Magnifique!!!

That was a gutsy post, imho. I agree this is a pattern communities go through, that it can change, that you should stick around, that the search and resource threads can be ungainly (not that I know how to improve that), and that I wish we were gentler welcoming folk asking the conversion question or that it were a little more intuitive for them to find the info themselves (I also think those kind of new-to-this-thing-and-excited queries are and should be a part of any forum). That said, I don't know anything about being a moderator. I have run a theatre company and I imagine there are similarities--mainly that they are volunteers. It's nice when folk step up, which, in a way, you've done. It's frustrating when a newcomer thinks they're diagnosis is original or doesn't offer a solution. This was a cool place for you for awhile. Does it owe something to you, or vice versa?

Also, is it just me or are some of the more seasoned members returning as the summer passing? I appreciate hearing from those folk.

now isn't all this business making a big deal out of something very small, if you don't like it- leave, stay and don't whine or help change it.

lol :eek:

the ignore button helps cut down on the stupid ****.

I get your sentiment, Chrysiptera. I've enjoyed a number of your threads. I've been lurking in BFSSFG with varying degrees of frequency since my join date.

I honestly don't think there's much else to be done about the quality of posts, IMO. Unfortunately it's just the nature of the medium and the fickleness of human nature & fads.

Bikes have always been an interest of mine. Since I gradually got more and more cheesed off with the wavering quality of help from many LBS and I started exploring tech resources on the net to learn to do things for myself; initially from the likes of Sheldon Brown, Park Tool articles and a dozen or more other smaller sites - I still find this a dynamic supplement and gap filler of knowledge.

Though having been a 'net veteran since the early 90s (sorta just pre the WWW) I've seen a lot crap come and go online. Unfortunately some of this crap stays and you sort of develop a resilience to it after a while. Learn to ignore the flames and when you spot a troll don't bait them.

If there's information I want, which is more often my reason for visiting I just prepare myself for the crap I'm about to wade through and keep fine tuning my Google searches (yes, I find the BF search engine rather naff) and just soldier on through things

Oh and by way of examples - here's a search string that it seems a lot of new memebers to BFSSFG could perhaps start with and vary:


I became a born again Googler after discovering Advanced Searching

oh well.. back under my rock.

umm..whoah, thats how its done

I think we have a love connection

sora arse!

sore anus!

^^^ Bingo!

sore ace.

No kidding, though: since about a couple of months ago, my riding got less comfy: for some reason my arsh gets sore quite easily. Doc said I have too little fat tissue (i.e. basically none) and this problem can't be solved. He discouraged me from eating like a pig. I could as well take up octopus magic's little creation and slap it in my sig.

Wow case in point regarding the quality of post in this forum. Starts off well and then turns into a misguided teenage playground.

http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/279...6053877_rs.jpg

Is this you?

to the o.p.

basically, 90% of the questions that can or will be asked in this forum have already been answered. those answers are readily available with a search. there are members who answer questions respectfully and accurately. there are also members who are just so jaded by the incessant redundancy, that they try to have a little bit of fun. it gets out of hand on occasion, but for the most part things settle down and the answers are always out there.

lighten up. if your time and thoughts were so valuable, you wouldn't be wasting them on the internet.

No, that's Nicole Ritchie after a breast-enlargement operation.

Hey, I don't have an eating disorder or too thin, I just don't have fat tissue. Not happy about it, but what can I do.

Props to all my virtual homies. You're all high quality to me.

+0.75
 

+0.75

Ok, fair enough. When we do that, however, people start freaking out about how fascist we are and how we need to leave SSFG alone. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. What would you suggest? I have to be honest with you, there's a group of SSFG riding ladies in the Women's Forum who have interesting and cool threads about stuff that really ought to be discussed here. They'd truly like to have them here, but they're sick of the bozos, too. So they go to Women's instead. They know they won't get shat on there.

What do you want to see be different? What will (all of) you do to help change things? We can moderate until we're blue in the face, but it will all remain the same if everyone keeps posting the S.O.S.

Just keep doing what you are doing. Those of us with a little patience and maturity will continue to brush away the crap and enjoy the good parts of ssfg without crying. The rest will stamp their little bootied feet and threaten to leave for ever and ever because the majority of people posting are big, mean, stupid, stinky doody-heads.
I agree that the situation will remain the same no matter what you do but that's the nature of the beast.

As for the women afraid to post here because of the possibility of being shat on; I don't buy it. Newbies to FG seem to be treated with a certain level of respect if they have done their homework and aren't posting 'which color deep-V's' threads. You may get one or two dickbags acting like asses in an otherwise decent thread but like I said before, you just gotta brush away the crap. Not only that, but people in here seem to get kinda excited about chicks on fixed gears, they'd probably be well-recieved.

It took you three months to figure out that most of the advice on Bike Forums is "cr@p"? Don't feel bad...I was reading the "road bikes" sub-forum for several years before I figured out that those guys who post "I have trouble hearing my IPOD when I am cruising along at 40 mph" might be not quite the "speedsters" that they claim to be...heck, I'm beginning to doubt those guys even own a bike.

Wait a second - it's not true you can't find good advice on bikeforums. You can! In the right thread, of course. If you have a question regarding bike mechanics (including frame painting, geometry etc.) you go to the bike mechanic's forum. You'll get plenty of high quality advice there.

On SSFG you don't come to get good advice. You come here to relax. You know? R E L A X

Now this is a good thread. Civilized, mature, and informative: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=5447361 (From Long Distance Cycling).

Still, i enjoy this forum. There is a lot of good information among the nonsense, and the nonsense is fun too. If the environment were more female friendly/ less aggressively sausagey that would be nice.

Well, I'm new here, but I think ya'll are doing fine and it's mainly up to all of us. I do like it when ya'll more experienced members chime in. I only had a brief I'm-sick-of-it period but now a enjoy cruising through again. Would having the control panel visible to unregistered users but, when you clicked on search, you get a "please register" msg, help? I know when I joined, I expected to find a search function; but, by the time I joined, I was so used to the top of the window, I didn't notice it (I know, if it'd been a snake, it would have bit me). That won't decrease flame, but maybe it'd decrease the opportunity for it.

LOLZER
this thread is so funny!!1

Seriously, A question on a new thread usually gets answered within the first few replies. If it doesn't, it was a stupid question or it could have been easily answered by searching. Then we screw around and make some jokes and go on tangents. What is the problem?

The thing is, ss/fg are pretty simple bikes and that means a lot of the questions regarding them have already been asked and answered. Which leaves us with a lot of free forum room to **** around.

I heard that if you want intellectual discourse you should go to pbnation. I hear that place is like a think tank compared to here.