Banned members don't show on the members list. And of course deleted ones don't exist at all.
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Banned members don't show on the members list. And of course deleted ones don't exist at all.
I've changed my forum name since the switch so the motorsport.com site has my old username (which was confusingly my real name). I looked back in on a guest account and found one of my old posts and it links quite clearly to my profile which has my msn address etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by kendra
I've now sent another message which was a bit more measured. TBH I think that they'd be better off deleting the posts altogether, I think people are far more likely to join a completely new forum than they are to join one which is quiet.
I just noticed that some of the threads in the Chit Chat forum are now closed for no apparent reason :cornfused:
And henners88 is showing up as a moderator :eek:
Now THAT I'd like to see, LOL :DQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I didn't swear, at all, I didnt even post in the forum itself. I sent them a message via their comment section on the survey and asked that I and all my posts be removed forthwith...and I even wished them luck!
I was gone in less than 30 minutes. As of my last check (yesterday) my info is STILL THERE.......
Im starting to think, however, that by banning me, they may have thought they were partially honoring my request (as Mark said, banned users don't show up in the user list) BUT with the thousands of posts still there, all one has to do is click on the name of the poster (me) and it goes straight to the profile page, banned or not. Im beginning to think they just really don't know what they are doing yet as evidenced by other user's posts in this thread alone....
It is obvious that I arrived quite late to the meeting and, therefore, something at a loss regarding what has been going on around here. From prior tidbits picked up here and there as well as persuing this thread, I now have something of a better idea as to what all the brouhaha seems to be about.
In all honesty, I had long forgotten that this forum even existed. I joined on 19 December 2003 and my last posting was on 24 May 2006 while I was still in either Iraq or Kuwait -- hard to say since I was always going back and forth at that time. It was my practice many years ago to observe -- and participate -- in various fora even while continuing to run The Nostalgia Forum at what was then still AtlasF1, which was later bought by Haymarket and is now Autosport.com.
I have something of a better appreciation than most here for what Mark might be experiencing since I no longer exist as far as Autosport is concerned. In mid-November 1999, "The Nostalgia Forum" -- better known as simply "TNF" -- was launched at AtlasF1. No, I did not name it, given that I was tied up with thinking about other things -- just an impeding assumption of command -- and had not given that much thought. The editor of Atlas, Bira Goren, decided on the name and given that I could not come up with anything she liked and the launch date was essentially "now," we went with her suggestion, a decision I have regretted everyday for over eleven years.
I should add that beginning in April 1999 I began writing a column entitled "Rear View Mirror" for the AtlasF1 Journal. It was this column and my basic disgust with the existing forum that led to TNF being created.
Through luck, good fortunate, and hard work, TNF actually and miraculously began to become what I had hoped, a forum devoted to automobile racing history, although with far too much nostalgia for my taste. However, the editor's wishes were the editor's wishes and better a forum that was a 60-75% or so solution than no forum at all. I will not go into much of the background, but there were more than a few disagreements and much stress in the relationship between yours truly and the editor over the direction of the forum and even the column. This eventually led to issues that finally reached the melting point on my part. After offering to buy the forum or at least renegotiate our arrangement, both of which fell through, essentially, I left before I was booted out.
Let me add that the forum had attracted the likes of Doug Nye, Karl Ludvigsen, Graham Gauld, David McKinney, and a number of others from that community to participate in that forum, plus others such as Vic Elford, Brian Redman, and even Dan Gurney to pop into the forum at various times. Plus, we tackled a number of sticky historical issues and often came to some resolution regarding them.
I did return after the "meltdown" of 2004, there was a very different ambiance and direction, the current moderator often being well-meaning, but is certainly not a historian by any measure. Informed and knowing to an extent, yes, but that is scarcely the same as being a historian. Not criticism as much as a reflection that he fit the mold that the editors past and present find more to their liking -- plus, he is British, a point in his favor given the change in ownership several years ago.
Despite the hard feelings, I did return to TNF simply because -- no offense -- there was not and is not anything that comes close to it regarding the discussion of automobile racing history generally available. Even in its greatly diminished form, TNF still manages to remain the class of the genre, which is, to be blunt, not all that much of a challenge given the competition -- again, no offense meant, simply stating bald facts. Indeed, I did continue to contribute to those discussions I thought worthwhile and ignored the rest of the rubbish and fluff, which had now become the mainstay of the forum.
However, I no longer exist at TNF. As either "Don Capps" or "H Donald Capps" my existence has been zapped into the eternal ether, to the infinite and beyond, as they say. The heavy-handedness and utter stupidity of those running Autosport.com continues to amaze me. For inexplicable reasons I was recently given the aforementioned heave-ho as a forum participant. No ugly posts or bricks through the screen, simply the all too usual small-mindedness of that ilk.
Which, finally, brings me to this, the reason that motivated me to write this post in the first place:
This was, indeed, one of my questions that I posed to the nameless, faceless entities running the Autosport site: their stance is that they own the rights* to whatever is posted, a position which, naturally, I not only questioned but expressed my objections to rather loudly. That no one ever bothered to respond to my queries regarding this was, I realized, the typical way that they handled such things. Then one day, no warning or rationale provided, I was vanished. Not banned, but simply ceased to exist, my existence blotted from the record, an act similar to what Winston Smith may have performed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
Although my brief in the "goodness" of fora as a means for encouraging and furthering the discussion and research into topic relating to automobile racing history is scarcely a single percent of what it once was some years ago, I still think that it is worth the effort to continue that effort, even as hopeless and fruitless as it seems to be. There seems to be generally information-rich environment on the internet which continues to be staggeringly knowledge-poor. Despite a lessening of any real hope of accomplishing my original goal I set for TNF, the professorial streak in me prods me to continue the quest, although I am now on the cusp of finally throwing in the towel and restricting my time to my other writing.
At any rate, interesting to wind up here solely because I got an email regarding a forum I had long since forgotten and then read all the trials and tribulations that Mark and others are experiencing.
HDC
* Note: This was actually round two of a disagreement regarding my writings, the Atlas editor and I have a sharp disagreement as to whom actually owned what was written in my many coiumns from 1999 to 2004.
Interesting post, thanks for sharing. Before I started this forum I did used to read AtlasF1 and remember your name from there. I hope you can stick around and share some of your insights here.
got the PM on 23rd Jan 11 but the link had been change to take me back therestill waiting to get a ban from thereQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
Still no replies to my many attempts at contact. I've now put a message up on their facebook page in the hope that they'll pay more attention.
Success!!! Tried logging in on the off chance and it seems that I had limited priveleges so could delete all my information :D