auf Wiedersehen

I have opted for a slightly lengthier explanation for my decision but unfortunately it was put under a blanket. Somewhat ironically though as it was me that unsuccessfully pleaded for some time for a certain post to be removed and now my justification gets blanketed without even asking. Rest assure, I will not post it again if this attempt gets binned.

At least allow me the courtesy after 996 posts (995 + 1 in hiding) to say:

Surely we will meet on the road sometime to do what I still like to believe this club is all about namely:

“Shared riding pleasure”

Good wishes to the forum and see you all around...............

ps. ek gaan regtig nie my koffiebeker teruggee nie

MadnohB wrote:I have opted for a slightly lengthier explanation for my decision but unfortunately it was put under a blanket. Somewhat ironically though as it was me that unsuccessfully pleaded for some time for a certain post to be removed and now my justification gets blanketed without even asking.

Are you trying to tell us something? (Ok... I know it is pleaded and not pleated...)

If I said something about your quick shifter that upset you, just say so and I'll apologize. Otherwise I'm in the dark as to the latest "developments".

Come clean, man

WTF dont know if im reading this post right!!! Whats going on Jamie?? You cant leave us!! Nee man. Niks kan so erg wees nie!

I responded to a similar thread yesterday and it seems the whole thing was removed.

Ahh politics, the quickest and easiest way to destroy a forum. If that was the intention, well done, it has worked supremely well. Seems some of our ilk have been paying close attention to the flawed political process in good old SA.

Cheers
M

Henk wrote:WTF dont know if im reading this post right!!! Whats going on Jamie?? You cant leave us!! Nee man. Niks kan so erg wees nie!

I agree Henk! Very sad day indeed! MadnohB is one of the reasons why the forum is where it is today and it is a huge loss!! What would it take to get him to change his mind and stay???????

PS. I like boeings!!! With JZ's inaugeration the 3 SAA boeing flew over our house and I was absolutely thrilled and stunned!!! It was absolutely amazing!! Felt like going back in time and experiencing the World Cup Opening Ceremony back in 1995!!!!

Sad to see a valuable contributor go.

My understanding after discussions with Jamie, is that he is unhappy with the way I (Admin) handled comments published on the forum
and that more consistency should be applied.

My position is that people are free to express their own views.
The matter was – in my opinion – laid to rest/resolved and with the damage done in mind,
decided to remove ongoing reference to the matter and once again initiate stability.

I will step down if this feeling is a general one.
If not, let’s continue to share what BMW’s are all about.

Definitely not!!! Admin (Dani), definitely don't want you to step down!!! This forum IS what it IS, thanks to you! I know that running the forum can not always be easy, and to always be objective/consistent when you know almost ALL the contributors to the forum can definitely not be easy! Therefore, I will still applaud you to a job well done!
I don't want to see anybody leave really....

I think the matter should be laid to rest. It seems that some forum members are too sensitive for the normal forum banter (which is normal on any forum) that is going on. Remember this is a open forum and anybody can give their opinion and everybody out there has got one. So if yours differ from someone else's, deal with it ond move on.

All forum's have their little skimishes and it is sometimes fuelled by people just looking for some entertainment. This is in my opinion not a reflection of the general spirit in our club. From my point of view, looking at our socials our club is still very healthy. As always with two interest groups, there will the normal healthy banter, which is good for team spirit and the feeling of belonging etc. It is also great to keep our club interesting end alive. This healthy banter can sometimes be misintrepreted by the misinformed as factions/rivalry.

Dani, you are doing a great job. I think your enthusiasm and positive inputs are vital to our club's communication channels. Rememeber you can keep all people happy some of the time, some people happy all of the time, but keeping all people happy all of the time, is plain impossible. I will support you taking the decisions you do, becuase I believe you do it in the best interest of our Forum and club. But as said before you will get different opinions on this.

Some you win, some you loose but that is the life cycle of forums. As our forum is quite young we still need to experience all the normal growing phases.

In any case it is sad that we loose some great contributors to the forum. But if they feel that the forum does not contribute to enhance their quality of living, it is once again their opinion and I will respect their opinion and choices.

PS Leroy - my name is Pieter

Would also love to support both Jamie and Dani, but I have also been through the moderator thing on e-mail forums years ago and this is normal. The only way for it to work is to agree that there is no democracy, only collaboration, and since Dani set up the forum, she makes the rules. She is not bossy and tries to incorporate everyone's views, but as the forum leader we have to accept and move on.

I think Jamie is a great guy and sincerely hope he may reconsider, but Dani, I have to support your decisions in principle. But let's not make this a choice thing, surely the average BMW rider (cars excluded! ) is slightly more mature than your average biker, so we can deal with this? Let's leave the arguments for the dirt and the corners?

Why can't we just all get on!?

The sad thing is most people are experienced different in real life to their online/virtual behaviour, so give them the benefit of the doubt?

Very sad indeed MadnohB. I think I missed the issue a bit, because I am not sure what the core of the problem is. But anyway I don’t think it is enough reason for people to leave the forum. As I have it, it all started when someone said that road bikes are boring…. My opinion is that hat’s the opinion of an individual and I doubt that it is enough reason for other individuals to leave the forum.

Anyways, hope you change your mind…

Hats off to admin for a difficult job well done!

I have not been very active on the forum over the last few weeks/months - and it seems i missed something important. This is a sad day indeed if a friend leaves the forum, although i presume Jamie has his reasons. Question is can we not convince him to look past the admin management that has to be done from time to time.

This is an open forum and somebody has to be the proverbial "Policeman" to keep all in line. Personally - i am of the opinion that Dani is doing a thankless job on her own accord, and doing it very well indeed. So keep up the good work.

Jamie - i know you have your reasons - but cant you please look past it and stay.

Good posts Pieter and Drix, very analytical and very clinical and I agree with most of what you said.

Believe me, I have avoided posting this as I firmly believe there is no such thing as half pregnant – you are either gone or you are not as well as for fear that it might cause even more damage to the forum than what has already been done under the flag of “freedom of speech” but given the hours and hours I have spent on this forum and to make sure there are absolutely no misunderstandings a few remarks I would like to add.

It seems that some forum members are too sensitive for the normal forum banter (which is normal on any forum) that is going on.

I’m all for friendly bantering. If that bantering oversteps the boundaries into disrespectful land, then the problems start. If it happens in a section created for that or in the banter’s own post, no issues……If you don’t agree, simply ignore. If a deemed disrespectful comment threatens the whole ambiance of a 3rd party’s thread, then the creators of that post have all the right to feel upset if THEY feel unhappy with a certain post. NOT THE WAY BYSTANDERS FEEL THAT SHOULD INTERPRET BUT THE WAY THEY EXPERIENCE IT

There are forums and there are forums. That is why one can exercise the right to look for a joint where you are happy and comfortable with the dynamics and culture. Once you have settled in a place answering to those criteria you don’t take kindly to person’s attempt without a bike and no affiliation to the club to which the forum is linked too, to derail a thread of your own (allow the creators the courtesy to judge). If such reactions are very out of character to the forum that you have initially chosen and are accompanied by childish name calling which now flows into personal attacks, then it becomes a recipe for a serious unsettling conflict scenario.

HOWEVER, AND THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT all this was lived through albeit with moans and groans

No we propagate….

My position is that people are free to express their own views.

No problems with that in principle but I might add again this is the very reason why this incident was allowed to get out of hand. However, how on this earth do we arrive at this then and justify it…..

decided to remove ongoing reference to the matter

By all means, if I’m out of line address me, heck ban me if it’s serious enough but do not edit my post only for the reason that it refers to the incident WHICH WE WERE QUITE HAPPY TO ALLOW YESTERDAY EVEN TO BEYOND THE POINT OF NO RETURN. No matter what the reason was that prompted me to again refer to the incident and believe me I had reason to do so………



And that was the reason why I decided to call it a day……

The only way for it to work is to agree that there is no democracy, only collaboration, and since Dani set up the forum, she makes the rules. She is not bossy and tries to incorporate everyone's views, but as the forum leader we have to accept and move on.

No problems here and I agree fully. In fact in the past I have fully subjected myself to this…..even encouraged her to make the calls but please……

let’s just exercise one standard for all.

Anyway I will not enter into further conversation as this thing has a bit more flesh than what face value suggests and I do accept the only looser here will be me.

I don’t really have further quarrels, just wanted to set the record straight as to what eventually led to the decision.

Ps. No call was ever made from my side for Dani to step down. In fact just the opposite

My sincere apologies to Admin, sorry for putting you in any position where you were unsympathetically judged, as a direct result of my misdemeanors. My apologies to all the forum members as well.

I appreciate the fact that Admin must make decisions on what is appropriate and what is not. It is a role of Admin to not engage in meaningless banter and to keep the posts on topic. This can be hard sometimes, as I like a little banter and it makes the community, in my opinion.

This apology is from the heart, so Id appreciate not being ridiculed for offering them. You can certainly ridicule me for my actions though, that should take the heat off Admin for a while.

Mr Hussey, you have been quiet here - don't think it is fair that Dani takes all the punches...?

Jamie, I fully understand your point, don't get me wrong. Now I missed this thread that you are referring too, so not sure what extra has been said, but can't we take this off-line - I suspect it warrants a formal committee discussion?

On the Wild Dog forum there is a lot of good stuff, but most conversations are out of control and most people don't know each other, being 3,000 members or so. The difference here is obviously that we are a more structured group of people who do meet face-to-face and more regularly, if that's your choice. And due to the ethos of our club we do have to behave less African, but also ride as Africans (on motor bikes) only can!

So, mr MadnohB, if you need someone to beg, I'll be the one... PLEASE STAY?

If things don't get sorted through face-to-face communication, let it cool and ride more with us?

Maybe time to ride your 800 harder in the dirt, you'll have less time to stew over the forum... I've learned that in the post-modern times we live in these things are not worth ruining friendships for - in a years time nobody care or remember anymore and you land up being the only resentful one.

Hi Jamie, weet nie of jy weer na die threads gaan kyk nie, maar is spyt dat ek nie meer hierso trip-reports en allerhande nuus sal kan kry nie ; sal jou op die ander forum raaklees !

dakardrix wrote:

And due to the ethos of our club we do have to behave less African, but also ride as Africans (on motor bikes) only can!

I frequent this forum as it is normally informative, so allow me to learn from this post: How do the members of this club "behave less African"

Joe wrote:How do the members of this club "behave less African"

There was not a coup?

Joe wrote:

dakardrix wrote:

And due to the ethos of our club we do have to behave less African, but also ride as Africans (on motor bikes) only can!

I frequent this forum as it is normally informative, so allow me to learn from this post: How do the members of this club "behave less African"

The culture of the African (majority, meaning not Western majority) way of driving is uncontrolled, ignoring traffic rules, starting to drive before the light turns red, shooting across lanes without concern for others or using indicators, don't care for roadworthiness... wait, don't you live in Africa?

So, only us living on this continent experience this every day and learn to ride hard, as only Africans can - and you can't explain that to overseas bikers... And yet we still behave more civilised within this chaos, and do not copy the African way. Well, not all of it! How do you tell someone not living here how at the one traffic light you have a jolly old chat with a taxi, joking away, and on the next piece of road you get involved in a heated argument with another taxi driver??

That better? ...or did you imply I made a racist remark...

Sad day if we lose Jamie to the forum. His wit and obvious intelligence made reading his posts very enjoyable for me. His command of languages is admirable and he was the first person in the BMW club to interact with me as a non BMW rider and welcome me to my first and at this stage only ride with the club. I then met the rest of the people on that ride and as I have said before it is an awesome club, well run, fun and very active. This forum is certainly one of the best that I have ever taken part on, it is vibrant and active and so it is sad if politics is allowed to interfere and chase people away.

dakardrix wrote:Mr Hussey, you have been quiet here - don't think it is fair that Dani takes all the punches...?

Oom Hasie is in die Kaap vir die week. En julle weet wat dit beteken ne

As die H(b)aas weg is, is die Muis(ud) die baas.

So speel nou mooi met mekaar anders.....

dakardrix wrote:
That better? ...or did you imply I made a racist remark...

Yes thank you, no, I didn't imply, just didn't understand ... The explanation you gave is also relevant in India, Indonesia and I am sure many other paces, but at least I know what you are saying....

Hi-jack off, hope Jamie comes back

dakardrix wrote:Mr Hussey, you have been quiet here - don't think it is fair that Dani takes all the punches...?

I do have a working life beyond the forum...!
I have been in the Fairest Cape since Tuesday and now, on my return, I am most surprised to find that in the space of one day, a posting battle has erupted to the extent that people are leaving...

If the injured party/ies would drop me a PM setting out their position and refer me to the actual posts they have objections to, I will listen to their position and attempt to give a ruling on the matter.
I have also chosen this subject for my next 'From the Chair' contribution.