Just some thoughts from another forum site>>>
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Just some thoughts from another forum site>>>
I am a member of the C6 (Corvette) forum over at Corvette Action Center.com and I found this editorial written by Rob (owns site) interesting and applicable to any forum...in particular I still think (and sadly so) of the fragmentation of this forum about a year ago...:
It's been a while since I've actually sat down to write an editorial for this column so I figured I'd make the time now and just do it.
2003 was a rough year for me both personally and professionally. As some of you may have noticed, I wasn't around here much during the last quarter of 2003. For various reasons, I had to realign my priorities which, to say the least, were pretty screwed up. A lot of reflection and soul-searching was done in respect to various aspects of my life and some of it proved to be positive and productive while some of it proved to be catastrophic and destructive. You win some, you lose some...
I think one of the most important lessons I learned out of 2003 is, you can't please everyone and there are some people who you will never be able to please. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way through the loss of someone that was very close to me. As you go through life, you realize, some people will never be happy and can never be pleased - no matter what you do or say or think. The lesson to learn here, is how to identify those individuals quickly, before you end up putting yourself six feet under trying to please them.
Freedom of Speech
Here within the forums, we saw a tremendous amount of growth. In many ways, we're starting to experience some of the teething problems associated with large amounts of growth in short periods of time. The primary teething problem that we ran into was the question of freedom of speech here in the forums.
Just so that we're absolutely clear on what the first amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights states:
Quote:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
It's interesting to note here that this Amendment basically states, that the U.S. government cannot make any laws that prohibit freedom of speech, etc. This law was established for the U.S. government and not the citizens of the U.S. The freedom of speech is something that we all understand to be a basic, inherent freedom of a human being. Some would argue that it's a God-granted right.
December of 2003 proved to test this amendement in respects to how it's handled here in the forums in relation to honoring embargoes; particularly the embargo set forth by General Motors on certain C6 Corvette pictures and documentation that was leaked.
Because we were working with automotive journalist, Hib Halverson in conjunction with General Motors to release that information here, AFTER the embargo was lifted at 12:01 am, January 1, 2004, I chose to honor that embargo and establish a public rule, or law stating that if any forum members posted those select C6 photographs, or the information (RPO codes, specifications, etc.) that were covered under the embargo, those individuals would be banned from these forums.
Was it an extreme stance to take? Yes, and maybe I should have exercised just a little more ease. However, given past experiences, when I've been easy and vague on some issues, there's always been those few individuals who feel the need to test the boundaries and see how far they can push the limits. Due to the nature of this issue - the GM embargo, I made it a point to be extremely clear and concise on where I stood leaving no room for interpretation or argument. From that point on, members had a choice - either go along with the rule and honor the embargo, or don't honor the embargo and risk being banned.
As expected several individuals decided to take an opposing stance and clearly state that I had no right to infringe on their first amendment rights. On the contrary, I have every right to do so if I so choose. I am not the United States Government and I have no responsibility to abide by the first amendment. What some people forget to realize is, I own and operate the Corvette Action Center. I pay the bills such as the software, the servers and the bandwidth. I pay the bills for some of the content, such as the C6 Intro article by Hib Halverson as well as another feature article coming in May of this year. We have some revenue that comes in from company advertising and a little bit of money comes in from those forum members who wish to contribute whatever they want and become a Supporting Member, but for the most part, the money for this web site comes out of my pocket.
I have a separate job that pays to put food on my table and pays to keep this site up and running for everyone to access on the web. Therefore, when I choose to honor an embargo set forth by General Motors, that is my choice, and I have every right to make that choice, honor that embargo and enforce it here in the forums.
Since I've heard more lies and mis-information regarding this issue in the last few months, I want to clearly state, yet again: General Motors does not financially support the Corvette Action Center in any matter, shape or form. I do not work for General Motors. I am not an employee of General Motors. I am not an independent contractor working for General Motors. There is no legal or insitutional documents outlining any type of working relationship between me/the Corvette Action Center and General Motors.
It was my choice to honor the embargo set forth. Why? Because by doing so, we will hopefully be able to continue to provide exclusive Corvette information, like the C6 Intro. article by Hib here before anyone else does. The other reason I chose to honor the embargo is because those pictures and information were secured as "confidential only". Information is deemed "confidential" for a reason. It was my personal choice to insure that the Corvette Action Center kept that degree of confidentiality. These are the two, and only reasons why I chose to honor the embargo.
If you choose to view that as kissing GM's ***, or sucking up to GM, so be it. When you run your own web site and pay the bills for its operation, you can do what you want when it comes to dealing with GM.
Respect Your Fellow Forum Members
The other issue we've had to deal with recently is the "perceived quality" of a few select members in terms of what they do or do not contribute to the overall quality of the Corvette Action Center.
Sexual orientation has suddenly come under the spotlight here in the forums. Since I've already dealt with this whole issue over and over and over again, let me just simply restate a few points:
The Corvette Action Center will not discriminate against anyone regardless of race, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
If you feel that a member is providing information that may be erroneous, it is your responsibility as a member of this community to speak up, and correct that member and help out your fellow forum members by providing the correct information.
If you feel that a member is intentionally providing mis-information, then you have a responsibility to bring this member to the attention of someone within the administration so that they can handle it properly.
If another member irritates you, or you just want to ignore that member all together, click on the UserCP link in the upper left hand corner of the blue navigation bar. In the left hand menu on the next page, go to Buddy/Ignore List and enter that member's username in your Ignore list. Simple as that.
These forums exist for the exchange of Corvette related information between owners and enthusiasts. There are no requirements for membership here - regardless of ownership status, sex, race, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
Some members feel that I have "slacked" off from enforcing what it is we stand for, when in fact, I have not. I haven't said anything above that I have not said here time and time again. If someone is a Corvette owner or enthusiast, that is ALL that matters here. Try to be a better human being, put some of your personal differences aside and try to broaden your horizons just a bit, rather than living within a tube utilizing a one-frame mind. You don't necessarily have to accept everything, but there's also no reason to persecute either.
It's been a while since I've actually sat down to write an editorial for this column so I figured I'd make the time now and just do it.
2003 was a rough year for me both personally and professionally. As some of you may have noticed, I wasn't around here much during the last quarter of 2003. For various reasons, I had to realign my priorities which, to say the least, were pretty screwed up. A lot of reflection and soul-searching was done in respect to various aspects of my life and some of it proved to be positive and productive while some of it proved to be catastrophic and destructive. You win some, you lose some...
I think one of the most important lessons I learned out of 2003 is, you can't please everyone and there are some people who you will never be able to please. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way through the loss of someone that was very close to me. As you go through life, you realize, some people will never be happy and can never be pleased - no matter what you do or say or think. The lesson to learn here, is how to identify those individuals quickly, before you end up putting yourself six feet under trying to please them.
Freedom of Speech
Here within the forums, we saw a tremendous amount of growth. In many ways, we're starting to experience some of the teething problems associated with large amounts of growth in short periods of time. The primary teething problem that we ran into was the question of freedom of speech here in the forums.
Just so that we're absolutely clear on what the first amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights states:
Quote:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
It's interesting to note here that this Amendment basically states, that the U.S. government cannot make any laws that prohibit freedom of speech, etc. This law was established for the U.S. government and not the citizens of the U.S. The freedom of speech is something that we all understand to be a basic, inherent freedom of a human being. Some would argue that it's a God-granted right.
December of 2003 proved to test this amendement in respects to how it's handled here in the forums in relation to honoring embargoes; particularly the embargo set forth by General Motors on certain C6 Corvette pictures and documentation that was leaked.
Because we were working with automotive journalist, Hib Halverson in conjunction with General Motors to release that information here, AFTER the embargo was lifted at 12:01 am, January 1, 2004, I chose to honor that embargo and establish a public rule, or law stating that if any forum members posted those select C6 photographs, or the information (RPO codes, specifications, etc.) that were covered under the embargo, those individuals would be banned from these forums.
Was it an extreme stance to take? Yes, and maybe I should have exercised just a little more ease. However, given past experiences, when I've been easy and vague on some issues, there's always been those few individuals who feel the need to test the boundaries and see how far they can push the limits. Due to the nature of this issue - the GM embargo, I made it a point to be extremely clear and concise on where I stood leaving no room for interpretation or argument. From that point on, members had a choice - either go along with the rule and honor the embargo, or don't honor the embargo and risk being banned.
As expected several individuals decided to take an opposing stance and clearly state that I had no right to infringe on their first amendment rights. On the contrary, I have every right to do so if I so choose. I am not the United States Government and I have no responsibility to abide by the first amendment. What some people forget to realize is, I own and operate the Corvette Action Center. I pay the bills such as the software, the servers and the bandwidth. I pay the bills for some of the content, such as the C6 Intro article by Hib Halverson as well as another feature article coming in May of this year. We have some revenue that comes in from company advertising and a little bit of money comes in from those forum members who wish to contribute whatever they want and become a Supporting Member, but for the most part, the money for this web site comes out of my pocket.
I have a separate job that pays to put food on my table and pays to keep this site up and running for everyone to access on the web. Therefore, when I choose to honor an embargo set forth by General Motors, that is my choice, and I have every right to make that choice, honor that embargo and enforce it here in the forums.
Since I've heard more lies and mis-information regarding this issue in the last few months, I want to clearly state, yet again: General Motors does not financially support the Corvette Action Center in any matter, shape or form. I do not work for General Motors. I am not an employee of General Motors. I am not an independent contractor working for General Motors. There is no legal or insitutional documents outlining any type of working relationship between me/the Corvette Action Center and General Motors.
It was my choice to honor the embargo set forth. Why? Because by doing so, we will hopefully be able to continue to provide exclusive Corvette information, like the C6 Intro. article by Hib here before anyone else does. The other reason I chose to honor the embargo is because those pictures and information were secured as "confidential only". Information is deemed "confidential" for a reason. It was my personal choice to insure that the Corvette Action Center kept that degree of confidentiality. These are the two, and only reasons why I chose to honor the embargo.
If you choose to view that as kissing GM's ***, or sucking up to GM, so be it. When you run your own web site and pay the bills for its operation, you can do what you want when it comes to dealing with GM.
Respect Your Fellow Forum Members
The other issue we've had to deal with recently is the "perceived quality" of a few select members in terms of what they do or do not contribute to the overall quality of the Corvette Action Center.
Sexual orientation has suddenly come under the spotlight here in the forums. Since I've already dealt with this whole issue over and over and over again, let me just simply restate a few points:
The Corvette Action Center will not discriminate against anyone regardless of race, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
If you feel that a member is providing information that may be erroneous, it is your responsibility as a member of this community to speak up, and correct that member and help out your fellow forum members by providing the correct information.
If you feel that a member is intentionally providing mis-information, then you have a responsibility to bring this member to the attention of someone within the administration so that they can handle it properly.
If another member irritates you, or you just want to ignore that member all together, click on the UserCP link in the upper left hand corner of the blue navigation bar. In the left hand menu on the next page, go to Buddy/Ignore List and enter that member's username in your Ignore list. Simple as that.
These forums exist for the exchange of Corvette related information between owners and enthusiasts. There are no requirements for membership here - regardless of ownership status, sex, race, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation.
Some members feel that I have "slacked" off from enforcing what it is we stand for, when in fact, I have not. I haven't said anything above that I have not said here time and time again. If someone is a Corvette owner or enthusiast, that is ALL that matters here. Try to be a better human being, put some of your personal differences aside and try to broaden your horizons just a bit, rather than living within a tube utilizing a one-frame mind. You don't necessarily have to accept everything, but there's also no reason to persecute either.
AudiWorld Super User
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,933
Likes: 0
Very wise editorial. Rob's way of thinking is so open-minded, as it should be. Thanks Michael.
I mean, everything written in there, it's not only about the Corvette forum and its regulations, but it's generally on the way people should behave and act through their everyday life right? This is the best way of thinking and behaving towards others, as civilised people.
But what happened to him? Did his wife divorce him?
But what happened to him? Did his wife divorce him?
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