Missing posts?

Poor moderation has it's own rewards, as does the "crap" sticky JMHO

The sun no longer shines when the over bearing deity presides.... YMMV

So very true Wildmax.

I was going to do a new post about going out to the new Cooper Creek Barge and having a ride, and catching up the the late Tom Kruse - Birdsville Track fame son and daughter.

The response that I received in under 24 hours was mind blowing with over 30,000 views, just on the one story, something that will never happen here on ExplorOz and there are people here that think I am a nuisance and don't want me here for up to date facts.

Things need to change on here to keep the forum active.

David and Michelle have put such a lot into this site over the years and it is sad to see the way that it has gone.

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Hi Stephen,
I note that you received 30,000 views on Facebook, but as much as I appreciate you, I was not one of those viewers.
I detest Facebook with a passion and will not go near it. Even when directed there by a source that I seek information from I abandon my search and go elsewhere.
I don't want to engage in argument about Facebook, suffice to say that like some others, I don't use it.

I like the EO forum and I agree with you that "things need to change"or rather 'things need to stop changing' however I have yet to find a forum that offered the attractive contributions that once existed here.

Yes the 30,00 views was in just 24 hours and one story only.

I know there are good and bad sites, but I am very proud of my factual site with dozens of great photos and there are never any arguments, as people want to hear honest facts and not as they say….Bull Shite

Maybe the current administration of the forum should be asking themsleves why are members leaving this forum and going elsewhere?

LeighW,

I am not sure the admins and moderators are the issue. I believe that peoples values and attitudes have changed more in the last few years. People are becoming more aggressive and abusive than they used to be. Litigation is becoming more popular, and public entities/forums are more likely to face litigation than they used to. 20 or 30 years ago, if you disagreed with someone, you just disagreed with them. These days, people are more likely to become abusive, language is more likely to become profane, with threats of violence more likely. I believe that people’s moral values have changed for the worse.

Macca.

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Sadly Macca, you are right on the ball.

Mclaren3030,

I do agree with you, but reality is other forums a thriving yet this one is slowly dieing. I think the forum operators should really be looking at themselves what's changed in the last three years for example. Yes members maybe be an issue but to put it plainly when the administrators start behaving in the same manner as the members then administrators should be revisting the rules of conduct also.

To me it seems a few members and an administrator have taken over this forum as their own, if anyone disagrees with their view point they put them down then if the member fires back the little group gets together and derides them.

I have seen this in clubs where the members comittee get power hungry and end up driving the members away. Also on another forum where the self imposed power mongers tried to bring down a very large forum by opening their own forum in competiton, image their surprise when very few memebers of the old group followed them to the new.

Not to help things the owners of the forum don't seem interested in the forum anymore apart from using it as a platform to market their software, in a few years time their probably won't be anyone left on here for that aspect to be worthwhile anyway.

Leigh,

I am not sure of which other forums you refer to that are thriving, I am not a member of very many, but I do look at quite a lot of different pages on Facebook.

If what you say regarding a particular moderator or admin. is true, and I have no way of knowing if it is, have you written directly to Michelle and David and outlined in detail who the person is, and exactly what was said? There seems to me to be little point in just expressing your feelings on here if you haven’t taken the matter up directly with Michelle and David.

The world and peoples attitudes changed dramatically in 2020. People resented having to be told what they could and couldn’t do. People became more aggressive and less tolerant as a result. We were unable to travel freely as we had been used to. A lot of people have not been able to afford to travel as often since then as prices of goods and services rose dramatically as a result. I believe this is one reason why there are less posts about remote travel and places. I also believe that people who would normally have been more tolerant of others, have also changed as a result of the aggressive attitude of others around them.

Whilst I have not been a member of this forum for as long as some others, what I have noticed is that since 2020, there are more aggressive replies on here than there were before 2020. In Melbourne and its surrounding outer areas, the crime rate since 2020 seems to have skyrocketed. Not just crime in general, but particularly violent crime against ordinary family people. Violent home invasions with weapons for no apparent reason other than to steal a car. Of course the stolen car then gets used to commit other crimes. Most of these home invasions are being carried out by very young offenders, but they are being orchestrated by older more hardened criminals. What has this got to do with this forum? Probably very little directly other than to demonstrate that people have become more aggressive towards each other than they were a few years ago.

As I stated earlier, if you haven’t taken this matter up directly with Michelle and David, or you are dissatisfied with their response, you have a choice. You can continue to voice your dissatisfaction, which seems pointless to me, or you can move on.

My apologies to Roger as we seem to have “hijacked” his thread.

Macca.

My sentiments exactly Macca,

Almost ALL forums are in decline thanks to the vast wasteland of Facebook Groups.. utterly cancerous, infested with scams, poorly run, and utterly beholden to Meta for their very existence, they can be shut down at a moments notice or their administration transferred for profit, many are run for one individual's own self aggrandisement, and many are left unmoderated to wither and die on the vine after the forums have long since died..

Its why I still make an effort with places like IH8Mud for Landcruiser stuff etc.

While I am a avid user of Facebook & other social media , I think this forum is a far better and reliable source of usable information for the subject that it covers and I enjoy participating with the conversation and the banter..lol .
I have opted out of most of the Facebook pages of this sort of subject because of the useless nonsensical rubbish that people right .

I know that David and Michelle like the forum to run itself without interference from them as much as possible but I do feel if some of the more personal attacks on each other were jumped on from the start that might make a difference but that then put more work on their shoulders and I dare say they are more than busy enough with other business .

.
I have oft' likened this forum as being a group of buddies chatting around the campfire, a convention that I found very attractive. It motivated me to view the forum almost daily.
In recent times there seems to be some assertive responses that challenge a posting and result in something of a donnybrook nature. Maybe this is in keeping with the violence being displayed in our global society or the increasingly competitive nature of our national community. Whatever the cause it is most unattractive to me, and I'm sure, others.

Since swapping the Troopy for a Sprinter campervan I have also been following an American forum devoted to Sprinters where the rules are somewhat more liberal and permitting contributions off-topic. Subjects such as "What did you do to your Sprinter today?", "Do you have a better campsite than me?", "Tell me a joke", etc. even political observations, although many posts seek assistance with vehicle problems which maybe illustrates the difficulties of the complexity of the Sprinter vehicles. That forum is not without offerings of criticism but more in the manner of declaring an alternative view without denying the expressions of the other member or denigration. They are generally polite and I find this interesting for a nation that I view as being rather aggressive. So why do these brawls erupt on ExplorOz?

Can I suggest that we contribute more postings that simply offer short presentations of trips or places that could be of interest to others? And despite the ban on a regular "Fridays Funnies" post that hosted some offerings of bad taste that offended advertisers, and often me also for that matter, it should be permitted to post something humorous but not distasteful. Yes, I know that we have a "Blogs" section but it could be attractive to have a short, and I emphasise 'short' post within the forum of the experience of some attractive place or campsite or a trek posted on the "Daily Forum" page. Now that I cannot travel remotely I enjoy the offerings of those who do so. I do remember that David and Michelle loosened-up the moderation a while back so perhaps we can take advantage of that to more socialise the forum pages and so enhance its attractiveness.
What say you?

Allan , very well stated comments thanks Allan and also good for your mental health when the topics are good fun ;))

Thanks Nick, On the. subject of "good fun" I'll test my proposition. This one may not be novel but it amuses me because I see some fundamental truth in it……………

A man and his blonde girlfriend were sitting in a pub watching the Tour-de France on TV.
The blonde shook her head and asked, "Why do they do that?"
"Do what?" asked the man.
"Go on them bikes for miles, up and down the hills, round the bends. Day after day, week after week. No matter what the weather? .. .. .. why would they torture themselves like that?"
"It's all for the prestige and the money," replied Mick, "You know the winner gets about a half a million Euros?
"Yeah, I understand that." said the blonde, "But why do all the others do it?"

Hey Allan I hope for your sake that D & M aren't offended by your blonde joke
Haha ;)))

I'm not much afraid of D & M……..
What's even more chancy is that Roz is blonde!!!!!

Allan

Here's one for Roz :)

Two blondes having a coffee at an upmarket cafe in Darling Harbour Sydney
One of them starts looking up in the sky and asks her friend ........

What do you think is further away, Melbourne or the sun ?

Her friend replies

HELLO - can you see Melbourne from here ??

That could work Gazz.
Maybe it needs some constraints to keep it interesting. Like limiting the offering to say 30/40 lines, only one contribution per week with first in wins the spot etc..

G'day Allan

Here's a short one from me

Around the mid 90's I was heading south from Birdsville thru Cordillo Downs then Innamincka and on the Old Strzelecki Track in my GQ Nissan Patrol when a semi coming towards me flashed his lights for about 10 seconds so I figured he wanted me to stop. I pulled over and soon after he pulled up, it was a B-Double loaded with large black steel pipes approx 400 to 500mm diameter. He jumped down and without any sort of greetings asked me if I knew where this is and handed me a piece of paper. Well the paper had some sort of GPS co-ordinates or grid references on it which meant nothing to me. I could tell he was a bit stressed and unsure what to do so I got a map out and showed him where we were and suggested he turn around and head over to Moomba as the pipes might be for there or if not they might know or could find out who needs them.

Ok he replied then looked around a bit and said to me " I will turn around over there ( large flat bluebush area ) and you wait here in case I get bogged "

I said " Mate, you're not serious are you - you don't expect me to pull you out ? "

He said " No you idiot - you can take me to Moomba to get some help "


I still laugh at my reply all these years later


Cheers
Gazz

Many years ago we were camped with a couple of other families on the Indi River beyond Corryong. It was Xmas and it was stinking hot. We were in a camper trailer.

Dearly beloved decided to don her swimming costume that was hanging on a hook attached to a tent pole. Fotunately she had left her t shirt on as she started to pull the togs up. The togs were about halfway up when she noticed a very large spider in the crotch. Well the dance and curdling screams that ensued were something to behold. One hand was devoted to holding the togs up while the other was gainfully employed holding the t shirt down.

The men folk commenced a chase in order to investigate the cause of the commotion. No. 1 son who was about 10 managed to catch the Funnel Web in a jar and released it into the bush.

The banter that ensued around the campfire that night (and many times since) had us all in stitches - well nearly all !!

Anyway the one question that remains unanswered - Who got the bigger fright - my wife when she looked down or the spider when he ........ well you get the gist.

Kenell