A Fond Farewell....

[rbock]

I think the disembodied quality of internet makes ghosts of us all. It is curious that some still feel the need to say good-bye before returning to the ether.

[chitz]

I guess it would depend on why I was leaving.

[PorkPieGuy]

Five pages in, so I doubt many will read this, but anyways...

I've only left two forums with a goodbye.

One was a praise and worship forum which started out strong, weakened, and and one particular poster drove the final nail in the coffin on that website. He had been posting for a long time with the "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude, and everyone put up with it for a long time. Well, one day, someone called him on it, then another, then another. It wasn't really like an attack or anything; however, he had gotten on everyone's last nerve. It was crazy because people on that forum were really, really cool. After the argument ensued and progressed, the guy in charge ended up just shutting the thing down. I remember there was talk of using it as a source for other people to reference if they had questions about worship teams, but it's not been put back up. That was three years ago. So, we were given plenty of warning about it shutting down, and we all gave our goodbyes, exchanged email addresses, facebook info, etc., and that was that.

The second time I've bowed out of a forum was on drum forum. It was a small-ish forum, and the mod had some serious control issues. First, you couldn't post ANY sort of remotely commercial link on the site. For example, if someone asked if they were looking for some sort of bracket that was hard to find or other hardware, you couldn't post the link to eBay, Amazon, Musician's Friend, etc. The excuse was the site was sponsored by a drum store; however, if you visit the store online, it's more like a drummer's gift shop. I mean, they hokey/cheesy stuff like keychains, t-shirts, mouse pads, stickers, hats, etc. They weren't even a "real" music store. In addition, there was a rule that "no religious discussion," but it was soooo heavy-handed it was ridiculous. I totally get not discussing religion and faith; however, if I mentioned ANYTHING that didn't have to do with drumming, I got hammered by the mod. These things would often include church seating capacity, the color of the carpet, lighting, staging, risers, etc. It was so ridiculous. I just bowed out. I mean, his forum, his rules, but geez, what a drag. As soon as I posted that I was leaving, I asked that if anyone wanted my email address or Facebook info to shoot me a PM. Within a couple of hours, the mod goes and blocks my account, so I was only able to get one person's FB account, and he and I stay in touch.

[mdunn]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

The second time I've bowed out of a forum was on drum forum. It was a small-ish forum, and the mod had some serious control issues. First, you couldn't post ANY sort of remotely commercial link on the site. For example, if someone asked if they were looking for some sort of bracket that was hard to find or other hardware, you couldn't post the link to eBay, Amazon, Musician's Friend, etc. The excuse was the site was sponsored by a drum store; however, if you visit the store online, it's more like a drummer's gift shop. I mean, they hokey/cheesy stuff like keychains, t-shirts, mouse pads, stickers, hats, etc. They weren't even a "real" music store. In addition, there was a rule that "no religious discussion," but it was soooo heavy-handed it was ridiculous. I totally get not discussing religion and faith; however, if I mentioned ANYTHING that didn't have to do with drumming, I got hammered by the mod. These things would often include church seating capacity, the color of the carpet, lighting, staging, risers, etc. It was so ridiculous. I just bowed out. I mean, his forum, his rules, but geez, what a drag. As soon as I posted that I was leaving, I asked that if anyone wanted my email address or Facebook info to shoot me a PM. Within a couple of hours, the mod goes and blocks my account, so I was only able to get one person's FB account, and he and I stay in touch.

I would say that you were Drummed Out of the forum.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

... It was a small-ish forum, and the mod had some serious control issues. ....

Mod's definitely make or break a forum. I was super active on a car enthusiast forum ( as much as I am active here) - It was very focused on DIY tips and guides with excellent reference and library searches of user posts (basically everyone posting "how to" info). I had no problem with the mods or members. The owner changed the layout and format and funciton of the forum and its exceedingly hard to navigate and use - I got so frustrated I just stopped using it and never went back.

I was on another forum and apparently one of the mods had some axe to grind with me. I once posted a very innocuous question about something I didn't understand and I wrote "I mean, what the heck?" Well this mod sent me a private message threatening that if I use that word again I will get my "much deserved" forum ban.

I had one more really frustrating one - I was a very prominent player in an online game community with several hundred thousand members. I was one of only twelve members chosen to join the online community support team worldwide, so I was "up there" with the company and user community.

Later they had a bug that led to a game exploit and they kept posting that they couldn't reproduce it to solve it and stop the cheating but they were trying. I figured it out and posted a quick note telling them how to find it right away. I got a lifetime ban for promoting exploits in the game. I actually appealed this 4 or 5 times and got no reply. I appealed it again this year and was told that I obviously knew better and did it to sabotage them.

Ummmm...I invested 20+ hours a week in this for five years and paid them about $5K in subscription fees but now I can't be part of the forum community?

I'm still very bitter about that. Fortunately, the company just pulled the plug on a gigantic (~$100M?) development project that failed because it didn't ultimately meet the desires of the user community bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

[cmd612]

I'm going to lunch. Anybody need me to pick up anything while I'm out?

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by fazool

Mod's definitely make or break a forum.

Yes, they can.

[ADK]

Originally Posted by cmd612

I'm going to lunch. Anybody need me to pick up anything while I'm out?

Is that a formal goodbye? If so, you may want to start a new thread.

[RustyAxe]

Why announce something no one would notice anyway?

[chitz]

Originally Posted by cmd612

I'm going to lunch. Anybody need me to pick up anything while I'm out?

Yes. A gallon of milk please. 1% organic preferred.

Thank you.

[sled]

If you posted one of those threads, wouldn't you feel a little silly when you came back?

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by chitz

Yes. A gallon of milk please. 1% organic preferred.

Thank you.

i prefer mine to be 100% organic (snicker snicker)

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by cmd612

I'm going to lunch. Anybody need me to pick up anything while I'm out?

We could have a virtual food fight and see if anybody gets banned - or gets mad and says goodbye. If we do that, pick up a basket of virtual tomatoes for me please...

Tony

[tbeltrans]

It is with deep regret that I am announcing that....




I AM NOT LEAVING!!!


(ducks and runs...)

Tony

[RP]

Originally Posted by sled

If you posted one of those threads, wouldn't you feel a little silly when you came back?

This is one of the things that I wonder about when I see a farewell message. I've drifted in and out of this forum at times and for various reasons. I don't recall anybody sending out a search team, nor I did I expect it. This is a virtual world, and these are virtual relationships that we enjoy (or not) with each other. We wouldn't recognize each other on the street, nor even by name in many cases, and so I'm usually perplexed by either angry or heart-felt departure posts....