I go away for a couple of days and...

[BigGuyBigCar]

all h*** breaks loose. And I can't even read about because most of the posts have been deleted!

Beyond that, my two cents is that a Members Only forum is counter-productive to the intent of mercurymarauder.net.

For the months that I was neither owner nor member I learned a lot by visiting the Community and Garage forums. If non-owner newbies begin to think that all of the juicy stuff is being posted on the Members Only forum, then what's the point of them visiting?

[whoskal]

Maybe it's kinda a push to contibute to the site?....you pay, and you get to see:rolleyes:

[hitchhiker]

FYI...

The members forum is NOT new.

:D

[Blackened300a]

I have been a contributing member for a litle over 6 months and there is only 3 threads on there and they are nothing to do with anything.
I contributed only because of the info I learned on the site made me want to give something back to it.

[ckadiddle]

I have been a contributing member for a litle over 6 months and there is only 3 threads on there and they are nothing to do with anything.
I contributed only because of the info I learned on the site made me want to give something back to it.

Same here. Donated cause I feel it's worthwhile and benefits myself and others.

[MM2004]

<TABLE class=tborder cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=thead colSpan=2>10-26-2006 11:12 PM</TD></TR><TR title="Post 436063" vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 align=middle width=125>ckadiddle</TD><TD class=alt2>Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by Blackened300a http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/images/bgold/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?p=436055#post43 6055)
I have been a contributing member for a litle over 6 months and there is only 3 threads on there and they are nothing to do with anything.
I contributed only because of the info I learned on the site made me want to give something back to it.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Same here. Donated cause I feel it's worthwhile and benefits myself and others.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=thead colSpan=2>10-26-2006 11:01 PM</TD></TR><TR title="Post 436055" vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 align=middle width=125>Blackened300a</TD><TD class=alt2>I have been a contributing member for a litle over 6 months and there is only 3 threads on there and they are nothing to do with anything.
I contributed only because of the info I learned on the site made me want to give something back to it.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

And for this, I thank you!

Mike.

[SergntMac]

all h*** breaks loose. And I can't even read about because most of the posts have been deleted!

Beyond that, my two cents is that a Members Only forum is counter-productive to the intent of mercurymarauder.net.

For the months that I was neither owner nor member I learned a lot by visiting the Community and Garage forums. If non-owner newbies begin to think that all of the juicy stuff is being posted on the Members Only forum, then what's the point of them visiting?I agree with you. The "Members Only" forum was intended to provide a place to the membership for the exchange of personal 411, such as address and phone number, between "members only". Obvuously, "guests" and non-contributing members cannot read it, but having a privare forum that's triggered by financial support is counter-productive to another important feature of the MM.Net, uniform fairness among the membership at large. Thus, if you have a private place, some folks will believe evil plots are born there.

It's been my recommendation to the ADMIN that we should take it down, at least for the time being. There's a lot to be shared with the membership, and this is not the time to maintain such a feature. The foundation for the new owners is honesty and fairness for all, we agreed on this in writing. But we are learning that you cannot make anyone believe you, you have to hope for the best. This forum does not contribute to that goal, because some of the membership will see it a secret place, with secret thoughts and secret plans. Indeed, it exists against our better intent.

Honestly, (and those who are supporting members can verify this) it hasn't been used much at all. I think my last peek at it, there was only 3-5 posts in the last 90 days. Not much being said about much at all.

Your opening comment about posts deletions is likewise an emotional response that I cannot find a foundation for. Yes, some posts have been deleted, others edited and so on. But, a lot of that has been more accidential than intended.

When the site was purchased, there were only two of the nine owners who had any idea of how to use certain control panels. It's been a learning curve for the remaining 7 that has been a rough road, and I apologize for the accidents, whether mine or not.

There are "hard deletes" and edits that are gone forever, not recoverable or reversable. "Soft" deletes and edits just hide or change the post/thread, and can be reversed and restored without leaving an insulting trace to the membership. Of course, any action is due a "why" explanation by ADMIN, though for a short while, this wasn't clear to some of the new ownwers. Again, I apologize for accidential insults, I do not expect to see anymore.

The view or vision that heavy handed editing is being carried out, isn't supported by the logs. We now track our activity. Even then, ADMIN duties carried out by one of two folks prior to the sale, are now shared by nine, so there is more activity, yes. OTOH, it's a perception too. You may recall reading something and wish to read it again, but can't find it in 3-4 steps. "must be gone now" is a common conclusion, when it is really a matter of loosing your place. Happens to me quite often, when I remember reading something, and later find it in an e-mail, not a post.

A lot of the software is automatic, and things happen when you do not manually intervene. Just yesterday, a vendor's banner disappeared from rotation because his time clock on vendor fees expired. He missed that snooze button, and he was very angry with us. It's fixed, but it's not like we made a move to shut him down, simply a matter of renewal he did not heed. This has been the likewise case with other time sensitive switches, the machine is on automatic and when someone renews a membership, all we have to do is advance the deadline and renew the lease. When they do not renew, first an alarm, then a switch, then it's over. Do you see my point? When folks do not handle their own responsibility, the machine is on auto pilot.

This is a very busy site, and a very busy time with membership concerns, but wholesale censorship of dissenting opinion is not our answer to solving problems. Just look at a few of the most popular threads? We could have made that all go away, and I believe Logan would have done exactly that. We did not and that was by our choice. One thread is the longest post up here ever, and it holds a lot of emotions and important thoughts from a lot of good members meaning well. If we wanted to use censorship for control, we could have zapped that after post #1, but we did not. It's a long and heartbreaking read, but it's what people wanted to say, and they have. It has been closed now, but by a majority vote by the collective nine, not one individual, and not as a response to dissent. It was just too freaking l o n g!

Where ever the reality falls into place here, it's not going to last for ever. The MM.net should be back to normal soon, what ever "normal" was before the chaos. Hang in there?

[FordNut]

The MM.net should be back to normal soon...

What he said ^^^

[chapel1]

Keep up the the good work. This site is very valuable in keeping our
marauder's in top shape.Without this site our cars would testing grounds for our imagination...
Besides where else would you see another Marauder? Only because of this site am I aware of other people in my community that also have a Marauder.