This sounds like good advice. If you limit your visits to the Model Specific Forums, you'll avoid 90% of the time consuming general discussion topics and reap the benefits of the car-related information being shared.
I did the same thing with Facebook about 6 months ago. I was spending a LOT of time on there. It is easy to do. When you log on there are always a million friends who have updated their pics and it is easy to spend an hour going through them all EVERY DAY. If any of you doubt it, check the time when you log onto FChat or Facebook next time and then check it when you are done. I would bet that 90% of the people here are online an hour every day just "screwing around". And many of them have families that would sure love to hang out with them more. Funny thing is when I left Facebook, NO ONE noticed for 3 weeks. Not my best friends. Not my 500+ Facebook "friends". Not even my wife. It REALLY validated my decision that I was wasting my time on there. Simply, no one missed me enough to notice. Ha! I felt SO good deleting my Facebook account. It was seriously one less thing I felt like I had to do in my day. I have noticed a WAY more relaxed quality of life in my "downtime". I am able to just "chill out" rather than get on Facebook to check "what my friends are up to." Facebook, the *******s that they are, are like the crack dealer though. When you deactivate your account, they say "We will be here when you get back. Just re-enter your password and your ID and your account will re-appear." Internet addiction is VERY real. For those who don't think you are addicted, try giving it up for a week and spend that time working out or with your family. I'll bet 50% of you right now are saying "But I enjoy my time on here. It helps me relax. This is my free time. I am not addicted, it is just fun. I could quit anytime I want to." Those are the exact same things an alcoholic or smoker say. Try it. See if you can do it for a week.
That doesn't sound like a bad idea; I'll take that into consideration. Thanks. Facebook account has just been deleted. -G.B.
Do you feel like a HUGE weight was just lifted off your shoulders? I did. It was like "Wow, I guess I have all this free time now to do whatever I want."
In a way it does, I think it'll grow over time and I start to realize how un-important facebook really is. -G.B.
And, you can bookmark just that part of fchat, so that you aren't even tempted to open up a thread in one of the other forums. Here's the link: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=62
Thank you for that. I'll just bookmark that page and my regional page (Northern Nevada/California). Those will be the only sections I will use. Thanks again. I'll definitely keep in touch. I'll still have my Flickr so I'll be looking forward to seeing all your new shots and what-not. We'll keep in touch. Best, -G.B.
Exactly what I did. I was running my mouth too much. Now I just get all the car stuff and go on about my day.
Yep. It will. When you aren't checking it 5 times a day, you start to realize how lame it is to check it 5 times a day. When you step back, it almost does seem compulsive like a junkie trying to get their fix.
In most cases the "announcement" people end up coming back. For whatever reason they feel like they're getting out of balance at the time and wind up back later. Kinda like they're going into rehab for a while. Balance is the key to pretty much everything.
All the best GB - hats off to you for recognizing a problem and acting on it. Also very good of you to share the reason to everyone here - I don't think many would do that. You never know who you may be helping so chances are your last post was a positive one. Troy
Well, I respect your decision. I think ferrarichat has been your own personal coming of age story, hence your metaphor, it has been a fun ride, but this is my stop. By deleting your ferrarichat you are moving into a new age, one where you don't post 2.44 posts on a forum per day, well, or so I hope. Anyways, I think deleting this might help with your paranoia also, since for some weird reason you thought I wasn't a real person, cordially inviting you to come to my house, in mountain view, pre paid flight, and pay you to take photos of my vehicles. Maybe, just maybe, ferraichat breeds paranoid schizophrenics. But, then again, maybe not. In the end all I'm saying is I'm happy that you are leaving this forum, because if you were to stay on here I would have to sue you for putting up confidential emails I sent you. Because I am a nice guy though I'm not pressing charges seeing as how you are supposedly deleting this, which brings to the next part, the part where you said you were deleting your account eleven days ago, yet you had three posts in the spotter threadnyesterday alone. So, my only advice is stop crying wolf, being an attention grabbing monger, telling everyone your addiction sob story to a stupid forum that you care so much about you feel the need to tell people you are leaving. Good luck in figuring your life out. -James
Wow, James... THAT's a mouthful... I suppose the lesson here is that there is ALWAYS a dissenting opinion. Always. Mike
I just read the threads you are talking about and I think you are being a bit harsh on the guy to be honest. He never actually named you in his posts where he posted your emails. You sent him a picture of a RHD car that was taken in London, when you are in the USA, which would ring alarm bells with me to be honest. When he questioned this you got pretty shirty with him without properly answering the question about why the car in the picture was a RHD one and taken in London. This would ring further alarm bells with me! The responses on the thread from other members were generally to this effect. Also the guy is only 19 years old, and it sounds like you were one of the first people to give him any work (apart from his friends messing him about with "pranks") Maybe he's doing the right thing going offline, if it's become an addiction for him.
James, you're fairly new here, as am I. So you may not know this. Also, you might never think to pretend you're someone you're not. But it's not that uncommon for pathetic people to make up stories about themselves, or their cars, and post them here. The BS detectors of the FChat veterans are very highly developed. As lightning said, to a young guy, the idea of some guy transporting his car from the UK to California, offering him a job, some of it sounded too good to be true. 2.44 posts a day is too high?!
