Moderating sucks

[richard_leeds]

I think the site is great and you guys do a great job. I know the frustrations of an unresolvable argument and it takes some maturity to walk away from it and move on. Perhaps "deep breath" smilies are severely required.

[xpensive]

It seems to me, that this site, despite it´s name, does not cater much anymore
for technical discussion.

On the other hand, it´s more and more occupied with fan-boy drivel, politcal and/or personal agendas and the like, and everybody seems to enjoy this more and more.

All fair and good - I get the message, enjoy the ride and thank you for the memories - good luck along the way.

I can here you loud and clear jumbo and with you all the way, the technical threads are getting less and less attention, some moderators even claim they are not technical enough to moderate those threads!

But the overriding problem to my mind is still that anyone can open a new thread on anthing, which I believe is very wrong.

[mep]

It seems to me, that this site, despite it´s name, does not cater much anymore
for technical discussion.

On the other hand, it´s more and more occupied with fan-boy drivel, politcal and/or personal agendas and the like, and everybody seems to enjoy this more and more.

All fair and good - I get the message, enjoy the ride and thank you for the memories - good luck along the way.

What is the cause for this reaction?
Some idiot (sorry can't say anything else) must have seriously offended 747.
I really want to know what the incident was. 747 gives the best input to the site we could get. We have to recognize and respect this. The site and mods can and should improve in regards to technical content of this site. I have the feeling that many smart people just smile about the page.

On the other hand sometimes some ignorant guys might annoy us but we should not give up and choose any decisions out of anger just because of this. This would just mean that the ignorant and stupid guys destroy the places for the good guys. You can get the same experiences in real life. The difference in the net is just that you speak to a much bigger audience and therefore getting "contact" is more likely to happen. Also all your achievements from the past are not recognised here so everybody is round about on an equal level (including some kids).

[Giblet]

Well, count me in for locking driver threads much sooner, or immediately abolishing them to the "Fanboy Yin Yang" thread.

We should have that as a sticky at the top of the page, and everyone can try to outpiss each other there.

If you are still reading 747, we value your input here, greatly, and would like you to rethink your stay.

[mach11]

I am really shocked to read the above posts.

I used this website for reference and learning. Posts from 747, and many members who have been active, have really shared insight into "Proper Engineering".

I do not care about the other posts, I use this website for learning and it has been good, is going really well and hope it will get better.

I will make it a point to make sure the next post of mine adds to the wealth of knowledge and experience that this website already has.

It is my request to members like 747, not to leave this website. You have fans here.

Thanks,

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

It seems to me, that this site, despite it´s name, does not cater much anymore
for technical discussion.

On the other hand, it´s more and more occupied with fan-boy drivel, politcal and/or personal agendas and the like, and everybody seems to enjoy this more and more.

All fair and good - I get the message, enjoy the ride and thank you for the memories - good luck along the way.

747 must stay.

My "contribution" to this site in 3000 odd posts is but a tiny fraction of what 747 could do in a lengthy technical article I so enjoy reading(even if I fail to grasp the concepts at times).
It is my wish to one day meet the man that prepared Mercedes W202 DTM machines that I had a poster of on my wall in South Africa.
Mate, if it wasnt for you I would probably be a football supporter!
How many other sites can call on this kind of resource?

I herby solemnly swear to think out every post I make from here on in if it means guys like you give us the insight we crave!
I'll stop eulogising now, but perhaps the mods should be even harsher when it comes to posts?

Yes, Im guilty of a few too many I concur...but I'll take it on the chin if the likes of 747 stayed.

[tok-tokkie]

If a contributor like 747 is leaving it illustrates the challenge the Moderators face on this site. It has been allowed to degenerate through the accumulation of un-informed (non-technically literate) members who clutter the threads with opinions. Some is technically laughable but much of it is fanboy ying yang.

I look forward to much more brutal moderating & banning of members who are making a nuisance of them selves. Another site I go to has 174 000 members - there you get banned for a week, month etc if you step out of line. But what really keeps the site working is the instant response you get from senior members (not moderators)for a post that is heading in the wrong direction. It is those instant posts that head off the problems. They don't tolerate ---. http://advrider.com/forums/

[xpensive]

I concur tok, no I more than concur, it's xtremely frustrating when engineering wannabees are allowed to market their home-made technical stupidities without moderation. To xpress that thermal xpansion could be harnessed and turned into stress is not a valid opinion to flash on the forum, it's an outrageous stupidity and should not be tolerated as it makes a mockery of F1T.

Just to mention one xample that stuck in my mind.

[senna-toleman]

I have to say I'm pretty shocked that we are losing valued members of this forum. It is important for any institution or body to retain the people that contribute to its core values. Identify the people you value most, look after them, give them the tools to improve the website if you want to prosper in the long term.

It would help if somebody could identify who have been our most valuable members over the years, who is still here, who has left and why they have left (this could just mean that they rarely contribute anymore but it is effectively the same thing). People move on, that is natural. If valued people are leaving faster then they are being replaced then you have to worry a little. Once we know why we are losing valued contributors, then we need to address those shortcomings. I don't know if Tomba has this information or if there is some way of gathering it but a survey of some kind might help.

I thank all the moderators for their unseen work at trying to keep this website true to the way that Tomba wants it to be. I feel their work would be easier if some structural changes were made to the website.

My suggestion is that most non-technical threads generally generate a lot of pages as debate over subjective matters such as which driver is the best looking, doesn't require a lot of thought and it is much quicker to post an opinion rather than work out some figures. So the non-technical threads will have more posts per day than the technical ones. There may also be more of them. This results in the front page of the website being dominated by non-technical topics.

The front page should maybe better reflect the range of topics discussed on the forum - technical and non-technical. Or biased toward the technical if that is Tomba's wish. Either way, it is not a good idea to put on the front page a list of those threads that have just been posted on. Such a list will always be dominated by heated debates on non-technical issues. Instead a selection of threads from each forum of the website should be shown with may be a bias towards those in the F1 and Technical categories.

All the best with your efforts.
Regards,
David

ps. could we reward good technical posts and show that next to each user profile? Better to encourage a few good posts than a lot of poor ones.

[Tim.Wright]

Maybe you should just filter out all posts containing the word Hamilton or Alonso?

Tim

[Giblet]

What you chaps are saying is how I think.

This is racing cars. It is supposed to be fun, and on this site, informative.

The site should welcome new people that are interested in the technical side. I am one of those people who is just a super fan of the sport, and other than some sim racing, is no closer than anyone else. There are some drivers and teams I prefer to others, but not at the expense of enjoying the sport as a whole.

However, I do find the technical discussions fascinating to read. A few times a year I pick up a copy of Racecar Engineering or Race Tech from Chapters, and read them cover to cover. Why? So I can engage in topics with others. You don't have to be a number cruncher to understand what is going on at a very deep level compared to average fan.

I appreciate all the people here that understand that as moderators, we have to deal with everyone, but the non technical repeat offenders often leave me with a short fuse.

Dave_Killens has left, don't know if it will be permanent. Ciro has hung his hat as well. He's been around the block, is a marshall, loves racing, and is gone. MX_Tifosi is on a summer break right now, so its basically myself and Tomba.

Thanks to those who appreciate this role is difficult and getting done solely for the good of the board. To give you an idea, here is a PM that one of our users got from another. Names have been withheld to protect the chromosomally challenged. People like this actually exist.

u mad i owen you over and over with facts? yeah u mad allright.

the reason i stopped is because maybe i dont want to derail the thread anymore?! ever give that a thought f----t.

go bck to what ever shite forum your on, your clearly clueless and over opinionated.