Topic

You need to post more though as your post count is low.

cjj wrote: wrote:

I haven't had one warning yet. I feel left out.

Maybe it is just their way of blocking people they don't like.

Just saying.

Just had a quick look, no warnings, going to do a sweep of the computer now just to see if its got owt on it.

I'm exhausted, the last 96 hours dancing on the .Cult grave has really taken it out of me.

As an aside, I can't tell you how much pleasure I got watching John give Phil the online hiding of his life the other day, Phil is a defenceless buffoon without his moderators badge to hide behind.

My mummy told me it was wicked to mock the afflicted.

and by wicked she probably meant fun

There's an excellent business book called 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell , it details the cumulative effect of small, sometimes seemingly unrelated events that combine to become a movement or change.

This website and forum is a case in point. It's a major effort to set up, run and successfully steer a vehicle such as this however it also wouldn't exist if the creators hadn't felt that their interests were being under served in one way or another by the existing F/TF forums. The fact that it's busy and becoming busier also indicates that the target audience also agree.

In simple terms, the decline of .Cult was inevitable due to the way it has traditionally been managed, there is a management culture of superiority that utterly believes in it's own infallibility and is powerful enough to take seemingly ordinary people in and with the simple addition of moderator status, turn them into arrogant megalomaniac monsters - I guess a more viable prognosis would be that they are very carefully recruited for their personality traits.
These same moderators take example from the very top, becoming incapable of admitting neither error nor mistake and who's first reaction to any dissent is to blame the customer and ban those too strong to capitulate
Both they and admin have been the main contributor to the downfall.

The start of the decline in my eyes was with the banning of 'Mega'.
Here was a character who continually poked a sharp stick in the side of many .Cult posters with short inflammatory posts containing just a tiny grain of twisted truth who used to illicite an indignant fiery response from the regulars, in short, he was very good for business.
Moderators feared Mega simply because he was more eloquent than they but eventually one of them plucked up the courage and banned him.
The regular punters applauded and the mods felt vindicated, none of them realising that banning punters from the pub because their views aren't aligned with yours is a dangerous precedent, the first time is the hardest and then inevitably becomes routine.

Some of the .Cult moderators quickly became hooked on the power of life over death and started banning willy-nilly.

The next and most destructive phase was when the punters, the posters, the contributors, the very lifeblood of the forum protested at a series of utterly banal moderation decisions only to be told by the owner, '.Cult is not a democracy' and to be also told by admin '.Cult is a business and belongs solely to the owner to be run in any way he sees fit'.

The abject arrogance of the management was laid out for all to see when posters, who's only crime was eloquently protesting at injustice, were banned sin die in a miscalculated move to terrify the regulars into submission, for the first time this tactic failed miserably, honorable moderators resigned in horror and the 'The Tipping Point' had finally been reached.

Regular posters found that the grass was indeed greener on the other side and quietly started to drift away to other forums that weren't businesses masquerading as communities.

Despite massaging and then eventually withholding the poster figures in an East German style attempt to manage the truth, the owner was forced to offload the forum whilst it still retained some monetary value.

The malware issue is the final nail in the coffin, the flare that sent the final passengers running for the lifeboats.

In short, the warning from the watchman was banning Mega, the Iceberg was Curgy and Mogatrons.

This was a fine ship let down by an inept and arrogant crew who openly despised the passengers, I shall raise a glass as I watch it silently and inexorably slip beneath the cold, steel grey waves.
Anyone Still Awake At The Back?

Sheefag wrote: wrote:

Anyone Still Awake At The Back?

I'm still listening. It was all very interesting and I'm sure that the percieved Coup d'état was the reasons behind taking out those thought to be the ringleaders.

It's not rocket science to know, nowadays, that power corrupts. So, if you put the right people in charge those selective removals will be easy enough to do. But not so easy to explain. However it will make the remaining folks reticent. I much prefer freedom of speech myself too... and that means everyone.

What isn't covered in the interesting explanation above is; the viewpoint from the other side. Did they percieve a loss of control? Could they see cliques forming, percieved bullying and their positions under threat? Anarchy creeping in. I dare say they did. The unknown ulterior motives were threatened and the rest is history.

When it's all said and done, my opinion is that the forum lost sight of its' original reason for being and the general theme. The MG car and fixing hgf.

Hopefully, we won't lose sight of that too much here. It can't be that hard to promote fun, events, fixes and so on. We're not letting Bongo back in at any cost though.

For some reason I read that post in the voice of the creater in the final matrix

Interesting points well made Leigh but I think you have nothing to fear.
There is an open and honest culture here that doesn't take itself too seriously and polices itself with common sense.
I feel that anyone who began to think themselves more worthy and superior to others would very quickly find their bubble quickly pricked and deflated by the community as a whole in a theatrical style.

In short, The T-Bar actually IS the community that posters mistakenly THOUGHT .Cult was.

.Cult was always a business, The T-Bar has always been and remains, a community.

Personally, I read the whole thing in the voice of Morgan Freeman, and I applaud the the sentiments of the previous speakers,
Although we have been criticised as a bunch of happy-clappy acid trippers by some, I want to say that if this forum is a happy-clappy trip, then I'm really glad I took the correct coloured pill.
Mods on here are chosen for their commitment to MG cars with their little foibles, and knowledge of some of the answers. They were also chosen for their willingness to see the other person's point of view.

.............and it works David, the increase in numbers are testament to that.

Now get yourself a proper avatar....or you're banned!