Fellas... I've had enough...
 

There are social cliques in this community... And through posts on the forum as well as through private messages, these cliques seem to be constantly battling each other and seemingly measuring each other's manhood.

The reasoning behind it all baffles me. This is, after all, just a forum about old Fords. I can't, no matter how hard I try, find a rational reason for anyone to attack or ridicule another person over an old Ford.

I have a whole bunch of kids. One of them is 9 and her class recently got to debate on the lunch menu - what is served on what days and things like that. Now if you have a 9 year old, you know how important this is to them. It's like three or four on their life priority list.

Anyway, the parents were told to sit on the sidelines and let the kids go at it while the teacher moderated. They argued back and forth over things like pizza and burgers for an entire hour. In that hour, not a single 9 year old called another 9 year old a name... And not a single 9 year old told another 9 year old to "shut up."

Amazing given the way some of you guys treat each other, isn't it?

I have a theory. Kids are honest. Kids are wholesome. They haven't been tainted by society and they haven't had their ego stomped on by years of the kinds of abuse life can bring. Grown men on the internet, however, are entirely different. Some of them aren't honest. Most aren't wholesome. Some have battered egos. Hide them behind a computer screen with a silly username and an avatar and all of this is amplified to the point of nausea.

If we were all at a bar having this conversation, do you think anyone of you would tell anyone else in the conversation to "shut the fuck up?" And if you did, how long do you think you would be welcome in the group?

So why on earth would you do it on a forum about old Fords?

I believe it's because some of you like the feeling of being something online you really aren't in real life. And some of you like to act online in a way that you are too scared to act offline. In either case, I don't like to host these kinds of fellas. I would rather them not be on my forum at all. Maybe that's my issue... Maybe I should be more understanding of these folks, but I've failed miserably when I have tried.

In any case, I'm done. I'm done baby sitting a bunch of kids at a name calling party.

- Want call some other guy a name because you disagree with him? Your account is gone.

- Want to constantly report another member's posts because you feel he is doing the same to you? Your account is gone.

- Want to team up on another group of members with all your buddies? All of your accounts are gone.

In short, I'm done fellas. It's either you or me... And it isn't gonna be me.

Note: To those of you that are just here to enjoy old Fords, learn a thing or two, or teach something to the masses - please excuse this post and understand that in order to end all of the drama, you might start to see some really common names around here gone.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Well said and THANK YOU!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

wow, what can be said? there are guys in here that are afraid to post because of some of the more aggressive people on here, well said Ryan

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

OK by me!

I'm here to talk about fixin' and drivin' Old Fords!

8-)

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Understood.
In the future if I feel compelled to send a PM to someone I will request their email and do it off line. That way my impressions, and opinions will be only known to myself and one other person.
Bob

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ryan,
I just wanted to reaffirm the value of Ford Barn. I'm a newer Model A owner and folks on this site have been a treasure trove of useful information and help. I will admit that 90% has come though the private message system. There are a lot of wonderful people on this forum that want to help people like me but don't want to be attacked for it. Someday I may have enough knowledge on these old Fords to pay it forward.
Thanks for the site,
Hugh Howell

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

That time has come and gone.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I appreciate your comments and action. My hope is the message board will be a better one. Thank you for sponsoring it for us old car guys.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

No problems here. To the best of my knowledge I have only offended one person here and did so after being publicly attacked. If it was more than one, it was purely on accident. My only goals here are to restore my delivery and find and share the changes and truth about some details of their production. Dispelling hearsay and misprinted info on them is part of the journey. Yes, I ask the difficult questions to get a feel for the info I seek. Hopefully next summer I will have enough info to go to the Benson and effectively research the leads.

I am the senior man and trainer on a maintenance crew of 5, with a supervisor that is only there for the first hour of our shift. Two of the mechanics are alittle green. So I have enough drama in my life. Rod

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Well said!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

As the long-time rootadmin of a forum for a competitive hobby, I feel your pain.

Isn't it always the case that a small percentage of the members in any situation absorb the vast majority of one's attention by causing the most problems? As, in any group or organization, a small percentage do the vast majority of the useful work.

You'll never be able to admin a forum to suit the preferences of every member, so admin to suit your own preferences and let the chips fall where they may.

My goal is to run my forum in such a way that I'd want to be a member of it, if I wasn't the nutcase running the asylum.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ban me so I can get off the forum and get something done!!

Ryan, much better to vent and ban than to start the slippery slope of censorship.

Good on you, John

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Please don't start waving the censorship flag. This is a private forum and therefore this is no guarantee of freedom of speech here.

The way things are these days in most countries, I'm not sure there is such a guarantee anywhere.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Well said! All boils down that there are always a few that thinks they have larger balls than others and they might have but that's really pointless here as Model A's with 40HP, which really is not much balls less one puts one of those plastic ones on the rear bumper..

Tossing some bad fruit for the sake of the basket is always a wise thing to do.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

If requiring members of this forum to be civil with each other or, at the very least, to ignore those they don't get along with is an act of censorship, well then... consider me a censor.

Point being, opinions are cool fellas. Opinions will always be welcomed. However, if you can't express an opinion without bagging another person in the process, then this forum will not cater to you.

This is really just a matter of simple manners. Our parents taught us this, right? So, it shouldn't be too hard to extend those principles to a forum about old Fords.

As a forum admin with limited hours in a day to tend to admin manners, the really hard part of all of this to me is this:

I have about ten members that are constantly complaining about one another. If I had the time, I'd go back and look at years of post history to see who started what... But I don't. Further, I don't really care too... It's not fun... and this is supposed to be fun for me too... But because I don't have this context, I have no side in any of these arguments and long standing hate fests. Instead, I tell each side to simply be nice to each other, ignore each other, and move on.

You what the typical response to this is? They ignore me... and continue bashing each other on a forum that I provide to them at no cost what so ever.

That's really the part I'm done with. I'm essentially wiping the slate clean at this point and giving these people one last chance. But, that's it...

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Not waving any flags here, nor expecting a guarantee of freedom of speech.
I have witnessed censorship (editing content) over the years a couple other sites that tried it and lost. There are engines available to squelch unwanted content and language, Ryan does alright as far as I am concerned.

If some users are banned, so be it.
John

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Fine with me I am happy with the rules

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Wish vBulletin had a like button...

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

So I guess if you type out something when you are upset, you need to wait a bit before you post it and re-read it. If it ain't nice, then perhaps you shouldn't print it.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Great news! Throw the bums out. Carry on!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I'm not here that much so thankfully I have missed the problem Ryan has pointed out but I am very active on the Hamb and have seen things get nasty.

I have always thought that fighting on the internet and name calling is childish but in reality kids act better than some adults on some of the forums.

I don't know the party's are that have been at each other throat but when it comes to the attention of the Boss and it's his sandbox and he offers to reset the clock you guys need listen. HRP

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

There is no need nor call to be nasty to anyone on this forum. We are all here for the same love of Old Fords. Today I got a beautiful '31 tudor in my shop for a new pinstripe job. Ain't life lovely?

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I have felt for a while now that some people are a bit precious which, if so, would make the moderator's job very difficult. It is also easy to misinterpret a post, especially when there is a difference between nationalities. There are small differences in how people from one country relate to others compared to how those in another country do. That can easily lead to unintentional offence.
Ryan, I appreciate what you do and all the time you spend doing it. I thank you for that but don't envy you job.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

My 2 cents: Yes there are nationality differences but for me I just find it flat out amazing people halfway around the world in a different season can communicate and send pictures to one another! Gotta remember when our Model A's were new only 70% of homes in the USA had electricity!

I really enjoy learning about our differences as that's what makes us who we are as a country and even region specifics within a country (like coke VS soda VS pop VS soda pop etc). Id love to travel to Europe and visit my family's homeland of Finland but Ive yet to be outside of the US - I have been to Canada but I dont count that as that was pre-passport era:p

On all the different forums I belong to usually its "the foreigners" (no offense) first apologizing for their bad English skills, while most of the time they are the ones speaking correctly...I cant say Ive ever seen anyone "bash" someone from another country on a forum - besides the occasional poking fun:D

Also lest we not forget the ol saying: "There is more than one way to skin a cat" - Most of what we have today was invented from people surrounded by naysayers so just because there is a great written method out there to do a task maybe that just means a better one is to be discovered or put in writing.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Exactly the reasons why Ahooga is almost dead..

Larry

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ryan,
I "think" it's mostly to do with BIG HEADS & EGOS---Some have to PROVE they know MORE than the average Dude. EVERYONE'S insecure, some just don't ADMIT it! I worked with a really decent tech, promoted to Service Manager, became a DICK & wuz GONE in 3 Months!---He thought he was THE PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD, instead of looking for Techs doing GOOD things & COMMENDING them for it!
Chief said, " WE'RE ALL CHILDREN, IN OOOLD SKINS"!
On The Barn, it's EASY to figure out who knows their SHIT. I try to only critique, when BAD or INCORRECT info is posted, we don't want mis-lead or screw up someone. We MUST post responsibly, this stuff is read WORLDWIDE!!
I do the "humor" to help someone REMEMBER some GOOD, PROVEN advice & to make some LONELY or HURTING person to LAFF, if for only a Minute or so.
I'm no ANGEL, though, you've BANNED me, temporarily, 2 times, glad you let me back on.
AND, I "think" my skin's grown THICKER, I rarely BRUISE anymore, BUT, it didn't help the 79 years of WRINKLES.
Would one of you buy the house, across the street & HELP me finish VERMIN? Buster T. makes GOOD COFFEE, too.
Bill W. & Buster T.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I enjoy this sight. Thank you for making it even better. I like your rules. I was in a famous preacher's office in Frisco, TX a while back and he has a big sign behind his desk that says "Be Nice or Get Out". I liked it!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I haven't been apart of the forum that long, but luckily haven't been attacked for asking questions from my very little knowledge of these fine great cars we are all interested in.

One thing people need to keep in mind about others points of view is we are all a part of the same species and there are much bigger problems on this earth than these old Fords or people's different perspectives/opinions about them.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I know of several knowledgeable posters who have quit, myself included, for several reasons, which include open attacks on the forum and hate mails via PM. It is tiring.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I don't read any of the childish crap you're talking about. I'm all about the cars, and the great answers this site offers. Keep up the good work Ryan.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I don't either...I look at this place as another tool in my tool box. Yes I have a computer in my shop and I use it as a tool for research while I am out there enjoying, preserving and bringing these great automobiles back to life.

Ryan...you are lucky you only have ten bad apples to deal with considering how many people come through here daily.

If it was me I would ban them immediately and post there user names as an example.

Great post by the way. I think you really nailed the reason why these people do what they do.

Thanks.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ok, everybody, how about a group hug!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I'm so stupid I don't even know what he's talking about!
I just post what I know when I know it.
Try to leave editorials to the Sunday paper!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Even the Guy with B.O, that smells like STINK BAIT???:eek:
Bill W.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Yes Bill, even him. 😨

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ryan- Thanks for all that you do for the vintage car (and hot rod) community. I appreciate that you keep this place "clean" for those of us who want to play nice. I am not sure if there is (was) a specific thread that caused this particular incident, but I trust your judgement and respect all you do for us. Those that can't play nice can sit by themselves in a corner!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

I agree!!!!!!!

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Bill, I thought bringing political opinions onto the Barn was prohibited???? :D:D

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Henry,
My Dear departed wife, Pat, had a sign in her IRS office, "I AIN'T YO' MOMMA"!!
Bill W.

Re: Fellas... I've had enough...
 

Ryan,
Here's a partial-solution used by another forum I'm on: require actual names in the signature area.

That is why my name is there. I put my name on everything I say.

A name and phone number might be even better. People are less likely to slam others when they know they can be gotten to. Take your name or number off your signature, and your account is suspended.