open letter to rob and moderators

Doesn't your last sentence imply that all the paying people are of the same school of thought? I'd have to take offense to that as well as saying you're wrong.

 

I think it should be pointed out that there is no Ferrari related content (The primary purpose for this board's existence) affected by the moving of P&R into the subscribed area.

 

Ross, the problem is the lack of basic respect demonstrated by some of the posters. I simply don't buy the excuse that, "Oh well, it is just the Internet."

Dale

 

I have a question in general. People complain about freedom of speech, ect. But does this apply to the internet? A private internet forum (it is public, but private in that you have to join and agree to all the rules to post). How do you define freedom of speech on the global internet? Just some general questions I've always wondered.

 

If Rob wanted to limit the board to left-handed lesbian trolls (sorry), he could do so. The rules for playing in this space are posted. If Rob decides to change them, he is free to do so. I suppose if someone paid money to be on a board that promised certain features, and those were cut-off, that person might have a complaint. But, last time I looked, the TOU promised little, and qualified everything. (Hope so, I helped write 'em).

I applaud this move. It won't keep the trolls out, but it will require a commitment to be one here. And, I agree that since the board's primary function is Ferrari nattering, sections like P & R should only be available to those sufficiently committed to the board to subscribe. As for those who are resistent, on principle or otherwise, to subscribing, but still need at outlet for their political or religious commentary, I am sure that there are other fora that are freely available for that purpose. Good move, Rob.

 

Ross,

I have a different opinion.

This board is a private business. The board has rules and regulations that all that register have to abide by. Further, if you subscribe, then you have access to additional features.

It's that simple.

You can stand on principle and not contribute to the forum or join and be welcomed. The choice is yours....

 

The elitest ole boy's club has won, only the selected few can participate in P&R now. Sounds exactly like something Bush would do.

Basically you're all not worthy to participate in a public discussion. Your opinions don't count no matter right or wrong. Without the general public the variety of viewpoints and participation will surely diminish drastically.

I view fchat as a community, besides ferrari related info I also enjoyed reading other's viewpoints on political matters, and at same time contribute mine and to vent at times. What better place to learn than from a group that has above average demographics (typical affluent ferrari owners). Now this is just another carsite just like the many of other thousands out there.

For the record, I am against this move.

 

For the record I'm not for or against the change........ But the change has been made and in the scope of the worlds problems this isn't even a blip.

 

Please do us all a favor and go price out the costs involved in having a forum with 20k members, 1M posts and users uploading pics up to 250k.

This isn't charity, it's a business that serves its "free" users up to a point.. If you want more, you're going to have to pay accordingly. IMHO, if you're up to more than 1k posts in 2 years it's time to chip in and help out.. $15/yr is much less than a cellphone every month.

C.

 

I am sure I speak for all of the left handed lesbian trolls when I say that it's a bargain to participate in this community. I applaud the move with both hands.

 

It's like children pushing the envelope in order to get their parents to set limits. I guess daddy has finally become tired and has set the limits. Unfortunately, the most immature and worst "offenders" are Rossa, Silver and Consultants. Aside from eliminating the cheapest offenders, nothing has changed. I look at this as a sad day for this forum, especially because of the "events" that triggered this action.

 

Dam some of yall are some cheap bastards--no names mentioned--who pays to keep this board running, maintenance, problems w/ equipment, etc. I bet it ain't FREE!!! Stop *****in and become subscribed. BETTER YET START YOUR OWN BOARD and call it----- P & R for FREE--Just my opinion...

 

A couple hours after P&R is moved into subscribed only, the P&R bull$hit spreads too all other forums. Damn it. Don't get me wrong, I love political and opinion discussions ... just not on the net. Everybody ends up looking like a jerk.

 

This needs to be moved to General or Off Topic. Keep it out if Business.

I'm not against the move. Yeah it was fun duking it out with the boys but hey, it's Rob's sandbox. Plus there were trolls that only lived in P&R.

 

Rob,

I subscribed because I found value concerning Ferrari. The last thing I need is another P and/or R site mucking up the works. Now those posts are quarantined and I can ignore the whole mess rather than running into it by accident.

Way to go!

John

 

Ross I pretty much agree with you on that, I just think of subscription cost as a donation to help rob keep this site running and not as a fee to post in P&R. Fchat has been a great resource for finding info on different cars and also have gotten some good stuff from the business section. Hoping you change your mind as your posts have always been intelligent and well thought out

 

i too agree w/ ross and scott. we all love ferraris and also have other broad interests that extend beyond. having p and r simply make this a complete community that keeps most of us together. we don't all have to agree w/ each other or even like each other but we all enjoy reading the different perspectives and i aslo suspect, we learn lots from each other.

bring it back.

 

Another point is that ever since F-Chat went on this growth spurt and fragmented the car/Ferrari stuff into so many different forums, it appears that the amount of car posts relative to P&R and inane banter has dropped dramatically.

For example, whenever I log on, I use "new posts." Sometimes I'll scroll through pages and pages of posts before I find one that even looks halfway interesting. Hell, if if wasn't for #0846, there might not be any car posts at all!

So maybe by encouraging the non-car people to "take it outside," we might get some car chat going again.

Just a thought.

Dale

 

Just wait a month and I'll post the details of a new business I started. It includes an existing customer base of about 2,000 that will be charged a fee to participate in the business model I developed. With the value of it, nobody will be B&M'ing. Rob's move is OK with me.

 

This is proof that FerrariChat is highly addictive. Pete is on a cruise ship in Alaska, and still logs on...

 

I unblocked this post hoping you had something intelligent to contribute to the topic at hand. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Lets review your post.

#1. You accuse the subscribers of being in an elitest old boy's club.
#2. Then, insult those same subscribers by associating them with Bush but not only that, infer that it should be insulting to Bush as well.
#3. Accuse the majority of not being worthy to post in P&R, which is not true. Its a select handful of people.
#4. If the removal of ONE section, P&R to the subscribed area, makes this "just another carsite," why did you come back 12 hours later after this post?
#5. You could have left it at "For the record, I am against this move."

In case you haven't picked up on it yet, you and due in no small part to the kind of posts you make above, is why your considered by many to be one of the handful listed in #3.

Do you get me, sweetheart?

Sunny

 

This isn't a public forum, it's a membership forum hosted by a private business. Different member grades pay different prices, down to 0. You're entitled to voice your P&R opinion by paying a price, no different than if you bought radio/tv air time, newspaper space, etc. Except a lot cheaper. $15/year is less than you pay to access the Internet every month.

This is primarily a car site and if that's all it was, it would be worth the membership fees still. Adding P&R was a "community" service so that people who had gotten to know each other could stay on the site and talk about other than cars. But it is not and should not be the primary purpose of the site. Frankly, there are some who take advantage of the demographics of this group that you refer to in the same manner that you think you benefit.

 

You guys that are against the move just don't get it! It's not about, lesbo trolls, cheap ba$tards, freedom of speech or an 'Old Biys Club'. It's about Rob's investment in time and money to get the board where it is (And where he wants to take it). In parallel to Rob's passion for maintaining the best Ferrari board, it's about the money. Money from current and prospective sponsors.

Prospective sponsors that Rob introduces to the board should see a 'clean place' full of car talk, business people doing their business and fun Off-Topic chats. They DON'T want to see members killing each other in a P&R section. The things that don't look that great in Rob's front yard have been moved to the shed out back.

All said, when prospective sponsors do a 'drive-by', most will be really impressed and will want to do business with Rob. Again, I'm for the move and I think it was a damn smart one!