Time for a NSFW thread???????????

[Clunk]

I don’t think we should underestimate the influence having one ‘private area’ accessible by a few might have on the forum long term.
I also fully understand that those who have access don’t need to look, but my view is that it is the absence of what some might find offensive or unpleasant which makes this forum one where we all want to be. I wouldn’t want to see that put at risk. We can each have different views about what influence a thread as being suggested might or might not have, but if I’m correct & it ends up having a negative or destructive influence, the problem is that it is too late by the time it is recognised. I’m no prude, but my preference would be for things to stay as they are. There are any number of other venues online for the ‘NSFW’ stuff.

And I totally respect your opinion Cuppa, I'm not sure if you read my posts or not but I'm not about turning this place into a den of ill repute, no porn, no racism etc, I'm just on about a thread that's a little more relaxed than what we have available to us right now. Think about how many members that used to be regular contributors on here in one form or another, where do they go instead of coming here? I know where and AB also knows, because it's also somewhere where I spend more and more of my time instead of coming here. You may think that that's not such a bad thing, you may not.
What I'm getting at is, although this forum was set up as a Nissan Patrol owners forum, it's started growing into so much more but it's plateaued. Yes we still have regulars but those regulars are not so regular. New owners and possible prospective forum sponsors have turned to Facebook which has affected this forum. According to the poll Bob put up, the demographic of the forum over 36 years old is 70%, so where are all those under 36? Why do they not hang around on here? Where am I going with this post? I don't know, I've lost my train of thought, had another crap day at work and there's nothing amusing to read on the forum to brighten up my night.

[Ben-e-boy]

Add NFSW to The meme thread title and be done with it

Patrol4x4 have the "Yoga Pants friday" thread and they are still at the top on google search, we would lose clunk forever if he found it.

If people cant show some self restraint and continue to read an NSFW thread and get offended, the problem is with the reader, not the thread.

I have been frequenting the other forum more often lately and there were some comments regarding this forum. The one that stood out to me was

"NissanPatrol.com.au.
It was good at first, now its f*cking gumby central." That post is over a year old too.

I read that quote and stewed on it for a while. While Im not saying this place is full of gumby's, it definatly used to be cool. At no point it has ever been a free for all cesspit, where only the thickest skins survive. But it was better

Changes need to made. This place needs a more relaxed atmosphere, like it used to be.

[Clunk]

Too late. Found it....... .... mmmmmmm yogaaaaaaa paaaaasaaaaants

[Bob]

I don’t think we should underestimate the influence having one ‘private area’ accessible by a few might have on the forum long term.
I also fully understand that those who have access don’t need to look, but my view is that it is the absence of what some might find offensive or unpleasant which makes this forum one where we all want to be. I wouldn’t want to see that put at risk. We can each have different views about what influence a thread as being suggested might or might not have, but if I’m correct & it ends up having a negative or destructive influence, the problem is that it is too late by the time it is recognised. I’m no prude, but my preference would be for things to stay as they are. There are any number of other venues online for the ‘NSFW’ stuff.

Fully agree Cuppa.
I dont understand the need to have NSFW stuff but then again I am an old bugger that the world has passed by.
Perhaps I should find a Forum that is more suited my staid old views

[rusty_nail]

poor old AB, i just dont understand why everyone cant just accept that there are ALWAYS going to be people who have differing views and opinions of what is/isnt acceptable...

i am of the opinion that everyone should be taken with a grain of salt, ie, that i might think that someone is wayy to conservative or way to over the top, but i accept that that is the way they are and know that making demands so that everyone falls in line with my views is A) just not gonna happen, and B) would people in an awkward position where they would have to make a choice between which side to pick and i just dont think that is fair.

why is everyone so sensitive these days? i have absolutely no problem with a NSFW thread, if it makes some people happy why not, but i know that if im not OK with the content thats going into it i can really easily pass over it and move to the next thread.

[MudRunnerTD]

Fully agree Cuppa.
I dont understand the need to have NSFW stuff but then again I am an old bugger that the world has passed by.
Perhaps I should find a Forum that is more suited my staid old views

The problem with that though Bob is that those forums are dwindling for the same reason. Facebook has changed the world forever. Trying to keep up is our task. Remaining relevant and current is required.

Did you know there are No Less than 20 Facebook groups Just for GQ owners! That many again just for GU owners!! That is our competition! If we can't keep them here then we will shrivel and die. This is a very big deal guys.

I respect your thoughts Bob , Cuppa and Tuppa, the suggestion is that 1 thread be left to Self Manage. With rules. If you don't like the content do visit the thread. As a Moderator my job is to keep the rest of the place in line. Having the Meme thread with a relaxed position does not have to have any affect on the rest of the forum..... If anything it will bring back some of the traffic that might open other threads.

My 2c

Something to think about...... Have a look at the members that are asking for the change, add up their post count! Consider their involvement in this place........ Imagine if they were Not Here! Core Membership! Not Blow ins.

[AB]

Hi folks,

I have decided to relax the rules a bit on the meme thread here.

To be honest, I don't think it will change much anyway. If we trolled through the 200 pages on here already there will be hundreds of memes mods have missed anyway which fall under this new rule and nothing has changed so lets give it a try.

This is not a new chat thread though, It's more a relaxed place to show off funny memes with the following conditions.

No images of nipples and genitalia.

Swearing in the memes is ok but not excessive swear words like the C word or racial and discriminating memes.

It will be moderated but on a more relaxed level.

I will change the thread title so everyone understands the contents that may be inside the thread.

[Clunk]

Thanks heaps guys........ now i wonder where i put all those booby memes? Maybe Doggy can help

[Cuppa]

Clunk & Ben-e-boy, I suspect that whilst I enjoy your company that we may have to agree to disagree on this issue. I hope I can manage to express my differing views to yours without us getting into a bunfight.

Apart from a few folk leaving the forum over the years I’ve been here, something which is the norm on all forums, including a small number of dummy spits by popular folk who were unable to exercise restraint & were moderated, I really haven’t been aware of any ‘change of atmosphere’. Forum dynamics are something that interests me & consequently I fiind it hard to believe that I would have missed that. This place attracted me because of it’s friendliness, lack of bitching, & respect for others. Those are still the reasons I stay.

The ‘plateaued’ comment is I suppose a matter of perception. Does it refer membership numbers, regular numbers, new member numbers .... or something else? Currently there are 29,121 members which strikes me as a large & healthy number, & we get new members joining all the time, a percentage of whom stick around, as they always have done. What is the plateau? Is it a personal comment which translates to “I’m growing out of this forum”? I hope not, but it is a fact that people do. I was on a couple of other forums for well over a decade & now only look in now & again & no longer post. It was me who changed, not the forum. Newer members continue to enjoy it. I think it is the nature of the beast.

I expect that those most likely to be making ‘gumby’ statements about this forum on other platforms are those who have an axe to grind by virtue of having been either moderated or kicked out of this forum because of being unable or unwilling to accept this forum’s ‘family friendly rules’. Those who remain are either happy with the way things are, or prepared to accept the way things are because of other recognised benefits of staying.

The reference to ‘other places’ where these disaffected folk like to congregate, (& to whinge about this forum?) are a riddle to me. Can someone provide the links so I can have a peek to see what it is that those advocating change here would like here to more like?

Am I to believe that inference about the loss of a previous ‘relaxed atmosphere’ here means there is a body of folk here who are regularly being moderated or finding self restraint too hard?

Seems to me that an analogy might be the commonly held view that in ‘real’ life it is not generally acceptable for men to use the f*ck or c*nt word in front of women & children. Clearly some folk don’t think that & swear wherever they like, some don’t agree but restrain themselves when visiting the local primary school or other people’s houses, & some just never use the words.

Arguments that there should be a f*ck & c*nt room at the primary school, or making it ok to use that language in the friend’s garden but not in the house, or only when with others who do the same seem analogous to what is being suggested needs to occur here. (If you think I’m only making reference to swearing, check ‘analogy’ in a dictionary).

Although I too had never heard of ‘NSFW’ before, it’s exists obviously because of the need by some to place some boundaries on acceptable behaviours. Nothing wrong with ‘pushing boundaries’, it’s a good way of strengthening them & ensuring clarity, some enjoy that process. ........ but I cannot see any need to remove or change boundaries in a successful organisation/workplace/forum to pander to boundary pushers who want the place to look like somewhere else. If the reference to the other place that the disaffected from her have migrated to is the Patrol 4x4 forum ........ there are reasons I prefer not to use that forum & if badmouthing this forum is something that occurs there it says something about that forum which reinforces my preference not to use it. When I first joined here I recognised that there were a body of folk disaffected by that forum who had left it to come here & I could see why.

I am not suggesting that forums with a greater ‘free for all’ should not exist, but the fact is they already do & I’m quite sure there are folk here, the ‘regulars’, occasional visitors & ‘lurkers’ exercise their preference. I simply see no point in trying to make this place more like those they choose not to go to.

EDIT: I took so long typing the above that when I posted I found that AB has made a decision - so perhaps I’ve wasted my time. Still at least folk might better understand where I’m coming from. I might even have a quiz at the ‘Memes’ now & again, as I have since the thread was introduced. (& which I’ve never been offended by IIRC). I will be interested to observe what changes with ‘more relaxed rules’ for that thread.

[rusty_nail]

Apart from a few folk leaving the forum over the years I’ve been here, something which is the norm on all forums, including a small number of dummy spits by popular folk who were unable to exercise restraint & were moderated, I really haven’t been aware of any ‘change of atmosphere’. Forum dynamics are something that interests me & consequently I fiind it hard to believe that I would have missed that. This place attracted me because of it’s friendliness, lack of bitching, & respect for others. Those are still the reasons I stay.

Cuppa, havent you noticed some of the regular friendly, non bitchy respectful members that have dropped off the forum? Perhaps some of them have done so because they have grown out of the forum, but i seriously doubt that they all have done so. how about Drewboyaus, westysaccessories, rohan(cant remember forum name), trollatron, alitis and many more that i cant think of right now because im shit with names lol. thats the culture change that is being referred to, and maybe you dont notice it because you arent on facebook, but i can tell you that the groups mudrunnertd mentioned are alive and brimming, albeit with absolutely useless crap, and when something good actually gets posted it gets weighed down and hidden by all the other shit posts about it. but people like it because mostly that stuff is unmoderated.