Hi all,
I’ve been posting less on this forum, and recently have been limited to posts about what I drink, what I weigh, and the colour of my Gransport interior... Not legendary, and I recognise I won’t be a massive loss...
I get that it’s really easy (and in many ways kinda dumb) to think that just because we all like Maserati’s that we would all like each other in real life. I’m not that stupid. I’m also not (IMO) particularly sensitive. However, there’s recently been too many comments I read on various threads that I don’t like, too many arguments that feel unnecessarily vicious and a bit too personal, and there’s not enough stuff I read that makes me laugh, that makes me feel uplifted, or which educates me.
So, for now, I’m pressing pause, taking a digital detox, and I will be back in a month or so.. I really hope the new measures that Conaero, Zep and others are about to introduce help bring this forum back to what it used to be about...
out for now,
Jon
I am happy to see such posts here. And i will explain soon what "happy" means. Obviously not happy about how you might feel, Jon.
I was a very active member here since the first day, even before the first day, actually, since the ending of maseratiforum 10+ years back. We were a lot of dedicated members, some of them still here (and happy for that), like AndyK, Dan and Newton, some other gone, like Parisien, Emtee and Mark (toomanyhorses). To the above, i will add Robert (hodroyd), because Robert at that time was active and respectful, sadly in the following years he did a lot of mistakes, probably due to his own personal situations. Most of you know the ending of hodroyd's behaviour, so probably some already have a negative opinion. But my post is not about anyone, but me.
Jon, despite not knowing us, i can totally understand how you feel. In the years that came, to the SM came a lot of members, with unknown origin. 15 years back we all were enthusiasts, now the forum consists of less enthusiasts and more people who came to show off. Show off cars, show off money, show off anything, just like beeing in school showing off who has the most slutty girl, or play better football.
I personally had one or two coflicts with members here insulting. Even conaero did call me in Athens to make things calm down, and i explained to him that even if it was not me, someone else would be, so i suggested that specific members should be thrown away, because they are arguing all the time and on every subject.
Some guy above (i think it was Mark) told that on a lot of subjects there is a lot of venom, on which i completely agree.
As said in my last post in August, the SM has become a clique and there were ("were", not "are") a couple of the members of that clique with that venom in almost every topic. Now i am a bit happy that i do not see them write anymore, cause these people did harm some relationships in this forum.
You know, paying fees, or beeing the "exclusive SM member" does not automatically make you a good person. So, to the SM owner, it's not all about money. Remember, the SM was made and supported of enthusiasts. Better forget the cliques and the fees and get back to what used to make this forum interesting and polite. When you come back to this, all venom will disapear, and the truly entusiasts will return.
And to conclude, Jon, with my word "happy" i bet it is now understood what i meant.