Right on track Brian.
Brian, The problem I see with your theory is that it is you opinion. Everyone has there own here and while some feel Allan hurt the board more than helped it, I would bet that more feel he is an asset to the community. He is definately a knowledgeable car guy and just because some people enjoy pissing contests with him I think its pretty sad to give him the boot. How many sponsers expressed issues with him?
I could care less about Allen's postings on this board. It made me laugh several times on his replies. I do believe the guy has a "chip" on his shoulder and it showed. He was constantly trying to test the limits and got amusement out of doing so. So it really does boil down to a business decision on Rob's part and how it impacted the quality of the site. Allen tried to overstep his ground a little too far and now he's gone. I support the decision. Time to move on.
I think you'd lose that bet... especially if people think through all the real consequences... For example, we tolerated a lot of Allan's $#it and pissing contests because he did provide a lot of offsetting quality content. HOWEVER, he posts a LOT of $#it! A lot. And that sets an example that others follow. Do a search... you can find a bunch of people complaining, "why are you giving me a hard time about X when Allan does X all the time"? And what are we to answer? "Well, Allan's so much funnier than you when he posts that $#it... and he knows a lot more about cars than you do." That's not an acceptable answer to anybody. Sooo, we have this difficult problem... to keep Allan, we must lower the standards on the site for everyone to all the same $#it that Allan posts. So, if Allan destroys a thread or two a day, then everyone else gets to also. Its not hard to see that we'll quickly have no good threads left... just a lot of Allan wannabes posting a lot of $#it. And its not like Rob and others haven't begged Allan to stop the $#it... its been explained to him over and over. But he's here to troll... not to promote Ferrari content... so, he ignored all that. Unfortunately, the consequences of keeping Allan are just too far-reaching and destructive for the site, IMO. He's not just a troll... he's a master-troll... and I'm sure he's reading this and taking great delight.
I agree some users would do better if thicker skinned. Fact is that many aren't and get attracted to pointless battles. Allan doesn't add much value to our forum from a Ferrari perspective, but does take away much value as an antagonist. That makes it a pretty easy decision. Not to discount your 3 months at FerrariChat.com, but his behavior has been consistent over several years.
I know there will be people to disagree with my decision. As a user only, I disagree with my decision. I could personally handle him. I made the decision from a community and business perspective. Very little downside risk to banning him, much risk keeping him around. I disagree with the user that says this is a conflict of my do what's best for the community vs. this is my decision. This is a community decision that I personally implemented and will take full responsibility for. It's my job to take all the **** and take all the risk. That's what I do here.
Two last points... 1) Allan wanted me to pass these last words on to the community... "Ferrari sucks!". 2) I've been informed that Allan works for a competitor of FerrariChat.com, maybe that explains some of his behavior. I never knew this until after I banned him though.
I was starting to warm up to the guy, too. But seeing that thread on that other site (I pulled this quote from the thread on that site), all I can say is good riddance. And please stay away.
Dr Tax--- LOL..... I've always enjoyed your sharp wit. I just got back home from an oversea trip so I'm clueless on the chain of events but it sounded like everyone had a rough day..(or a rough trip in my case). On the flight back, I was thinking of the bright and beautiful smiles on my little girl's face as she hunts for Easter eggs this Sunday. I hope this thought brought as much comfort to you as it does for me. Happy Easter, ya'll and try to have a better day tomorrow. Tom,
Brian, nice post. Rob, I hope you are joking. Surely you jest! Does the little Houston troll actually have any $$ to employ people to post on other sites for him? Surely, you are joking. Please say you are joking....
No F-ing Way!!! You mean he's been playing us all this time! When I stated earlier that he was a master-troll, I deleted the following definitions: troll = posts messages he knows will agitate readers and destroy a thread master-troll = posts to many threads good and bad stuff to, in a coordinated fashion, agitate an entire community and destroy an entire forum I felt that would be too "conspiracy theorist" and would dilute the real point of my note. I can't believe he was actually doing that for his own financial gain... but now much makes a whole lot more sense! SHOCKED!
Simply put, Allan is proof that money is no substitute for character OR class. He knows cars, he has contributed valuable information and sometimes (though in a nasty way usually) he was funny. Allan shows intelligence but it is unfortunately squandered. His prime reason for being here was for none of the above. He came here to cause hate and discontent. Doesn't it seem odd that Allan doesn't have anything better to do than haunt 15 car forums ALL DAY EVERYDAY? Good God man, get a life! OOOPS, I forgot, Allan is a moderator on another exotic chat site so it is obvious that he CAN behave when he chooses to. He also wouldn't get away with his special brand of humor and behaviour on the other site because he would be banned in a nanosecond. This guy has the option to do anything he wants, go anywhere he wants, anytime he wants but he chooses to spend his days on the internet pissing people off? You gotta be kidding! I often wondered what the reaction would be if anybody in Allan's family, including his wife, read some of crap he has posted on here? Personally I wouldn't be too proud of it. Do I have thin skin when it comes to Allan?. In a word NO. He is more like that smelly clump I have to scrape off of my shoe when I stumble across one of his posts/threads. Being thin skinned isn't the point. I don't come to this site or any other exoctic car site to read abusive exchanges between posters. I don't come here to look at porn. That is what porn sites are for. I come here for the exchange about cars, all cars, Lamborghinis included. These questions and comments aren't just about Allan. They are about the other trolls like him too. If this site becomes flooded with trolls and trouble makers I will leave and go hang out on another site that is completely DEVOID of trouble makers of all kinds. It's obvious there are people here that have a big problem with Moderation. If you don't like it YOU can go to a site where there is ABSOLUTELY NO MODERATION. Sooooooooooooooo, We BOTH have choices don't we? DJ
Give me a break. He obviously liked to be here and spent alot of time posting here. If he is a moderator on another board what does that have to do with anything? I doubt he would be getting paid to moderate either. If you are going to try and make it seem like he had a master plan of putting Fchat out of business than you are just being childish. If he is banned for good at this point than why not close all of these threads as well. What good are they doing for the community?
OK, we know he was a whore who put the 'ass' in asset...I still want a pool on how long his marriage lasts. If he lies that easily and dupes people into supporting him, I can't imagine what he could do to his spouse. Poor woman.
Personally I don't like last words to come from 2nd hand information. Already many are taking this at face value and did not even come from Allan's typing. Too easy to flame someone that is banned and can't post back a defensive argument. I say once a user is banned, don't talk about them anymore. No good can come from a one sided fight. Why tie his hands and continue to punch him? Takhard
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this site is financially supported in a large part due to the advertising dollars of the sponsors. And, the number of visits by members that pay dollars to those sponsors for products and/or services keeps those sponsors supporting F-Chat. Well, if this place becomes (and it appears to be) a super-censored, thin-skinned, walk on eggshells, let's play a game of old maid type of site, then I will not visit nearly as often. And, I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way. Many longstanding members (not just recent punk additions) feel the same way as I feel. And if I'm not visiting as often, I am less likely to be visiting sponsor websites and contacting sponsors for products & services. And, I have spent a good deal of money with sponsors from this site (over $5,000).
The site is funded now by both sponsors and subscribed users. So it's a balance. By removing someone like Allan we are definitely making the subscribed users happy. It's also likely that we'll end up with more users long term without Alan around. The sponsors are pretty indifferent as I haven't raised rates in the past year and don't plan on it. They're getting twice the exposure as this same time last year for the same price. We would have to loose 3,000 users to even get back to a 12 month ago level. Also, you don't have to be registered to see all the sponsor info. We have more people view the site that aren't registered than are registered. So we're talking 10,000-20,000 different people around the world have viewed this site.
...and most of them are polite. You've noticed maybe the newbie who logged in to tell about the Bahrain race? "World peace, through Ferrari enthusiasm!" .....and of course,... Speedy308 for President!
