How's The Forum?

[JulesK77]

I'm a new member, so just browsing and starting to post on different topics.

I quite like it here to be honest

[zimmer]

Where has my post gone? Yes, I know, It has to moderated blah blah etc etc but I have made posts after the one in this thread and they have posted.

[mick]

Well I wasnt gonna comment but I will. In my opinion and I'm sure most of the kiters, Razzle is doing a great job and as for the mods, well again, I have to say, in my opinion excellent. (Gosh, I hate being nice) Not like the old Stiki days and that other one, what was his name? A right bell end.

 

As for the bar zone. Sometimes it wasn't funny. It was plain nasty. Of course newbies would have been intimidated. Now a few have left or are not so regular contributors but has it changed that much for the worse? Sure, have a laugh and a joke, take the pee, but sometimes it was almost a vendetta.

 

I don't agree wholly with the bad language censor (?) being turned off BUT at least most of it stops at the 'bar zone'

 

Bring back the Agger and Brian from Calshot.

[windy]

Well I wasnt gonna comment but I will. In my opinion and I'm sure most of the kiters, Razzle is doing a great job and as for the mods, well again, I have to say, in my opinion excellent. (Gosh, I hate being nice) Not like the old Stiki days and that other one, what was his name? A right bell end.

 

As for the bar zone. Sometimes it wasn't funny. It was plain nasty. Of course newbies would have been intimidated. Now a few have left or are not so regular contributors but has it changed that much for the worse? Sure, have a laugh and a joke, take the pee, but sometimes it was almost a vendetta.

 

I don't agree wholly with the bad language censor (?) being turned off BUT at least most of it stops at the 'bar zone'

 

Bring back the Agger and Brian from Calshot.

 

Razod's doing fine, but he would be doing even finerer if he gave the folks on here some kind of democratic imput into the bigger changes.

Like doing a poll as to whether the swear filter should be on or off or restoring posts counts to where they were, on the whole, more useful and practical than where they are now.

 

I know he doesn't have to, he's made that perfectly clear, but as i've said previously, it would be a decent thing to do, if he did, like.

 

In my opinion etc etc etc.

 

 

Bar area/chat sections of forums tend to reflect real life, so funny, nasty, micky taking, friends' personal banterng etc just reflect that. It's the nature of the beast......or something like that.

 

 

Am i rambling.......Nurse, more medication over here please. !!

[windy]

I'm a new member, so just browsing and starting to post on different topics.

I quite like it here to be honest

 

Cool! Welcome and thanks for coming.

[mick]

OK Windmiester, how has the forum changing hands (like your good self no doubt) affected you and the banter boys. I think the Razza has his hands full most nights. You now get to F and blind without the consequence as before. OK we've lost the post count for what reason I know not but that doesn't really affect the fun. You can't complain about much else shirley. I think things have evolved and personally, as a kite flyer still, for the better. IMHO FWIW

[Draggin]

There is no soul in the forum any more and has not been for a long time (this has nothing to do with the change of ownership). It is not something you can buy off the shelf and I don't have the answer, there just not seem to be the life in the forum anymore.

 

Tim

[mick]

Tim, be more specific. Thers seems to be an awful lot of newbies coming on asking questions about, dare I say it....kiting. I started to get the feeling that Flexi, certainly 'barzone' had lost its kiters. I mean, it is a kite forum.

[Morb]

Cool it with this 'kiting' thing Mick. Let it go.

 

 

 

 

 

[mick]

Oh yeh, I forgot.

[Draggin]

Tim, be more specific. Thers seems to be an awful lot of newbies coming on asking questions about, dare I say it....kiting. I started to get the feeling that Flexi, certainly 'barzone' had lost its kiters. I mean, it is a kite forum.

 

Mick maybe you are right, when I started flying being a member on the flexi forum was like an obligatory piece of equipment you had in your kite bag. Then came the dawn of the keyboard ninja's and users found other forums to frequent (quite a few have popped up since 2002).

 

When the likes of Atmosphere comes round the forum liven up (like it did for Wallop) but that is only for a short period.

 

There are new members on the forum but they post a few message across the various forums and then disappear into the ether again. We might be signing them up be don't seem to be keeping them here, the forums are now lacking the buzz and energy they had when I first signed up. Maybe some people have found this place to be a better public community web site rather than a kite flying web site.

 

Tim

[Tootall]

Only been a member for 1 day, but seems to be excellent.

Freat work.

 

TT

[Atavar]

Tim, be more specific. Thers seems to be an awful lot of newbies coming on asking questions about, dare I say it....kiting. I started to get the feeling that Flexi, certainly 'barzone' had lost its kiters. I mean, it is a kite forum.

 

Specifically in my case, in all the time i have been flying i've been able to attend the grand total of about 3 fly ins (no transport). I can count the amount of other kiters i've met outside of fly ins on the fingers of my left hand (All very much nice people). I live in an area in which i 99.9% of the time fly alone.

 

To me, this site is the kiteing community, the bar zone the pub to gether and joke in post-fly (and any other time).

 

I doubt everybody on this site has access to the Ho! or Licky Hill, i'm willing to guess many are like myself, flying in small groups or even alone.

 

Rasga has undoubtedly saved the forum from decline and eventual ruin... So now its up to us to be the life and soul again. So, funny boys, whats stopping you? Let any other cosmetic changes roll off the ducks back and make comment when the place is finished.

 

EDIT - Welcome to those who have introduced themselves on this thread. The more the merrier

[Morb]

loner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Atavar]

loner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guilty as charged

[Morb]

loner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guilty as charged

aah bless. I feel guilty now!

 

 

 

 

 

[Morb]

just got better.

 

 

 

 

 

[windy]

Rasga has undoubtedly saved the forum from decline and eventual ruin... So now its up to us to be the life and soul again. So, funny boys, whats stopping you? Let any other cosmetic changes roll off the ducks back and make comment when the place is finished.

 

I'm sure we're all grateful for Rasga's largesse in carrying on the Forums.

All i'm saying is now that it's completely in his control he has the chance to tailor it to how the majority of users would prefer. I'm sure you'll agree that that's not a bad thing.

[Atavar]

I'm sure we're all grateful for Rasga's largesse in carrying on the Forums.

All i'm saying is now that it's completely in his control he has the chance to tailor it to how the majority of users would prefer. I'm sure you'll agree that that's not a bad thing.

Not a bad thing, but i think we should judge the finished article not pull it to peices before its completed. Let the iceing be put on the cake before eating it, as it were. Until its in the form Rasga wishes it to be i'm not going to comment on any further changes unless they greatly impact on how the place works. Only problem i've had is not being able to tell if a post is someones first anymore so i can't change my advice/welcome accordingly but thats hardly a big thing. Just have to fall back on the old standard: Welcome to the forum Enjoy!

[The Geoff]

I'm sure we're all grateful for Rasga's largesse in carrying on the Forums.

All i'm saying is now that it's completely in his control he has the chance to tailor it to how the majority of users would prefer. I'm sure you'll agree that that's not a bad thing.

Not a bad thing, but i think we should judge the finished article not pull it to peices before its completed. Let the iceing be put on the cake before eating it, as it were. Until its in the form Rasga wishes it to be i'm not going to comment on any further changes unless they greatly impact on how the place works. Only problem i've had is not being able to tell if a post is someones first anymore so i can't change my advice/welcome accordingly but thats hardly a big thing. Just have to fall back on the old standard: Welcome to the forum Enjoy!

 

windy: You seriously think we'll ever find a consensus amongst all the active members that makes sense?! I'm not saying don't listen to views, but I still like to think that a well thought out minority view can, at least in principle, win out over a popular but bad idea.

 

Atavar: Yeah, I'm starting to agree with you on the post count thing. I liked the idea of trimming stuff down and avoiding a certain amount of willy waving (for want of a better phrase), but I'm starting to find it annoying for exactly the reasons you mention. There seems to be a lot of new folk around, and it's difficult to know who's more likely to need a "there are no stupid questions" bit of help.

 

Of course, there might be more new folk because the post count is gone.

 

There's probably a very interesting graph there somewhere.

[Steve1599968621]

'Very' interesting may be pushing it. 'Slightly' or even 'Vaguely' may be more apt.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Geoff]

"Interesting to The Geoff" is probably the only correct version....

[rasga]

Playing catchup after a weekend away; in general regarding view on democracy as has already been alluded - you won't ever get a truely representative view from all.

 

Nor can every change be 'voted' on etc; a lot of people are vocal regarding one/two changes out of a total of 8 or so I made that day.

 

Likewise regarding, the changes that will occur with styling etc. Views have been asked for and are listened to/fed into the review cycle - though of course not all will make it live.

[windy]

Playing catchup after a weekend away; in general regarding view on democracy as has already been alluded - you won't ever get a truely representative view from all.

 

It's blatantly obvious that you won't get a view from every single person, but if performed in a proper manner, it will give you a relatively representive view. Which is better than nowt.

 

Nor can every change be 'voted' on etc; a lot of people are vocal regarding one/two changes out of a total of 8 or so I made that day.

 

Dude, show me the post where someone asked for "every" change to be voted on!!!

[Guest TonyHolden]

The forum feels fine to me, but that's because I'm new.

 

People forget that forums, by their very nature, are prone to change. There will always be a turnover of members, As the subject matter of the forum progresses things will change, as software improves features will change, and the members change too, going from being new and unknown to worn in and well known.

 

I'm sure there were the halcyon days here were everyone knew everyone else. There would have been in-jokes that would have been talked about for days and weeks. The number of combinations of kit wouldn't have been so wide, so most people would have a good idea about it all, and it would have seemed to be a very tight knit community.

 

Rasga is doing his job, the forum is still here, people are still posting. Okay, a few features might have gone, but this isn't a democracy, the admins do their best to keep the place going, sometimes things are sacrificed to make life either easier for them, or easier for the hard and soft ware, they have to make those calls without a vote. But I'm sure that the admins do take note of what is said, they just have to do their best to strike a balance between form and function, and it is impossible to please all the people all the time.