With deep regret today I am resigning as a moderator on Scoobynet Ltd.

I joined this BBS for three main reasons, firstly to learn about the car I had chosen to purchase, secondly to enjoy the mutual love of the marque, thirdly to put something back into the community in the knowledge that I have some positive things I can contribute.

I joined the BBS in the days of Phil Dawes, where it was a small community of like-minded individuals and I watched it grow rapidly. When Phil decided to step aside and sold the BBS to Simon, I was delighted to be asked to become a moderator of the technical forums, because I could see how I could help that area of the BBS grow, guide it in some ways and play a fairly hands off role, stepping in only when absolutely necessary.

I am very proud of the fact that most people I talk to hold the drivetrain forum with high regard and consider it to be one of the major success stories of the whole Subaru enthusiast’s community on the Internet. Most of that is down to the contributors to the forum being mature and responsible people, who are very imaginative and in some cases very daring. I hope a little of that is down to the way I moderated the Forum, trying to be invisible in many ways and always trying to resolve contentious issues without too much drama.

The way things have progressed with this BBS and the role the moderator is being asked to fulfil, the less I am able to actively play a role as a participant in discussions. I find myself in the position of not being able to speak my mind or say what I really think. I also find myself in the position of not being able to help people when I know precisely how I could, simply because I am representing Scoobynet Ltd in an official role, as moderator. That is something I can no longer accept.

My main reason for being here is to enjoy myself whilst making a positive contribution to the entire community. I enjoy sharing my knowledge, I enjoy sharing my experiences, I really enjoy meeting people from this BBS at track days, the occasional rally or meet and especially so at the Nurburgring.

I no longer enjoy being a moderator.

I will continue to be an active member of this community, as I have many friends as a result of my participation here. I will now be able to talk openly and freely without having to consider if what I am saying has any implications to Scoobynet Ltd.

I would like to thank every single member of this forum for their contributions during the time I have been responsible for moderating here. The majority of the time there has been no major issues to deal with, on the rare occasion where we have disagreed, that has been handled with maturity in the majority of cases by all parties. You can’t please all the people all of the time, but I gave it my best shot.

Cheers
John

 

 

A sad day John.
Glad to hear you will keep posting.

You other mod guys have a hard act to follow.

 

Wanna build me a Westie now you got all this spare time?
I think it's the right decision for you mate...looking forward to some lively debates.
Chucky

 

John,



Matt.

 

aaaaahh....



Hooooooraaaaaah

 

Sorry to see you go John, not easy to be a moderator though you were consistent, fair and just..........

 

Paul
Why?

Steven

 

Because now there are a good army of Moderators for the technical forums, I think it's only fair that John has a well deserved break. And I look forward to posts which are altogther less restrained!

I wouldn't want to see John go altogether though, that would be a shame.

paul

 

Understand now your Hoooorah was a little ambiguous

Steven

 

Sorry to hear that John



Iain

 

Releasing into this forum your technical input, can only be a good thing for scoobynet IMO
Look forward to some challenging discussions with you


Andy

 

John,
I can understand why you need to step down, think I would feel the same way if I was made a mod, I'd have to be careful what I say, and I'm not usually.

Glad that this is not a 'so long, farewell' resignation type thing though, your advice and knowledge is well respected, and if that went, well, it would be a great loss to us all.

So, can we expect some nice threads in the muppet forum from you?

 

You've put me right on a number of occasions but as you say, you had to wear "kid" gloves in your role as a mod. I look forward to more "direct" opinion and advice from you John

Mikey

 

Thanks for all your moderating and input so far John, looking forward to your further input from a different slant. Most appreciated.

 

Well I thought you did a good job at moderating John, don't listen to those others

But seriously there may be some who want to moderate BBS forums for status, fame and influence rather than to contribute and be really helpful. You did a seamless and invisible job and that must be good.

F

 

Nice to see you will still be around John and it sounds like you will be giving out more sound advice by not being a moderator which is good for us all.

 

Completely understand

HORAH Indeed! wonder who / what your going to slag off first Bet your itchin to let fly

 

Thanks for the years of work JF, mucho appreciated

 

John

You've been a star and I will never be able to thank you enough for your contribution to scoobynet. In fact, I think your contribution will not be affected, it will just be chanelled in a different way now that you have decided moderating is not for you anymore.

The role of moderator is becoming more and more challenging as scoobynet becomes busier and costs more to run, etc. It really IS a time when the moderators need to be respected beyond belief for the TRUE commitment they have to put in. Long gone are the days when being a moderator is a nice little perk with feel good factor.. these guys have to WORK to look after everybody.

It's not easy, and I respect John's decision 100%.

Everyone needs to know that the John cares DEEPLY for this community. Whilst we have not always agreed, it is clear that this has always been of great importance to him. He has both suffered and gained from being a moderator, and the community has gained from his input.

All the best

Simon

 

Thanks for all the work John.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions in future discussions.

 

John, from what you say, one of your reasons to give up moderating is to help people more with issues you couldn't whilst representing scoobynet(for whatever reason, legal I s'pose?)

So why the long faces people??

Seems like more input from someone I regard (and I know I'm a new boy) as one of the 'Main Men' on Scoobynet is a great thing!

So good decision mate

James

 

Thanks for all the hard work.
I can fully understand your reasons for not wishing to be restrained in what you say.
I look forward to some cracking new posts though!

 

Agreed

This is a good thing for everyone IMHO, most of all John.. and in fairness, he's earnt his rest!!

 

John sorry to see you go, when I was a Mod I thought that you was an example to the rest of us, of how it should be done, please ignore the following and sorry for posting it here.


"Long gone are the days when being a moderator is a nice little perk with feel good factor.. these guys have to WORK to look after everybody."

Glad to see that previous Mods where valued so much the amount of time and effort some people must of contributed is quite huge I would expect, not to mention the unsocial hours aspect as well. To say that anyone would volunteer to be a Mod expecting it to give them perks in the community could not be further from the truth and I find that to be quite offensive as it goes.

If anything being a Mod makes you out as a target for all sorts of recriminations and accusations and so you have to be holier than holy.

Simon if you really believe that I did the job to gain then please take away my free scoobynet plus membership, no, in fact I will give it back anyway, could you please remove it as soon as possible as I would not wish for anyone to think that I had some plan to infiltrate Scoobynet with the intention of making anything from it.
If you look back in the Moderators forum you will see where when asked in a thread, I stated that I wanted nothing in return for being a Mod and I ment it.
ian

 

Oh dear. This is such a shame to turn this thread in to something like this.

Ian. Please don't read negativity in to what I've posted. I was merely saying that things ARE more difficult now. I was IN NO WAY AT ALL saying that previous moderators were in it for the fun and glory.

I am saddened that you would even think this.

When I took on scoobynet. There was a massive feel good factor for me, and it WAS a perk to be able to steer it. This has changed dramatically over the last couple of years (particularly up to about 18 months ago (when scoobynet had it's biggest increase in traffic and visibility)).

I have ALWAYS had the greatest respect for the time and effort put in by moderators and am seriously insulted that you would think otherwise.

If you've read my words wrongly, that is all that has happened. I CERTAINLY would not have meant it in the deeply negative and cynical way you have portrayed it.

PLEASE re-think what you have written as it is WAY WAY WAY off the mark.

regards

Simon

 

John sorry once again for bringing this onto your post.

Simon following our conversation on the phone I can see now that I have made the classic mistake of reading between the lines when looking at what someone else has posted.
Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part about what you meant when talking about perks etc. I hope that no one reads anything into what I have posted as it was all a total misunderstanding on my part and is not a reflection of the high regard that Simon has for anyone that is/was a moderator on Scoobynet.
Simon I know you said that you wished for these posts to remain up so that no one would think that any thing untoward was happening, but I do think it would be best if they was deleted so that John's resignation post would get back on track, Simon I leave the decision on this matter up to you.


John once again I am really sorry for doing this on your post.

ian

 

Just to get the thread back on track (to coin a phrase )

WELCOME BACK TO THE NON-SILENT MAJORITY AND GREAT UNWASHED

 

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Just to get the thread back on track
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Aarrrrrrrrgh NOOOO !!!

He'll write a bleedin JF novel about it

Sad news, but good news is my reaction.. Being purely selfish, I really do enjoy settling down with a cup of coffee and a couple of sarnies to enjoy a good JF novel..

Now it seems there'll be more of them

 

Goodluck in the new job mate - nice circuit at the nurburing (even though I can't see the picture, can hear the exhaust!)