Good post UR13.
Is that site really trying to clean things up for the advertisers? I think they should clean it up because it's a good challenge.
Skateboarding teaches me to challenge myself, to think for myself NOT to be a part of the crowd, especially a crowd that thinks it's cool. It reminds me of that
DEVO song, "Were through with being cool." You know, even "cool" people can be really wrong. It's difficult to administer a web site. Adam N needs to understand no matter what he does, his little place is going to be popular. He should do as you say and either open the doors wide or fix the problem. It's good for(u)m to be realistic.
I tried to give him a few words of encouragement quite a while ago. I told him about php, how you could edit your posts and make the forum user configurable. I offered my opinion but was very much told that I should watch the way that I express myself with my words? I never understood that Soon afterward I was banned. My last name is banned there sort of like I have banned Ar_b's name here.
Here are some ideas that I think would work well for that site.
#1. There is so much GAY slander going on there, it's a goto thing. I read the other day something Mollica was refering to Adam Gayham's site or something like that. Mollica doesn't even know me. Chaput using Gayrab and well, these guys need to police themselves because the moderators aren't going to do it. The GAY slander thing needs to be way toned down.
#2. Remove the vote box. When you have a anonymous forum, and you give the anonymous a vote, it's going to be "MOB RULES." The vote box sort of promotes this right along with anonymous posting.
#3. The web master needs to take control of his own web site and pick level heads, people who have an even keel to moderate and make those people visible. Pay them a little of the proceeds of the advertising to do this. If you place responsible people in positions of moderation, making them accountable and visible for their actions, they will do a job and do it well.
#4. Remove Mollica's forum. You have a world skateboard slalom champion who often and openly talks of porn and pot like its no big deal blah blah blah... We are all a little twisted, we don't need to promote it and then try to "clean things up" at the same time. I don't know Kenny but I've read some pretty wierd stuff of his that I wouldn't want an impressionable 14 year old reading...
#5. Three warnings and your out? Great idea, time to see if it works.
That would be a good start and I'm not about to start up another web site, I could probably do it and do it well but it's way too much trouble. Adam N is the reason why you have a choice Chris, he is the reason that slalomskateboarder.com exsists. That in itself is as much tribute as I can pay the guy. I like the site but he has definately lost control. I think we all cringe at some of those posts. It's a really complex issue of promoting skateboarding. You make a forum where people can speak their mind then sell the popularity of the forum to advertisers. Then you try to change the way the forum works but that won't work because your changing what makes you popular in the first place. He has quite a challenge on his hands, I honestly hope to be able to read that site for a long time...
Here is a snippet from an interview and the URL to the interview with Attila Aszodi. I think he sums a lot up in these few sentances.
http://www.sk8mag.de/People/Attila_Aszodi/index-en.html
There are more contradictions to be found here than anywhere. Americans thrive on controversy, that is what makes this country tick. It is also an extremely homophobic society. People who are straight (not gay) make sure to let the rest know how straight they are. If you meet somebody new and you want to be friends with them, a lot of times they might wonder if you're gay instead of saying hey, let's be friends or what a nice person. You actually start thinking this way yourself, rather sad. I remember when I moved here, the way guys dressed was rather pathetic, this was before Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic come on the scene. There was no style, no attempt in wearing colors--pastels were practically outlawed, if you didn't follow a certain trend you were either gay or weird. In Europe this was never the case, people weren't afraid to express through their clothing. Sexuality plays a key figure here in the US--it is so hyped up in the media that you might think that America is an extremely open and comfortable country, sexually. But the pathetic reality is that sex is looked upon as something almost forbidden, there are so many laws that will put you in jail because you took your shirt off in public, or you made a false remark to a coworker, or you looked at somebody in a different way. You will never see nudity on TV, no topless commercials for soaps or shampoos. In Europe, people are comfortable with their sexuality, they don't mind showing their bodies, it is something natural and not weird--here it is something that is very suppressed. Yet, people more about sex and express more about sex in movies and music than any other country in the world. It is the strange and mysterious American paradox. I am still trying to understand it--somebody once told me that this general attitude traces back to the pilgrims who came to America- extremely prudent and conservative, their presence is still being felt around the country. You can think out loud but you cannot act out loud!
Just a few thoughts.
Take it easy.
