I had never visited any other car club sites until I bought my Focus. I checked out several sites dedicated to that car, and what I found was very interesting. The differences in the design of the site, and similarities to this one....but the biggest difference was regarding member-to-member contact in the posts. There was practically NONE! Someone would ask a question, perhaps two or three would answer, and that was the end of it. Everything was so compartmentalized, that people could be on the same site for months and never cross paths. They may meet each other at an organized event, but their contacts after that must be by email or in a chat room. To sum it up....the sites are almost DEAD compared to ours. This goes back to a basic question that has been raised before; it this site about factual SVX information? A forum for friendly discussions? Both? and how should it be structured and regulated?
If you go to a ball game, the thing you share with the others in the park is the love of the team and the game. You may sit next to people that share the same feelings about individual players or some other aspect of the game, and enjoy their company. You may observe someone three rows in front of you with their hair in orange spikes and no t-shirt screaming their lungs out for the same team. Not your style perhaps, but they are fans too. The drunk guy behind you that curses constantly in front of your kid and spills beer on your wife....well, he might be asked to leave by security . When you open a door and let people into anything from a ball game to a website, you are going to get all kinds of people. Some will become instant friends and others.... well you hope they don't show up at the next meet that you attend.
ISN'T THAT LIFE, FOLKS?
Is it really any different anywhere where people of different ages, backgrounds, and cultures are brought together with the prime bonding agent being....A CAR???????
But where groups of people meet, there are always rules. Some written, others unwritten. Somewhere between "sterile" and "chaos" there must be a happy medium. I hope wiser heads than I can work it out. But nothing is going to scare me off; I teach in Middle School for Pete's sake!
My classroom is made up of a very diverse group of LD and MI students. I have the poor and the rich, boys and girls, from three ethnic backgrounds at last check. By and large, we get along great. BUT I have some simple rules for my classroom, and each student signs onto my program before each school term begins. When the rules are broken, first I move them within the classroom, we discuss the problem, and I call the parents. Next I move them into the hall and we re-discuss the problem and I call the parents. Then they move to the office and someone else can try an attitude adjustment and call the parents. It is then no longer my problem, and I can get back to teaching. I for one, am no more going to consider leaving this site, than I would, letting some child take over my classroom.
My friends are here, and this is where I am staying.
Don