My Letter to the 6G Celicas Community Options

[Coomer]

This site has been going downhill. Some of you may have noticed
this...others are no longer here because of it. No-one knows this better
than myself. Little things turn into big arguments and many act as if
they're elite or just have bad attitudes in general. It's been this way
for too long, but enough is enough. It's going to stop.

Years ago, I knew nothing about my car. I bought it not even realizing
that there were seperate hatchback and coupe models. I started this site
with little knowledge myself, and as time went by, the site grew
quickly, as did my knowledge of the Celica. Fast forward to today, and I
drive one of the most unique and fun cars on the street. I've met dozens
of cool people and helped a lot of people out, and I've always had fun
doing it.

This site is a resource for the sixth generation Toyota Celica. Lately
though, it's felt more like a playground. People run around saying
whatever they want with little regard to others. Some people seem like
they're here to learn and contribute. Others may have just forgotten the
purpose of the site but can shape up and behave. Some seem like they're
just here to cause trouble. And then there are a few who have attitudes
as if they're elite.

Let me say this. No-one is better than anyone else here. You should
treat the guy who registered yesterday with with the same level of
respect that you show to me. Let me talk about respect for a minute. You
don't have to like everyone here, but you must treat everyone with
respect. There's no room for negative comments towards others or their
cars or an elitist attitude.

My main point with this letter is that the 6G Celicas community is
hurting. Smart, contributing members are being driven away by all the
garbage and negativity. As are brand new members, some with very little
knowledge like we ALL once had.

Some of you may remember the Celica.net days. Had I come to Celica.net
with my new car and no knowledge, posted a simple question, and received
a bombardment of disrespect and no answers, I would have left. I
wouldn't be here today. This site wouldn't be here today. But no, I was
greeted and treated with respect. People politely answered my questions
and pointed me in the direction of the search engine. I learned, and I
turned around and returned the favor by means of building this site to
help people out. My point is that everyone on here needs to be treated
with respect. You never know who might be the next pioneer.

The fact is that we're hurting ourselves. People are being driven away.
This may not be sad for some of you, but for those who love the sixth gen.
Celica and are here to learn and contribute, it's a tragedy.

It's time for a change, and change is coming. The choice is yours. If you're
here to learn and contribute and you want the community to live on, I'm
glad and I hope you enjoy it here. If you want to have a bad attitude and
cause problems, please leave now. If you think you're elite and are going
to post with that attitude that you're better than everyone else, please
leave now.

We need everyone's help to change and turn the site around. New rules
are now online. Everyone needs to follow them, or there will be consequences.

Management will be using the member warning system much more and we
won't hesitate to stop members who don't follow the rules from posting
without moderator approval.

This forum can be great. It's going to once again be great. We need all of your
help, and we need it now.

Thank You,
Christian Coomer


P.S.

• Again, new rules are available here.
• The feedback system for buyers/sellers will be online shortly.
• On each post, you'll see a "Report This Post" link to the left under the author's details. If you find that a post is inappropriate, please use this link to report it.
• 3-Letter searching isn't available on my current hosting setup(I asked and they said no.) I need a dedicated server, and that'll be probably $150-200 a month, so once the member subscriptions system is online, I should be able to fund that, move the site to a new dedicated server, and implement 3-letter searching.

[jgreening]

snobby elite?

I would like to know who these people are because I have no idea who you are referring to. Please list user names and feel free to use mine if thats who you are referring to. I really want to know what you base this characterization on. Perhaps you are referring to people who have knowledge and take the time to help people.

Maybe you think some are "snobby" simply because they know the answer to a question and have the audacity to type it out and help someone because you assume that they are just trying to show off their knowledge. That is rediculous but I have no idea how else someone could conclude from an internet posting that the author is snobby. I certainly don't see many posts like "my car can smoke yours" (with the exception of me and Jeff joking around to try to drum up interest for the National meet).

As for the "elite" part, I am sure that could be remedied by encouraging people who have knowledge and who are willing to share it rather than critisizing them because someone has their feelings hurt when they are given an opinion that is not exactly what they want to hear.