Keeping it California - Last Chance to VOTE

[calikev]

After putting up with numerous threads and posts on coronavirus and politics we think its time to draw the line as this is a vw california forum. There is far too much bickering going on i have set up a poll that will run until next sunday if its yes i will remove all and ban any further post about the subject if its a No i will remove this post and let you carry on.

 

[WelshGas]

After putting up with numerous threads and posts on coronavirus and politics we think its time to draw the line as this is a vw california forum. There is far too much bickering going on i have set up a pole that will run until next sunday if its yes i will remove all and ban any further post about the subject if its a No i will remove this post and let you carry on.

Threads on those subjects are fine in “ The Three Cocks “ section.
But the constant hijacking of threads on other subjects is a different matter.
I now have so many “ Ignore” Threads active I pray for someone to have a problem I can help with.

 

[ti-fat-man]

Yeah, I came here to find stuff about my van, sites, what you guys do, fixes .. sort of brotherhood sing..

 

[ti-fat-man]

right i get you computer thing. sing means ...
i just got a 355 i can sing in mine ;-)

 

[ti-fat-man]

did i just tell you lot, i might be camping soon. like not on my drive BUT in a field in my van. Pot-noodle stylee ...

 

[sapto]

IMO it is important how you are all doing in this time and sometimes it is helpful to tell/write how much you struggle and for that reason - as @WelshGas wrote - there is already a section here. Maybe it is possible to automatically forward posts with words like the one mentioned directly to this section (if posted elsewhere)? Would save you from reading all this posts and also deleting posts form members just want to share their experiences and troubles they're going though?

 

[Jay20cali]

It would be nice to just read about camping,California’s,campsites, places to visit people’s experience and trips ect ect
Not forgetting be of help to other cali owners or owners to be...
I get that people want to vent about what’s on the news but it’s diluting the form big time
I log on and after 5mins log off because it’s stale
Only my opinion obviously

 

[Duxdeluxe]

A Cali is part of my life, other parts are family , politics current affairs etc etc. I don’t really want to go camping with a gang of Cali owners and just talk about Calis that would be my worst nightmare. Similarly I don’t want to come on here and just read about Calis. Yes it can get heated and sometimes it does go a bit to far, but come on we are all adults on here, if you don’t like a subject scroll on it’s not mandatory to read every post
I like it as it is, it reflects life

 

[clarinetbcn]

Some of the same ones who were ruining this forum with insult filled personal attacks, even going so far as to make attacks based on perceived "social class" (thankfully deleted by moderators) are now piously running for cover saying how terrible all the negativity is. It has nothing to do with corona virus, they were doing it before on a wide selection of topics and it has created an atmosphere that has dragged many threads down to uselessness. I assume they will continue to do it even if this topic is banned.

 

[flying banana]

If its 52 48 can we insist on running the vote again as it doesn't count?

 

[Ricotansky]

Seeing as I'm mainly a lurker, I feel I probably don't contribute enough to comment. Having said that I will anyway

I don't mind the CV and brexit topics. There are lots of educated and interesting people on this forum and even if you don't agree with what some people are saying, there's usually an interesting counter argument to see.

And like other's have said, they can be avoided if wanted.

An outright ban seems a little too heavy handed. Maybe limiting them to their own subsection would be enough to stop the topics polluting all threads?

Just my 2ps worth, feel free to ignore!

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Auberg-ine]

My own 2ps: never waist a good crisis! As for all companies and social structures this C-19 should be seen as an opportunity to reboot.
One of the biggest values of the VWCC forum it the enormous digital and human capital of essential knowledge about the California, for some of us the only source, since our classic mechanic garages often have no clue about the specificity of our cars
+ It has the extra advantage of being english spoken, so with way more reach than the (btw very interesting) Spanish, French or German fora.
It makes that the Search function is vital. Therefore it needs maintenance. People should indeed be incentivized to stick to the content of the thread, newbies should be automatically redirected to existing threads, comments should have content, not just a written 'I agree', perhaps more emoticons,... And why not, keep the 'pub-talk corner', for those who feel the need to discus whatever.
Perhaps a stricter directional welcoming-tutorial should emphasize all this more?
And if I may come back to an old plead of mine, we should try more to use our strength as a real consumer organisation towards VW. Or is the commercial link here a handicap?

 

[kurienp]

Maybe have an option to show all new threads excluding the one in C19? People can then come on and see all else other than C19 related stuff?

 

[Jester]

If its 52 48 can we insist on running the vote again as it doesn't count?

No!!!!!!! I like that.

 

[westfalia]

There should be a --

It doesn't really bother me box to tick.

 

[Jodalo]

IMO for what it’s worth I don’t see a problem with occasionally digressing into a bit of politics or cv19 or anything else that is flavour of the month, as long as it doesn’t hijack the thread. I think it would become boring if we strictly adhered to the subject. For me it’s a bit like conversing with someone in a pub who both have an interest in VW Campers-you don’t just talk about that.
What I do agree with is that some of the sniping and high handedness that creeps in is distasteful and kills the mood but even then generally the thread recovers and moves on.
So please keep the status quo, I believe it makes for a more lively read.
So ‘Keep it diverse’.
Not ‘Strictly Cali’.

 

[ArunAlec]

Touch of irony here. This thread‘s heading down the Br*x*t road!
On balance, as entertaining the off topic chat can be, I think we need the grown ups to keep us in line before there is too much drift. The challenge for the moderators will be deciding what constitutes a “political“ topic.

 

[ThomasHJ]

I have been an active member of several forums for a few decades now and would like to add the following.

'Negativity' or perceived negativity is something that will happen every once in a while wherever a large group of people share opinions. It's part of life, it's part of a forum. I say 'perceived' because everybody reads different posts and has different views. So if you feel the atmosphere in a thread or the whole forum seems negative, others may not be noticing or experiencing the same or as much. I for one haven't noticed much negativity and will gladly skip a thread when I do notice it and not think about it anymore. Negativity may sometimes scare away (several) individuals, which is a shame, but there will always be new ones. Remember that some people see a forum as just a source of information, like wikipedia or an encyclopedia. Others feel its more like a community, a place of friends even. Both are ok, if you stick to forum rules.

However, overactive moderators can kill a forum. This forum shouldn't be about polictics, nor about covid-19. It should be about ' everything VW camper vans'. But not being able to camp, not being able to get a car serviced, etc because of covid-19 is stuff we should be able to discuss. A moderators job is not to repress or ban information or people, a moderators job is to make sure people -stay on topic- and adhere to forumrules. It's perfectly possible to talk about covid-19 or other subjects if you desire to, in a special offtopic subforum. (Which exists). In all other threads users should stick to the topic that the original topic starter created and stay polite. And mods should see to it that people do.

just my 2 eurocents ;-)

 

[T6 CFO]

I have been an active member of several forums for a few decades now and would like to add the following.

'Negativity' or perceived negativity is something that will happen every once in a while wherever a large group of people share opinions. It's part of life, it's part of a forum. I say 'perceived' because everybody reads different posts and has different views. So if you feel the atmosphere in a thread or the whole forum seems negative, others may not be noticing or experiencing the same or as much. I for one haven't noticed much negativity and will gladly skip a thread when I do notice it and not think about it anymore. Negativity may sometimes scare away (several) individuals, which is a shame, but there will always be new ones. Remember that some people see a forum as just a source of information, like wikipedia or an encyclopedia. Others feel its more like a community, a place of friends even. Both are ok, if you stick to forum rules.

However, overactive moderators can kill a forum. This forum shouldn't be about polictics, nor about covid-19. It should be about ' everything VW camper vans'. But not being able to camp, not being able to get a car serviced, etc because of covid-19 is stuff we should be able to discuss. A moderators job is not to repress or ban information or people, a moderators job is to make sure people -stay on topic- and adhere to forumrules. It's perfectly possible to talk about covid-19 or other subjects if you desire to, in a special offtopic subforum. (Which exists). In all other threads users should stick to the topic that the original topic starter created and stay polite. And mods should see to it that people do.

just my 2 eurocents ;-)

Completely agree and for that reason believe that all though this poll is well intentioned it is dangerous.

A separate section of the forum where potentially contentious issues can be discussed is fine as long as other threads are not allowed to be hi-jacked.






Mike

 

[GrannyJen]

Maybe have an option to show all new threads excluding the one in C19? People can then come on and see all else other than C19 related stuff?

Why admin created a separate section for coronavirus. There is an "ignore forum" button that when pressed by the user can make that section completely disappear.

 

[Borris]

My view is that if you want politics or virus why not turn on your TV or radio? There is no shortage of it there.

IMO the VW California forum has become rather too political of late, unfortunately resulting in all too frequent corrosive displays of nastiness. It's just my view but there should be no place for that here. This space should be reserved for discussing our shared interest in Californias and associated subjects.

Since becoming a member I have enjoyed this forum immensely. It has been a superb source of information and help by, in the main, very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful members. On the whole, the conversation used to be light hearted and friendly. However, I have to tell you that I have become rather dissapointed in the the tone of some of the debates recently. Even some innocuous threads have descended into fisticuffs and eye gouging.

Whilst I am strongly in favour of freedom of speech, I'm starting to think that if these non forum related political issues continue to generate the levels of aggression and rancour seen over the last two or three years then it will change this forum and not for the good.

Time to gong them off!

 

[campandfly]

Is it possible to have a 'Please Stay on Topic' emoticon?
It could be trialled and dumped if not useful.
Perhaps this emoticon.

 

[GrannyJen]

If I can add my tuppence .... again ...

@calikev and others:

1: To avoid "censorship" during the Brex1t wars we created "the three cocks" section. Any threads that developed into tit-for-tat were dumped in there and the section was taken off the "new posts" feed so it could be easily ignored.

2: When CV came along, as it was clearly headed in the same direction as Brex1t a coronavirus section was created. The purpose of this section was those who wanted to discusss coronavirus could discuss there, those who wanted a camper only forum could simply put it on ignore and ignore it.

3:As regards threads outside of those two subjects, there has not been one complaint made vis the "report" button of threads being hijacked due to politics since the time the virus broke out of Wuhan. So with not a single complaint outside of the CV section of politics interfering in a discussion I am a bit bemused as to why some are complaining of thread hijack in the camping topics.

As the biggest discussion point by far with CV is the measures being taken to bring the rate of infection under control it is by it's nature political so for anyone not wanting a political debate yet again the facility is there to mark it "ignore".

In addition the CV threads, despite accusations made elsewhere, have been moderated to a degree. Some have had to be dropped into the 3 cocks section simply because the rate of flaming in some threads have made any other action impossible. Some threads have had attempts made to keep it on topic,. Only last night I chopped about 6 posts out of a thread that was again turning the discussion into a political slanging match and that has now become a daily routine for me. However with some threads, where the purpose is to discuss aspects of the handling of this CV crisis, clearly to dismember a heated thread to remove all "political" content would be impossible when the subject being discussed is political.

In terms of focus of this forum: for a time the majority of posts made in this forum were in the CV section, hardly surprising given the devastation this virus has had on our lives . After that initial flurry, the majority of posts being made are now outside of the CV section, into what may be called the "camping" sections. So before we opt for draconian measures can we please do so with some measure of proportion.

 

[T6 CFO]

If I can add my tuppence .... again ...

@calikev and others:

1: To avoid "censorship" during the Brex1t wars we created "the three cocks" section. Any threads that developed into tit-for-tat were dumped in there and the section was taken off the "new posts" feed so it could be easily ignored.

2: When CV came along, as it was clearly headed in the same direction as Brex1t a coronavirus section was created. The purpose of this section was those who wanted to discusss coronavirus could discuss there, those who wanted a camper only forum could simply put it on ignore and ignore it.

As the biggest discussion point by far with CV is the measures being taken to bring the rate of infection under control it is by it's nature political so for anyone not wanting a political debate yet again the facility is there to mark it "ignore".

In addition the CV threads, despite accusations made elsewhere, have been moderated to a degree. Some have had to be dropped into the 3 cocks section simply because the rate of flaming in some threads have made any other action impossible. Some threads have had attempts made to keep it on topic,. Only last night I chopped about 6 posts out of a thread that was again turning the discussion into a political slanging match and that has now become a daily routine for me. However with some threads, where the purpose is to discuss aspects of the handling of this CV crisis, clearly to dismember a heated thread to remove all "political" content would be impossible when the subject being discussed is political.

As regards threads outside of those two subjects, there has not been one complaint made vis the "report" button of threads being hijacked due to politics since the time the virus broke out of Wuhan. So with NOT ONE complaint outside of the CV section I am a bit bemused as to why some are complaining of thread hijack in the camping topics.

In terms of focus of this forum: for a time the majority of posts made in this forum were in the CV section, hardly surprising given the devastation this virus has had on our lives . After that initial flurry, the majority of posts being made are now outside of the CV section, into what may be called the "camping" sections. So before we opt for draconian measures can we please do so with some measure of proportion.

In relation to your point about reporting posts you are no doubt right. I for one have never used this function, probably in a reluctance to bother the moderators.

Perhaps doing that rather than responding would be better

An alternative is the suggestion above by @campandfly


Mike

 

[2into1]

I’m a bit puzzled about the idea that the forum would become boring if we excluded Brexit / Covid / politics generally. Is that a problem? As far as I know, there are other sites on the internet. If this site goes a bit quiet in the occasional pandemic, I think I’ll survive. If we need to try and convince strangers to change their politics or to signal our virtue, let’s do it elsewhere.

The most important thing is that the relationships between members aren’t spoiled....but that we are here to help each other, and hopefully get to camp together.
The only down side of a complete ban is the Ad revenue could fall, but as it’s largely a paid membership, hopefully that’s a minor source of income.