State of the forum

[hex1848]

Well it’s been a pretty hectic week around the Cigarsmokers.com world. We got some new members, heated discussions, and apparently the need to keep our grammar “skillz” in check. I am admittedly a bit new to the whole managing a community thing and honestly was a bit caught off guard by the flaring tempers. Guess what guys? We are getting bigger! I see the growing pains as a big plus in the long run. More people bring more opportunities. We have some great members and as with any online forum problems will arise. Let’s learn from each other and become closer as a whole.

I’m asking the moderators to let things ride out. Don’t delete posts unless they are violating our policies or are completely defamatory towards a person or people. I’m asking the members of the community to be respectful of one another. Unless you have a major problem with someone is it necessary to be combative? Not unless you’re here to start trouble and not for the betterment of the group. Flame wars have been a part of an online community since the beginning. They will happen here as well from time to time as well. But the negativity brings us down and most of our members will agree that this isn’t the place for it.

We are nearing our one year anniversary (July). We are at the top of the search engine rankings for targeted keywords and the growth will only continue.

Thank you for being a part of Cigarsmokers.com. I’m happy and proud to be here. Are you?

[CoventryCat86]

You're managing it just fine and that is bascially taking a "hands off" approach and ignoring PM's from people like Oblik who I would bet a fiver of cigars are telling you to "Ban CoventryCat86 and his buddies (or is that buddys, I fergit)."

Your post is well thought out and pretty much right on the money hex.

As far as "negativity" too many people nowadays shy away from "rocking the boat" or speaking their mind because of the "can't we all just get along?" syndrome but this mentality invites people to take advantage of those too meek and shy to stand up and say "Whoa, that ain't right!!" I've seen way too many passes and trades and cigar sites crash and burn because no one wanted to "rock the boat" or speak up against someone who doesn't know WTF they're talking about.

[hex1848]

What kind of cigars you sending me?

For what its worth Oblik has not once asked for anyone to get banned. I not going to ban anyone unless they simply don't add anything to the value of this community and don't follow the rules.

[ggiese]

I've said it before, I'll say it again in this thread... Sorry for the current state of affairs, if I've brought you discomfort, Hex. I sincerely thank you for your tolerance of the current discussions. I personally feel they are productive - and whether others want to admit or not (or more likely deny it), we are all learning from one another.

One or two people (or 5 for that matter) are not going to bring this board down. Heated discussions are not going to bring this board down. As CoventryCat says, overmoderating, heavy handed tactics, bannings, post deletions, etc. will surely bring this board down.

[Bkcloud114]

Glad to be here Hex..... don't worry it won't be that bad......

[ggiese]

By the way, Hex... Is this going to be a yearly thing now? The "State of the Forum" address?? I'm looking forward to it.

[jaewing]

Yes . . . a very good forum and I am glad to have found it. Hex and all the oters are doing a great job.

One thing to keep in mind to avoind misunderstandings is that unlike live conversations we have no tone or body language to let the listener (or reader here) know how we intend to come across in a mesage. Black text can be very easily misunderstood and what is meant by the poster to be a simple statement or comment may appear to the reader to be hurtful, mean, spiteful (insert the insult). The use of punctuation (!,.,?etc.) and "smileys" ( , etc) will go a long way in getting your intended point accross.

I personally have learned this from using numerous forums on many different subjects.

Great job to all those who make this forum work.

[hex1848]

I'm not going to do these on any set schedule. I did one last month as well. This is more of a "how I see the forum currently" type thread. State of the forum just popped into my head the first time I made this sort of post, so it stuck.