The Direction In Which The Site Is Going, And what to do about it Options

[Coomer]

Recently,
I've became fairly discouraged with this site. I get on the site multiple times every day, and each time I get on, I find all kinds of new stuff that irritates me.

Mindless, completely-useless posts in off-topic; non-related, stupid, or mean posts that ruin what would be good threads; topic titles that don't follow the rules in buying/selling that have been there for well over a year; people who only come to the site to cause trouble or irritate people; It all irritates me, along with the rest of the site's management.

We, the management of the site, think that lately the forums as a whole have gone a bit downhill, but we're curious what all of you think.

We're also curious as to what you all think should be done. Pete's in Japan and couldn't get in on the discussion of this idea, but Tim and I are considering changing the off-topic forum to be an "other cars" forum. That most likely won't happen, but we're sick of the completely pointless posts in off-topic. We all also are considering what to do about the people who constantly question others such as in the Lori Ann thread, and what to do about the people who constantly post pointless, off-topic stuff in the Celica forums, and what to do about the people who always post mean stuff on the site, and what to do about people who are mean to girls and treat them as if they've never talked to a girl before. I've had at least four girls talk to me and say that they didn't want to join the site or post in the forums, simply because of the way girls are treated on the site.

Tim is sick of it. John is sick of it. Pete is sick of it. I'm sick of it. Tim put it well when he said, "i feel like i havent left highschool yet when i go on 6gc..."

We're just wondering, what do you all think about what's happened lately, and what do you think should be done?

[celicaman96]

I don't post much, but I read and am entertained by this site religiously on a daily basis. Personally, this site is incredible. Questions can be easily answered, most people are friendly and cool and know tons of information. I've both bought and sold stuff to people I've met in the forums - the whole concept is amazing. A couple things I've picked up on that kinda bother me are:

1. Reposts. Please read the stickys in each forum. People post a lot of the same question and a good majority of them can be answered in the stickys or in the databases.

2. Newbies and how they're treated. We all had to be one at one point! Most of #1 comes from new people and the way that they're answered with trite one-liners, ie "learn how to use the search function" really gets old. Understand that people aren't as well versed with the etiquette or abilities of the site when they're new...it happens, don't jump all over people for making a mistake.

3. "Photochopping." For God's sake! Quit telling people that their stuff is photoshopped. I can't count how many times somebody posts pics of something cool they've done or found and then their post gets all ripped to shreds with people attempting to figure out if its real or not.

4. I was waiting for someone to bring up the female situation. I also noticed most new females who come to the site aren't greeted very nicely. Yeah most of us are guys (my guess is just about everyone is 23 and below or so) and we all know how we can get. But yeah, most of the time a girl joins or posts a topic or a pic is posted of a girlfriend or a meet with a girl happening to be in a photo etc. the topic gets kinda out of control.

5. We can't hear each other. You've got to take just about everything with a grain of salt. We can't hear how people are saying things or what mood they're in when they type something. I'm extremely sarcastic, but that's way hard to pick up in just typing. It helps with escalating problems to not retaliate, just move on...or better yet, if you think you might be posting something hostile...maybe refrain???

Anyway, I agree we need some cleanup around here, hope those can help a bit. For the most part though, I tip my hat to Coomer for the awesome Celica community he and other's have created. Keep up the good work.