Tony, You have been the voice of moderation and compromise in the late evenst; your contribution to this site is beyond challenge. I am neither ironic nor cynic here - browsing at some of past treads, there is little doubt that what you have done for this site is here to stay. Having said all that makes it even more difficult to understand the somewhat biased nature of some of your latest remarks:- Indeed? I have posted few Ferraris Spotted myself and could see other posts as well. Do you numbers to support that claim? And, while at a certain point I would have agreed with you about the trolling bit, I do my second thought. Having toned down his post I think UFO deserves the benefit of the doubt. I seriously do not wish to turn this into another UFO tread; all I can ask is, do you apply here the same criteria you have applied as a moderator before pressing the Ban button. I do not wish to criticise but to provide some food for thoughts. I think Wax is right; the past belong to the past, in life, love and conflict. The 'other site is a fact; the UK section of this one, revised and toned down as it is, is another fact. I see little reason to continue the debate about past events. There is too much future for both site to waste energy on the past.
I still sense a hint of anger, but not sure why? Don't you think UK users are better off with your new community regardless of how it came about? I didn't see it coming, but was fighting the "effects" of a regional community that needed more than what FerrariChat.com UK could offer. Most pains on FerrariChat.com have always been related to growing pains. Looking back this is the best thing that could happen for everyone. FerrariChat.com UK users are already active elsewhere on FerrariChat.com and those forums are the core of FerrariChat.com. FerrariChat.com UK will just become what all other FerrariChat.com regional forums are and your community will have the full benefits of a club, local administration, and no international compromised standards holding you back. I'm really happy for you guys. As far as the personal hate towards me, I don't know what to say. I had become friends with many of you over the years and some things you have said hurt my feelings. Even today talking things over with Sletti there are still huge communication gaps between us and he has been as close to me as anyone, so I can only imagine the miscommunication the other users have received. The root causes for this are numerous, but I don't see a resolution as long as there is "group think" mob mentality. Our doors are open and they always have been for Ferrari enthusiasts with a positive attitude about our community. Those on the flip side that only want to destroy FerrariChat.com are not welcome and you thankfully have other options. Respect FerrariChat.com for what it is and go elsewhere for what it isn't.
I think Fchat UK's loss is Fcars gain. I'm not angry, more saddened that you feel that what's been built up over 4 years wasn't worth keeping . While heated words were exchanged on both sides , i don't see any hatred . This is the internet after all. Everyone's a warrior behind the keyboard We are all capable of making our own decisions about where we want to post and that's to be respected.
I know several want to think of it as FerrariChat.com's loss or Rob's loss, but that isn't the case. It is a WIN-WIN. Like I said your users get a club and community not restricted by limitations of FerrariChat.com. It shouldn't be kept here. You can't flourish at FerrariChat.com for the reasons mentioned. Trust me, its the best thing for you. Some of us in person too.
Unfortunately not! It's a banned word/phrase. If anyone posts or PM's it, it simply appears as asterisks!
Why keep an absolute plumb like UFO in here, if you don't want negative post's?? You seem to be backing him up the mo! or is this you under a different name? C u on the otherside
Rob I have been an active member for some time on Fchat, I have really enjoyed the site, met loads of new friends and really great folks who enjoy the same love of the marque. However during the last few weeks im gobsmacked at the way things have ended up, I for one was on many occasions pissed off with many chatters that hyjacked threads and had "the crack" << English saying however it was my choice not to get involved , simply not respond or move to another thread. Many of the other guys were building your UK community Rob!! and with the many numbers comes the many differing types of people with different opinions and slants on Cars /politics whats funny and whats not etc etc. It was obvious that folks were going to fall out it happens all the time, but I must say that when i read your posts they do appear to be as if you look for sympathy from others. While i dont know you it would be wrong to judge you but i must say that it "was your heavy handed punishment that was your downfall with the "MOB" as you wish to call them. If you had been a bit more diplomatic with the punishment and the way it was delivered this would of never happened as all were very happy on Fchat and all that about leaving FOC and making a bigger club is totally untrue. Perhaps if you had made an apoligy as to the way you applied the punishment all this would of been no more than a storm in a tea cup. I must say that i still post on Fchat, I also enjoy the other site too, however im waiting to see if anyone on the UK section is going to put the enthusiasm into it as a lot did to make it as successfull as it once was, up till now i think NOT!!! All the best Rob Joe
There will always be great people here and threads that grab your interest. Without saying FerrariChat.com shouldn't be everyone's only source for great people and entertainment. Yes and a certain level of this will always exist on an internet community. Most users handle it well like yourself and don't feed the fire. I don't deny this, we have definitely been growing in numbers and a significant piece of this is UK users. However, we started FerrariChat.com 5 years ago with a few dozen users, even recently as 2 years ago we only had 6,000 users and a year ago only 13,000 users. We now have 23,000 users and growing 1,000 users a month! I really don't care for that growth. I individually welcome each new Ferrari enthusiast to FerrariChat.com with open arms, but quality of the community will always be a priority over quantity. If quality is the sacrifice, then I hope we stay at the current level of users. However, it is obvious at 1,000 new users a month the growth isn't slowing down so we are continuing to maintain or even improve quality through technology, new and less crowded forums, and the dreaded rules/moderation/acceptable behavior. We don't always make the right changes or decisions, but we try to learn from them and move on. The 5 year history of FerrariChat.com to see where we were and what we've become is proof that the process works. Yes, some individuals get hurt in the process and it is sometimes a step back before taking more steps forward, but the FerrariChat.com community works overall. On an individual or sub-community level there might be compromises that aren't acceptable to some, but we can't make everyone happy, just most. I don't look for sympathy for everything I did, but several users took their response to a level that I can only be thankful I am now fully aware of their true colors. Mission accomplished in regards to them, but unfortunate for the truly good users like yourself that were caught in this lynch mob battle of miscommunications. I will take blame for my side of the miscommunications, but was it ever really fair ALL against one? Was anyone really reading into what I was trying to explain or misinterpreting only what they wanted to hear? I know that was the case. I apologized to steve, I had apologized to most of the good UK users about getting caught up in this, what else could I really do? Without a doubt FerrariChat.com UK will never have the enthusiasm as the other community. How could it ever under the restrictions of FerrariChat.com? FerrariChat UK will always be one of the most active regional forums and it won't die off, but it will be different. Again, respect FerrariChat.com for what it is and not for what it isn't.
I havent been "backing up" UFO's posts merely confirming that he does have an M3 and did have a Testarossa. I had a chat with UFO offline last week and since then his posts have improved. One thing I will do is support people posting threads on the UK section whether I agree with them or not, as a Mod of this forum its only when they breach the rules I should act.........have a look at some of the nonesense threads from the past!
Good post Joe. i agree that all the UK Fchatters I have met have been great guys - in fact I met another, JRS, for the first time last night and he too is a good guy. I too was pretty aghast at what happened, but it has happened and too much has been said for things to go back to how they were and it doesn't particularly interest me who was right or wrong. Strangely, all the bloodletting has resulted in the new list (which I also enjoy) being (to my mind) more understanding of some of the problems that existed with the UK section of Fchat. No doubt the problem areas were small compared to all the good stuff, but it was sometimes hard to see the good stuff through the bad stuff. I now feel more inclined to post on both lists than I ever did before. I do hope the UK section will revive. It will never be the same, but different might be just as good. It will however take time for people realise there is a relatively empty space for them to now occupy. I do agree with Rob on one thing. Quality is more important than quantity. There is so much good stuff in Ferrarichat. The only trouble is, where on earth is the time to find it all?
Agreed!!! And Rob should feel proud of building such a great site to let so many poeple interact on what they all share a great interest in . I agree that Quality over quantity, however im afraid if you build something so popular the quantity is goning to be inevitable. I dont know what Rob can do over what he has already done , I suppose time is the greatest healer!!!! all the best J
No. This is simply not true. Rob treated paying customers (including me) with no respect, he flouted his own rules on threats and foul language and had no cultural sensitivity whatsoever. People left because of his attitude, not his spat with Steve F or anybody else.
thanks for the reply john as ANDREWG keeps having little digs at me every now and again blaming me for what happened on here i took my ban and never posted att all then rob wanted to sort it out via PM or email i refused and sorted this out on the site on a thread for everybody to see and rob apolagised on line but everbody had left by then obvoisly ANDREWG seems to think was my doing which it was not as i still post on fchat not much on the uk site as the snide comments keep appearing now and then
I have not read this whole post (its mostly boring to new people like me!) but I can honestly give you some of my feedback so far... I am still yet to find any more interesting forums on the net, sure its not as popular as it could be but I am still enjoying posting on here and as from April '06 I am going to be spending a LOT of time in the US anyway, in LA (Bevery Hills & Hollywood area's) with work (I work in TV in a technical capacity) so I will most likely ship my 360 over to the states then on a tourist pass I have already tried to join the FOC (but got a polite email back) saying they don't accept credit cards or even direct money transfer! The only payment method being cheque (which ofcourse I lost my cheque book many years ago and haven't written one since I can last remember!!!). Perhaps the bank will soon post me a new cheque book so I can see what the FOC forums like by comparison... The best technical forum so far has been Ferrari Club of America and the most boring (REALLY deserted club forum) is the official ferrari owners site which I have also joined. Anyway, pls don't be -ve ppl, we should all stick together, there aint that many of us you know !! wink! Oh bugger, I hope I haven't stirred a hornets nest here... Trevor
I don't think that's the reason. More that every post is moderated meaning it can take more than a day for your post to appear. I gave up after one post. The FOC don't take credit cards because unfortunately, the scummy money-grabbing banks want to charge an exhorbitant percentage for credit card transactions as everything is deemed 'customer not present', supposedly increasing the risk of fraud. A complete nonsense for membership of a club (and especially given we're talking about Ferrari owners). I suspect they don't do direct money transfer because the Club accountant's quill pen wouldn't be able to cope with the strain. (You can pay by direct debit, though) Jonathan
I would of thought that description also fits the FOC 1 million pound in the bank dearest track days in the uk and they are a non profit making club run for the members get a life you are defending the biggest ripoff club in the uk
