I realize this is a rare occurrence, however I wanted to address a few issues.
Firstly, I'm glad to see that Mark will be sharing in the moderator duties of this forum and that he has your support.
Secondly, if you have a personal disagreement with another individual on the forum, inform them via the private messaging facility that is provided by this site rather than posting on the forum. Although some find such behaviour amusing, it does nothing to improve forum discussions. So keep it private! Failure to comply will result in the thread being locked or deleted, at the discretion of the moderators.
Thirdly, it's obvious that there is some confusion about the role of a forum moderator and how he or she is selected. Quite simply, the role of a moderator is to ensure that all forum participants are allowed fair discussion in the forum within the rules of the forum and CEG site. That is all. Moderators are not the official representatives of forum participants, they are not the elected leaders of the forum, nor are they your social directors. There is no democratic process for selecting moderators - they are delegated by the site owner(s) or their designated agents. Having moderator status is not as glorified as you might think, though I'm flattered that you would think of us in that manner.
That said, moderators may choose to take on a more active role in the forum, however they do so as forum participants; their moderator status does not extend beyond the role outlined above.
Fourthly, it has been observed by some of you that the previous moderators of this forum were not participating much in forum discussions. The question was raised if the previous moderators were performing their moderator duties adequately. I can't speak for the others, however I do check this forum pretty much every day and perform forum moderation activities where necessary with one exception - I did silently relax the "no for sale/want ads" rule last December in the holiday spirit, and had carried that over since activity on the forum was relatively light and no one had voiced any complaints until now. In addition, I have also been responsive to requests sent to me (via private message) by members of this forum.
Thus, I am puzzled that some of you feel that this forum was inadequately moderated. Wouldn't you agree that posts are generally kept on-topic and according to the forum rules (with exception of the relaxed FS restriction)? In addition, most of the participants here get along quite well it seems; we've never had any major "flame-fest" incidents that I can recall. I would say that this is one of the most civilized forums on the entire site - let's try to keep it this way ok?
Lastly, I recommend that each of you spend a few moments to go over and become familiar with the forum rules and user agreement which you may find here:
http://www.contour.org/forumrules.php
In addition, you may find the forum FAQ to be helpful:
http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/faq_english.php?Cat=
From now on, all rules will be strictly enforced (including rule #12 against posting for sale or want ads - yes, the rules also prohibit want ads). By participating on the forum you agree to follow the rules outlined in the link above. Breaching of the rules will result in the offending thread or post being locked, edited, or deleted, at the discretion of the moderators. Repeat offences could result in more serious action being taken, though I sincerely hope it would never come to that. If you can't follow the rules, don't post.
If you see a post that you feel is inappropriate, use the moderator notification icon at the bottom of the post in the "post extras" section. In addition, if there are other forum moderation issues that you wish to discuss you may send a private message to the forum moderators.
That is all I wanted to say. And in case you're wondering, yes I still own and drive my Contour everyday. Now what do you say we get back to discussing them 'tours and 'tiques?
Gerald
