I have been around on the forum for a couple of years, I have enjoyed my time here, I have also made some friends both in the cyber and the real world. I have received encouragement in my rookie racing year, enjoyed sharing this & many other experiences through my various threads, but at the moment I don't have a lot to say as I am not doing much with bikes, so I am not posting so much (thank goodness some will say!). It is a unique place, unlike many bike forums many different subjects are discussed, at times I have had great fun, at other times not so much, I am quite thick skinned, so nothing much that someone I don't know says from behind their keyboard is going to upset me. I stay away from the Brexit thread as it gets a bit heated in there, if I am going to have an argument then at least let it be about something that I can effect by doing so. You don't have to agree with someone to be their friend, you can have opposing views but still communicate in a reasonable manor, I have interacted with both Sprinter & AndyC and found them both to be great guys, if they decided to leave, then fair enough, their choice but really don't understand pulling content. But if I did decide to leave the forum, I would do just that, simply fade away and not post anymore, not withdraw all my content, what's the point?
I’ve seen a (very) occasional spat kick off due to person A trying to make a joke but person B reads it differently. Inevitable misunderstandings like this can occur but generally people are grown up enough to give/take banter if well meant. The Brexit thread got a tad heated but thankfully people have started to post humorous stuff that takes the piss out of both ‘sides’ in near equal measure. I think the forum’s great, somewhere you can get near immediate helpful advice on a technical problem or have a laugh about totally irrelevant topics. Quite diverse!
As an admin on a. n. other forum, if anybody leaves, we never delete content or enen their username. Unless asked to remove things for legal reasons, it stays where it is. It was posted into the public domain, and as such it should stay. Plus, deleting a users content doesn't just delete their content, if you delete a thread they started, with 500 posts, that's 500 posts gone, regardless of who posted what. Could be 500 posts of shyte, or could be some really useful stuffs... I wouldn't ask for any of my content to be removed..... Exits, stage left.
I agree that content should not be blanket removed (although if you feel strongly enough there is nothing stopping edits of your own posts - if you feel the need), generally we should accept a post is there to stay . And if we keep that in mind there are some things said that might not have been with a little more consideration. (but then the unconsidered posts are usually the more entertaining ) It's all too easy to sit behind our keyboards in relative anonymity. I do believe the forum has changed a little as it has grown, however I don't feel the need for a strop, I'm just a bit more selective as to when/where I post.
I completely agree that content should not be blanket removed unless there is some very clear legal reason. And if members know content won't be removed should they leave the forum, then perhaps they (we!) will be judicious in what we type. As Col_C said, "it's all too easy to sit behind our keyboards in relative anonymity". Sort of like people in autos who cut off motorcyclists or behave in ways they never would were they not sitting anonymously behind their darkened windshields. (Well, they're darkened in the blazing sun of Arizona, anyway.)
My point exactly, I think posts to a public domain should remain unless the post is illegal or extremely offensive.
IIRC Andy started it mate, hence the disappearance. It's just a shame, there were some nice memories on there.
I knew Sprinter had gone but I didn’t know Andy had gone too. Such a shame I liked both of them. If a thread annoys me I’ll simply ignore it or derail it with a campervan tale, or post something about VStroms. That usually does the trick. I hope they come back and to prove my point Cyril the campervan and me are camped in Potsdam. What a fantastic city it is. Oops sorry!!
