Censorship? Opposition? Is this a CitWar ?

algieuk · Post by **algieuk** » 11 May 2003, 15:02

Come on guys, what is going on here? Are we at war? Are Cit owners taking sides against one another?
I get really concerned when I hear attitudes expressed by moderators such as I have seen here.
Phrases such as "I have ever encountered a moderator from a commercial based forum wanting to post on the "oppositions" forum.
"
and
"I have always tended to be a target for the non achievers in this World and unfortunately nothing ever seems to change a "losers" mentality."
and
"this forum is the high achiever and it would be a pity if its standards were degraded by a clown like this."
and
"He can post to his/her/its hearts content until this matter is resolved and as fast as they can post, we can delete with a click of a button so it becomes an exercise in futility."
I always understood that a forum was for the members presided over by moderators who could remove what was "inapropriate" No one can deny the power that moderators have, but that carries with it a responsibility.
In this case, the postings from CIT have been removed, and it is no longer possible for the posters to the forum to make a judgement as to the matter. What is left however is the "rewritten" history showing evidence of censorship, elitisim, lack of tolerance and arrogance.
I don't consider myself a high achiever, but until now did not realize that in the moderators view I am a "loser".
Also, I did not realize that if my viewpoints were contrary to the view of a moderator it was futile for me to post.
I am also disapointed that my posts might not be considered good enough for this forum.
I also find it very distrubing to find that this is a "commercial based" forum. I had believed it to be a "company sponsored" forum. Now I am told it is not independant I will have to review just how seriously I can take the views presented in what is an extension of a commercial enterprise, presumably designed primarily to further the interests of that business.
Come on guys, this is not on. Are we to get stickers identifying what "forum faction" we belong to and cut each other up on the road? Surely we should be united by a common interest, and co-operate as Citroen owners?
The best forum is the one that provides the answer you need. Now I know that this one is commercially biased I will have to take that into account.
Now why don't you generals declare peace, shake hands and get back to the business of promoting world citroenship as something to aspire to?

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 11 May 2003, 15:47

For goodness sake give it a break will you.
We don't get paid for doing this & it's not a Dorothy Dix site. All we want to do is discuss cars & assist with problems.
If you want the job, just apply for it!!
I have locked these threads for one very simple reason; we aren't counsellors for lost or disturbed souls and in fact I feel that they probably should have been totally deleted right from the start as they were more to do with people playing business politics & nothing to do with the reason for the existence of the forum.
All we want to do is get back to doing what we did before all these characters came in discussing all this rot.
Those not knowing the full story of what has gone on or the background to this whole affair really should not comment on it.
As I say & keep saying is that I just want it to be left die; that is what a moderator is supposed to do; moderate debate and posters being allowed to call other posters #$%^&*() is not moderation.
At present it would seem that the motive for starting these posts and creating dissention has been quite successful; I trust that those involved in creating this unsavoury situation as well as those who keep feeding it will be well thought of if the site is pulled because of it!!
Alan S

blueboy2001 · Post by **blueboy2001** » 11 May 2003, 15:51

I think you're taking it a bit too far with that post.
The fact remains is CIT was trying to stir up trouble. If he is who he claims he is, then the mods had every right to remove his posts as he was pretty blatently advertising his own products and should stick to doing it on his own forum. If CIT is not who he claims he is, then he is impersonating someone which again only stands to cause trouble and as his posts were of no value then I see no reason why they should not have been removed.
I don't see why the fact that this forum is "commercial based" bothers you. Its not like the fact has ever been hidden. As far as I'm aware, the only AS employee who regularly posts on here is Jon and its not like his posts are biased towards Andyspares, sure he's quoted the odd part number here and there but thats as far as it goes. I'm sure this forum was established to further AS business, but the excellent knowledge of many of the forum members has self-fulfilled this - people are more willing to undertake DIY work if there is advice and support readily available, which it is here. As AS/GSF are, in my unbiased experience, the best supplier of Citroen bits in terms of availability, price and customer service then people will buy from them.
Its high time this whole business was forgotten about. As someone who has run and moderated forums in the past, I'll tell you whatever your subject matter you will get idiots posting rubbish and causing trouble, and the bigger you are, the more grief you seem to get. It for this reason I packed in working on a forum with several thousand members, a very small number of individual ruined it for the rest and made myself and the other admins question what we were doing spending our time and money on the project. In the end, we pulled the plug and I vowed I would never have anything to do with running internet forums again. My pet hate was having my decisions questioned and argumentative posts being put up because somebody had been banned or had a post deleted.
I'd hate to see a similar situation here, particularly over something so petty. So, I'd suggest you either get behind the mods/admins or leave. You post here out of choice, not compulsion. If I learned nothing else from my experience, one person does not make a forum, but one person can easily ruin one.
Lets forget about this and forum politics, and stick to what this forums good at - sharing our knowledge of Citroens in a friendly, lighthearted manner.

algieuk · Post by **algieuk** » 11 May 2003, 18:32

In other words forget the politics and leave it to the forum politicians? I'm sorry, I've seen nothing bad from this CIT character, and a lot of very dubious attitudes expressed by the controllers...and I have to call them that because I have seen very little to demonstrate "moderation".
Over on the BX forum idiots advocating Fords and Fiats and suchlike emerge from time to time, allow everyone to get it off their chest and then they disapear. The real damage here has been done by those who chose to try to suppress the natural letting off of steam.
The record remaining only shows discredit to this forum, and that is very sad. Even sadder is that those who caused the problem cannot see that perhaps their attitude ahs exacerbated the situation, not resolved it.
Sometimes it is better to trust the members of the forum to make up their own mind about an individual....I am now left wondering whether CIT had a point, and I'm being denied knowledge of it as a result of someone else's agenda. I will now have to go find out about this other forum and see for myself as I've been denied the opportunity here.
If CIT had been ignored then this would no doubt have died by now.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » 13 May 2003, 00:34

I must say I was looking at how many people have read the last few topics concerning
the ongoings. From one innocent posting on sphere's the forum opened several topics
which hardly covered sphere's but gave suggestions and advice to me.
I must say the forum is impressive especially to see the loyalty amongst you.
All I wanted is to share the topic on sphere's to see what people thought about the
Sphere and makes in general, that are out there in the market place and not just GSF or anybody elses.Thank you algieuk for your stance on the issue.
CIT
P.S Its a public forum so I guess I can post the odd topic now and again

Post by **cheesesliceking** » 13 May 2003, 00:38

Can't we all just get along.............[V][V][V][V]

CIT · Post by **CIT** » 13 May 2003, 00:41

I would like to think so.

algieuk · Post by **algieuk** » 13 May 2003, 03:56

Like I said "Now why don't you generals declare peace, shake hands and get back to the business of promoting world citroenship as something to aspire to?"
Seems CIT has done so....so we are half way there at least.

Fox · Post by **Fox** » 13 May 2003, 04:15

This is beginning to take the form of another forum I frequent, on which a large proportion of the members are under 18. One would hope that a forum such as this would contain mature adults.
Please lets drop the subject. Bitching about it here won't do anything but cause further resentment.

algieuk · Post by **algieuk** » 13 May 2003, 22:11

OK, the record stands...CIT has emerged as the "bigger man" it seems, and us "losers" who are content to merely "achieve" and not "high achieve" Have been put in our place.
Perhaps, though, it is worth each of us reviewing how this came about, and learning the lesson for next time.

JONNYH · Post by **JONNYH** » 14 May 2003, 02:21

take a look at the eurocar@&£"£ website and see what cit has posted. nothing major just throught i would mention it.

allmond · Post by **allmond** » 15 May 2003, 01:44

Had a look - can't find anything.
Jamie

algieuk · Post by **algieuk** » 15 May 2003, 02:41

No, you won't....the censorship is worse over there than it is over here....so sad......They did express their disgust at CIT before it was pulled though.

vanny · Post by **vanny** » 15 May 2003, 04:04

Dont know why but it seems that on the Euro forum a lot of the Cit questions relate to newer models such as the picasso. Very strange but useful non the less (just wish i was alowed to play with the picasso)

cgb1 · Post by **cgb1** » 15 May 2003, 06:44

also, CIT is Satbir, who works for Euro........ hmmm, deleting message from employees of your own company.