people are getting embroiled and worked up over vehicles, when there are thousands of people with next to nothing trudging across Europe looking for somewhere safe they can call home.

That thread, and some on this very forum, fit well into what my 13 year old nephew would call 'first world problems".

Oh well. Never mind. It ain't that important in the grand scheme of things.

 

[GrannyJen]

This is just Deja vu for anyone who has been an administrator or moderator on an internet forum for any length of time.

Person gets the hump, storms off in a huff, goes on to another website and slags off website just left.

Normally the sequel is:

after a few months person upsets others at other website, gets flak, storms off in a huff, asks to rejoin original website.

All just part of the online community merry-go-round.

"for every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[bathurg]

"for every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Excellent quote Jen - must remember that one.

We just like our Cali and she looks after us well for what we want to do with her. I'm not really bothered whether people do or don't like it as that's not why she joined our family.

G.

 

[Dottie]

I don't have a Cali, nor do I brag about how much it cost me. I love my VW and just hope I have more chance to use it next year. I am more interested in where to go and gizmos to put in it. I love the mini-me life it gives me....a stark contrast to my over complicated/messy work and home life.

Van living is fun.

I bought what I wanted and what I could afford....now I concentrate on enjoying it.

I have been on this forum regularly over the past year and only bemoan it if the Cali owners become a bit up themselves. Life is full of choices and each to their own. It doesn't make me a lesser person just because I preferred a Jerba....or does it on this forum?!

 

[Dazshep]

I don't have a Cali, nor do I brag about how much it cost me. I love my VW and just hope I have more chance to use it next year. I am more interested in where to go and gizmos to put in it. I love the mini-me life it gives me....a stark contrast to my over complicated/messy work and home life.

Van living is fun.

I bought what I wanted and what I could afford....now I concentrate on enjoying it.

I have been on this forum regularly over the past year and only bemoan it if the Cali owners become a bit up themselves. Life is full of choices and each to their own. It doesn't make me a lesser person just because I preferred a Jerba....or does it on this forum?!

Well said Dottie. I think the Jerba conversions are top quality. I would have had one myself but after studying all angles and lack of available time I have then it was so easy to get into a Cali. Whenever we are on site I am genuinely interested in other vans and their conversions even though I am as technical as a breeze block. Before I had the Cali I was a camper and now the van gives me more freedom easier. For me van life is class whether in a Bongo, T whatever or a works van with a camp bed. Can't do with van snobs but equally I don't want to say I own a Cali behind my hands.

 

[T6 CFO]

I don't have a Cali, nor do I brag about how much it cost me. I love my VW and just hope I have more chance to use it next year. I am more interested in where to go and gizmos to put in it. I love the mini-me life it gives me....a stark contrast to my over complicated/messy work and home life.

Van living is fun.

I bought what I wanted and what I could afford....now I concentrate on enjoying it.

I have been on this forum regularly over the past year and only bemoan it if the Cali owners become a bit up themselves. Life is full of choices and each to their own. It doesn't make me a lesser person just because I preferred a Jerba....or does it on this forum?!

Most certainly not nice post. Division between Cali owners and those who convert is ridiculous in the extreme.

 

[GrannyJen]

I don't have a Cali, nor do I brag about how much it cost me. I love my VW and just hope I have more chance to use it next year. I am more interested in where to go and gizmos to put in it. I love the mini-me life it gives me....a stark contrast to my over complicated/messy work and home life.

Van living is fun.

I bought what I wanted and what I could afford....now I concentrate on enjoying it.

I have been on this forum regularly over the past year and only bemoan it if the Cali owners become a bit up themselves. Life is full of choices and each to their own. It doesn't make me a lesser person just because I preferred a Jerba....or does it on this forum?!

It doesn't matter at all dottie.

T4 summed it up when he said this : "I'd rather be part of a happy family having a great time in a battered old van than a gloomy individual or couple stepping from a £55k Cali. This campervan life is ALL about what you do with them, not what you do it in."

This forum is all about us, as a community, where we go, what we do, how we do it and how we fix it when broke.

Keeping the wheels rolling is the best part, what sits on those wheels secondary.

 

[Gasgas]

Hi Jen have I missed something ,are you no longer doing the moderator role ?and if not why !!

 

[pjm-84]

+1

 

[Freeley]

I usually view the forum on tapatalk which doesn't show who's a mod or admin so this is all a surprise to me.
Looks like Slovenia is also a mod now.

Sent from my Galaxy S6

 

[MattBW]

I've also volunteered to Mod. In the short time I have been on the forums its given me a lot of information and help so I wanted to give a little back in a small way. I've ran and moderated quite a few forums in my time so I am happy to help.

 

[Freeley]

I find that the best mods are ones that don't post very often! Things can get complicated if they get involved in arguments and resentment can set in sometimes. Conflict of interest and all that.
For someone like Jen who is an integral part of the forum community I think it was a bad idea to become a mod as well, so I think it's a good thing if she is no longer one.
Just my opinion obviously!

Sent from my Galaxy S6

 

[ArcticMatt]

You see this stuff all over all the platforms. I've only just joined this forum but it seems a lot more friendly than others. There's division all over the place but it happens. There's God knows how many Facebook groups for the T4 it's kind of embarrassing. My Facebook wall is full of the same posts on all the different groups! Fingers crossed the Cherry Blossom craze won't spread as far as this forum!

 

[GrannyJen]

Hi Jen have I missed something ,are you no longer doing the moderator role ?and if not why !!

I have been a Mod on internet forums for 20 years, back before the days even of ISP's and in the days when CompuServe, AOL and other "membership community" providers ruled the roost.

In 2013 I had a flush of blood to the head, decided to quit from everything, Social, academic and professional, all my volunteer jobs online and on earth went out of the window and I bought a camper, my beloved Albert, and went back to my roots of a free-wheeling libertarian hippy type person, only instead of a backpack it was a lorry and instead of smoking "substances" I now drink Taylor's of Harrogate tea,

When Martin asked for volunteers it was natural for me to offer. A job that I had done for nearly a quarter of century, on some of the most shouty, rowdy, forums on the internet, and a forum that I love and of which I was becoming despairing of for the bitchy negativity that was beginning to creep in.

Quite by accident I became embroiled in someone having a huff and storming off. It seems, unlike on my rowdy, shouty over-18 forums where a quiet word in private was often sufficient, there was no such thing as private and no such thing as respect. Then of course we have, as always on every forum, the great debate, - and mistaken belief, that moderation means censorship. I was wrong to allow someone to be criticised in absentia yet turning the place into a North Korean satellite by closing the thread to prevent further personal attacks.

No. With the hugest respect to Martin and Kev, who have provided ALL shades of camper van owners a brilliant platform to discuss and share and enjoy all aspects of the camper van world, it is not the job that I wished to do on this forum.

The CV provided by Martin had bits in it like "liven up dying threads", greet new posters, show help, organise the boards. That I would have loved to do but sorry, I have refereed cyber battlegrounds for long enough and it is not what I seek and it seems instead I have stirred one up.

The decision was mine. A personal one, and not one cast in stone. I will be happy to do the job as Martin described, this forum would for me have been like an old nag put out to grass, a peaceful haven of tranquility where I could just potter around and tidy up the place and help individuals wherever I could. quite honestly it needs someone younger and less jaundiced to deal with the destructive negativity.

Anyway, let the dust settle, if Martin and Kev think there is a job that I can do to help this forum it would be my privilege to do it,

NOW! Can someone, all you thousands of newly appointed Mods, do something about tidying up the mess of "steering column " threads that are all over the place!

 

[Gasgas]

In my time on the forum I have not come across anybody as destructive and argumentative as the gentleman from Polzeath !!!...as many people have said he could start an argument in an empty room. It is a real shame that the timing of you becoming a mod and Mat (rhymes with pregnant fish )looking at the new t6 were at the same time ,because I cannot see this happening with any other members ...whoops just posted this before I had finished ,don't you hate it when this happens, so to quickly finish, I think you should re think your position and finish what you set out to achieve

 

[Dottie]

Thanks for all your kind replies to my post last night.

I must admit, I switched off last night a bit scunnered and wondering if I should continue with the forum.
However, after yet another hard day at work, I took the easy/unhealthy/regrettable way out and stopped at the services for a burger meal....but best of all I indulged in the VWt magazine. So after turning off forum talk, I sat with a wee glass of wine and read about some AMAZING conversions.
I think VW owners can be so diverse and, I suppose like everyone, can be a bit clique'y, but isn't it great to look at what others have done to make it their own special mini-me home....we're all the same in some respects: love our VWs and love the life it brings us, whatever that is...
I now have my van at the house for a wee spit and polish and might do my wild camping thing up the valley for a cuppa again today.
I can even test my newly purchase faux fur rugs....£30 from the supermarket...just the job on cool days to wrap around us when we sit outdoors. The difficult bit is deciding which colour....I love the simple pleasures of my van!!
So we'll stick in there at the mo. Hope to see you all somewhere sometime...remember, just cos I haven't got a Cali doesn't mean I have horns or am unfriendly.
How about another Scottish get together soon?

 

[GrannyJen]

I find that the best mods are ones that don't post very often! Things can get complicated if they get involved in arguments and resentment can set in sometimes. Conflict of interest and all that.
For someone like Jen who is an integral part of the forum community I think it was a bad idea to become a mod as well, so I think it's a good thing if she is no longer one.
Just my opinion obviously!

Sent from my Galaxy S6

You are probably right although at this moment I would disagree with you as I am currently embroiled in trying to breath new life into an enthusiast website that has virtually died simply because the involved, experienced mods and admin (me) left and the people running the show know little of the individuals or the type of banter that goes on.

However, a speculation, everything moves on, including old biddies like me so I will probably not be involved much at all here in the future.

 

[WelshGas]

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[stevieb]

You are probably right although at this moment I would disagree with you as I am currently embroiled in trying to breath new life into an enthusiast website that has virtually died simply because the involved, experienced mods and admin (me) left and the people running the show know little of the individuals or the type of banter that goes on.

However, a speculation, everything moves on, including old biddies like me so I will probably not be involved much at all here in the future.

Hello

After being in hospital & bedridden with a back injury I've just today managed to read the forum.
Don't know what's been happening but please Granny Jen keep posting.

Steve & Gill

 

[Swissian]

please Granny Jen keep posting

+1 (or many, many more if I'm allowed)

I've only been on here a few weeks, and I haven't even got my Cali yet, but I've learnt so much from this forum already. There's some invaluable information on here and I am forever grateful to you all for sharing your knowledge and experience. Jen, you are an integral part of this, and you always bring humour into it and soon please don't leave us, you are an inspiration.

 

[Freeley]

A forum needs characters to keep it fresh and interesting and you certainly are a character - I'd be gutted if you were to disappear Jen so I hope this won't happen.
I'm sure most members on this forum would agree.

Sent from my Galaxy S6

 

[calicasas]

".....I dont think I can mix with people that can afford to spend £50k on a van..."
I believe this part of the comment says it all - it's not so much about being passionate about VW's, campers or even camping, this more to do with money and who can afford what. I consider myself no better or worse than anyone else, just very fortunate to be able to own a Cali.
As mentioned above, this is about people.
Being the person I am, I won't stop saying hi to anyone I see, albeit a T4, T5 conversion or any other 'T'.
Today I drove past a Cali Berghaus, flashed my lights, waved, looked across but no response. Each to their own.
One thing for sure - other people's reactions won't alter my positive attitude towards others always..