Hey fellow Fiero-philes,

I am astounded by this turn of events. The OT section is now the only one w/o a fight in the last 2 days!

To all you clowns out there, I am not going to engage in a fight over this thread regardless of what you say so... :P take that!

Seriously though, what is going on in here? What can we do to make things better? Any suggestions?

William T. Thorn, III

I'm not sure how much response you'll get in Totally O/T. I think I just saw a tumbleweed.

The latest disagreement seems to be over the buying and selling of parts. This is not the first time I have seen this sort of thing on here either. I don't want to see members flaming another member who is just trying to help. At the same time, I would like to think if there is a legitimate problem someone should not feel uncomfortable letting the rest of us know in a polite way.

Maybe part of the problem in the latest misunderstanding is that the buyers did not have somewhere they felt comfortable providing feedback. If that place existed maybe the whole thing would have been resolved before tempers got so hot.

Would it be possible to have a topic area for just this purpose? Members could post positive and negative comments about dealings with other members. Ideally a negative comment should not be posted until the poster felt they had exhausted private communications. The other person would then have a chance to respond. If the whole thing is cleared up the original poster could add his positive comment at the end or even delete the whole post. Also, this should not be a place where everyone jumps in. Everyone else should remain bystanders as much as possible. When someone is considering dealing with another member they could look thru this area and form their own opinion.

Would this be a good idea or would it make things worse? Anyone have other ideas to address this situation? Should we leave well enough alone?

I am not sure what constitutes a "fight". I know I was involved in a disagreement regarding NOS, and I made a comment regarding the parts fiasco. I never thought the NOS thread was a fight, just a difference of opinion. If all of us always had the same opinion life would get pretty boring, or even worse we might turn into little lemmings.

I think this board is fairly tame. I rarely see posts getting personal and just spouting vulgarities at others.

I think the occasional "bad/nasty" thread is impossible to get rid of, especially with a public forum, and a diverse group of people.

Now if somebody logs on and starts hacking apart Fieros nonstop, that is something I would consider needing action taken upon since this is a Fiero "lover" site, and not a Fiero bashing site.

Just try ignoring those negative posts. We really don't need a section devoted to fighting, do we? Try not to take offense to the posts of some members. The reality of the situation is there are like 850 members, some of whom you know and others you don't. I don't see the point in flying off the handle at someone who you've never even heard of just because of a difference of opinions. Keep things civil. After all, it's not your best friend saying nasty things about you, it's some dude thousands of miles away typing at his computer pretending he's some sort of tough guy.

By the way, the NOS thread was a joke. Atleast I took it for a joke.

As far as buying/selling and rating customers/sellers go, I think that "The Mall" is the place to handle all that stuff. I mean, if you had a good experience with a particular person, post a note saying Thanks to whoever you bought/sold from/to and then mention if the shipping price was reasonable, if the product was packaged properly, and if the product was as described or if you are a seller make sure to say thanks for the business and a prompt payment.

Well W.T. we could make it unanimous an start one in here too! I'll start, your wife drinks Dr Pepper! lol

[This message has been edited by kong (edited 03-16-2000).]

Kong,

I'll show you...

...are you ready, this is good...

... I'M NOT MARRIED YET... HAHAHAHAHA

William T. Thorn, III

OOOOOH Fight, Fight!

HIT'EM HIT'EM! There...we finally got a war on the o/t this week! LOL! We love this place and I'm sure it will take alot more than a few peeved individuals for anyone to leave. We just have to remember that the more members we get, the more mix of personalities and their will always be a conflict or two.

Gokart,

SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE! I would hate to shove that Milwaukee with it's 7" buffing head where the sun don't shine.

Can you all tell I am spending WAY too much time at work? Fake fighting is so much more fun than real fighting

William T. Thorn, III

[This message has been edited by william_thorniii (edited 03-16-2000).]

uh huh huh huh. You said "buffing head" uh huh uh huh huh uh huh

You guys are the greatest. THX for keeping the Forum enjoyable.

William T. Thorn, III

I started reading this site about a year ago, and became a member shortly after. At that point, the membership was much smaller, and I felt like I knew every member personally. I know we can't go back to that, but sometimes I would like to. (Patrick, can you hear me?)
The bickering that has gone on probably comes with the territory; 850 people is close to what statisticians and pollsters consider a cross section of the populace. I know we aren't indicative of the general populace, by virtue of our common thread (the love of Fieros), but as we grow, we get closer to it.

I don't think these issues should be worked out in a public forum. I just can't see tempers being controlled, and I doubt whether real disagreements are even going to be resolved.
Maybe I'm just feeling cynical; I'm home this afternoon, not feeling well.
Didn't mean to be quite this blue.

Hey Mike, I can hear ya...

I agree that disagreements are not usually resolved by arguing at the forum. However, reading how the "combatants" deal with the situation often gives the entire membership some real insight into the individuals involved. Therefore, I believe that there is some value in having spats made public at the forum. We actually get to know each other better. We are NOT all the same. Let's not pretend that we are. It is diversity that makes the world interesting.

Point well taken.
Mike