Deletion of the Dog Lost post

[smokuspollutus]

I am a part-time freeloader here. I Initially joined and posted without CLC membership. Because of this forum, I then got a CLC membership. I let that lapse as I couldn't see the benefit to being a member as I don't attend shows, live too far from the museum, and do most of my own work. This was before all of the membership tier changes happened.

I have both given and received useful information from interested and knowledgeable parties on here. Traveling this two way street, I always make the effort to give more than I receive, which is a good way to go through life. From what I see, that's the case for most posters here, club members and freeloaders alike.

The hobby is in the position it is right now, for better or for worse, because of an explosion of access to cheap, quality information. Greater number of people interested and crazy prices for cars and their required services all go with that. Seems to me the best way to put yourself into irrelevance is to put up barriers to newcomers.

Websites have enormous costs and I think anyone responsible for their own survival can appreciate what has gone on in the economy these past few years. The forum, if properly leveraged, is/can be a productive asset for the club, not a liability. A site with the traffic & demographics present here could at least pay for itself (as most other forums do) through ad revenue, paid (CLC membership) ad-free experience,  beg-a-thon, etc.

Limitations on free accounts (post limit, picture limit, PM limits, quality post floor in an introduction forum before posting privileges are granted elsewhere.), and deactivation of long-dormant accounts, are all reasonable in that they will cut admin costs and reduce the 1-post wonders/scammers without shutting out a prospective member who might have something to contribute besides their twenty five bucks.

Twenty five dollars is a screaming deal to anyone on this board who knows how valuable it presently is. But to know that you have to be able to use it. The goal here is probably to try to drive up membership. If this policy made 100% of current freeloaders sign up for lifetime club membership, that would be great for the short term. BUT I can confidently say that as someone who stumbled over and knew nothing about this site, I never would have paid twenty five dollars to post in the first place. So that would have been one less membership for the club, one less contributor to the information exchange here, less forum traffic, less ad revenue, etc. So the plan sounds to me like a short term high for a long term kamikaze mission.

So, yes, the site is worth twenty five dollars per year all day long right now. Will it be worth that with a substantial share of the existing freeloaders get culled, and first-time poster/new membership falls to almost nothing? I would argue no, or at least not for long.

If you think it's fair to hang somebody for the loss of a couple of weeks of posts, what should be done at some point in the future,  when something with a declining user base, declining traffic/activity, declining ad revenue, and perpetually increasing cost per user presents itself to a decision maker? I can see a future board looking at the facts and figures making the prudent decision to "Shut it down. Nobody uses that old site anymore!" That would be a real loss, the intellectual capital invested here cannot be re-created.

The relatively minor outage and loss of information should be taken as a window into a future where the site may fail, but perhaps on a much wider and more permanent basis. Nothing is forever and there are no guarantees anything we have today will be here tomorrow. But when plans are made on a zero-sum basis (ie: payers vs freeloaders) and ignore the actual product (exchange of information), you start to see that you're closer to the end than the beginning.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Time will tell.

I had thought of the two-tiered idea of limited-use and full-use for non-members and members (respectively) but not being a board member I was not in a position to propose it.

This may be revisited at a future date. Stay tuned.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Yikes, its already been visited, and its old news at this point.

https://forums.cadillaclasalle.club/index.php?topic=174123.msg553574#msg553574

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Yikes, its already been visited, and its old news at this point.

https://forums.cadillaclasalle.club/index.php?topic=174123.msg553574#msg553574

I suggest you go back and read the 5th paragraph in post #20.

[gkhashem]

Quote someone else then- I was responding to Bryan's specific question only.

As to the rest, I have always been resolved that all/any material posted here wouldn't necessarily be preserved indefinitely, nor was it ever guaranteed let alone charged for. Show me the contract you signed on the dotted line where you paid $x per month/year for it.

Many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly with little or no remuneration for their efforts. When something should go wrong- whether by fault/mistake of their own or not, the answer in my opinion is not to start sounding off, let alone for something you got for free in the first place. Once the problem had been rectified, further proselytizing the matter is unnecessary, pointless and uncalled for. Just keep it up and soon nobody will want to assume these responsibilities.

First of all I will quote who I want.

Second big boys admit a mistake and move on. Now the tone of some of the criticism might have been too strong but the point was right on. So they recovered from 1/18/24, well why not do it correct the first time?  Logic says it could have been done correctly since they eventually did it.

[gkhashem]

Yeah that cool breeze you feel is hell starting to freeze over when George agrees with me. LMAO!!!  LOL!!!
Nothing but love for you George, and everyone else actually.
Stefan "did" post a mia culpa on another thread, we're back up and running, it seems all the old photos were saved.
The fire has been put out and I'm sure management will conduct an autopsy to be sure it doesn't happen again.

Now, all eyes on the Nationals short term and migrating/adding human assets for the Club long term. 

Well Laurie when you're right you're right. I do not play favorites or politics the truth is what counts.

Now maybe your message could have been a little milder. 

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

I suggest you go back and read the 5th paragraph in post #20.

That's the opinion of a non-member vs the information I posted directly from our club President.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Well Laurie when your right your right. I do not play favorites or politics the truth is what counts.

Now maybe your message could have been a little milder. 

Um, its "you're" and "you're"....
  LOL! 

'milder'? moi?
Whenever I demo'd a wall sledgehammers and sawzalls were always faster than hugs and kisses.
Being acute saves time and prevents misunderstandings. That's just me.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Many people work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly with little or no remuneration for their efforts. When something should go wrong- whether by fault/mistake of their own or not....

In this instance our webmaster is a PAID position at market rate.

[smokuspollutus]

Thanks, last I checked I'm very much a member here.

[gkhashem]

Um, its "you're" and "you're"....
  LOL! 

'milder'? moi?
Whenever I demo'd a wall sledgehammers and sawzalls were always faster than hugs and kisses.
Being acute saves time and prevents misunderstandings. That's just me.

.

You're right again

[gkhashem]

Paid, unpaid you do the job right, or do not volunteer. As they say no good deed goes unpunished.

But to say everyone needs to sit down and shut up or they might quit is sort of a blackmail threat. I for one am tire of these flippant remarks. Makes one want to stop paying dues. All this does is make more excuses.

Again where is the responsible adult to say I will make it right, but the "complainers" need to be more diplomatic too.

We received conflicting responses at first the images could not be restored which touched off this and then they could. Both sides in some cases could have done better.

[Bryan J Moran]

I just found it curious that my post which started well over 6 weeks ago, and was considered not positive and was viewed over 1000 times - was caught up in the deletion.  Seemed opportunistic.   

Like most non members, I will be off on April 30.  Hopefully my donation will be used for forum support. 

We don't know how much the forum costs.  Perhaps we would be surprised at the cost.  If that's the case, why support it?   

Less then 10% of club membership use it.  Most of the officers do not post and are not active. The Buick Club piggybacks off the AACA forums for their club, saving them thousands of dollars.  The Cadillac section there is crickets. But if this forum ends, the CLC could direct interested folks to that site, as the Buick Club does now.

And it would revert back to being free.

No one will ever to be completely happy with any solution but maybe it is time to end this forum. 

[gkhashem]

Also as far as $25 goes in the old days you adjust your budget or get another job.

The fact is no club with dues, no forum. No forum, no exchange of ideas. The forum costs money to run.

For $ 25 you get a magazine (e-form) and a lot more. I say skip a trip eating out once, or not go to a bar or whatever. Make priorities that's being an adult.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

That's the opinion of a non-member vs the information I posted directly from our club President.

As usual, you completely missed it.

In this instance our webmaster is a PAID position at market rate.

Just because someone is being paid doesn't mean they're willing to tolerate excessive and unnecessary condemnation/criticism. And especially after the issue has been dealt with, is just rubbing salt into the wound and accomplishes nothing.

In any case, I don't buy for one second your ostensibly pure motives for doing so. The whole affair was nothing more than a convenient vessel for you to go into another of your bombastic diatribes - just like you've been doing here since day one with consistency unparalleled. An opportunity that the attention hound in you salivates for. So kindly spare us your sanctimonious self-righteous rabble rousing nonsense. While some may have fallen for it, I have not. 

[2011DTS]

As usual, you completely missed it.

In any case, I don't buy for one second your ostensibly pure motives for doing so. The whole affair was nothing more than a convenient vessel for you to go into another of your bombastic diatribes - just like you've been doing here since day one with consistency unparalleled. An opportunity that the attention hound in you salivates for. So kindly spare us your sanctimonious self-righteous rabble rousing nonsense. While some may have fallen for it, I have not. 

Eric, did you get your log in fixed???     

Also, take it easy on Laurie she just shoots from the hip like yourself, and be careful because she is a markswoman....     

[badpoints]

I hope this isn't the beginning of all forums costing . Just like trying to watch sports or shows from all the streaming apps.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Eric, did you get your log in fixed???     

It's been hit and miss Lynn. Thanks. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

It's been hit and miss Lynn. Thanks. 

That's strange. I'm in Europe and, since the forum resumed the operations, I have absolutely no problem to log in. I still have Windows 10 and I'm using Edge.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

That's strange. I'm in Europe and, since the forum resumed the operations, I have absolutely no problem to log in. I still have Windows 10 and I'm using Edge.

It's not a log in problem per se. It's that my internet provider perceives the CLC Discussion site as a security threat and preventing the page from loading at all. It doesn't happen when using the public Wi-Fi service with my phone.