First off, do not reflect on this thread as a step to what will happen to the site. Do not get into words with other members. Please come in to this subject with a clean mind and open train of thought to read what I am saying, read others words, and leave your own opinion.

Now with in the last 2 weeks drama has come up once again. Several differant areas of it has had some people really bring up some serious thoughts. So here they are. These are just flat out statements and I am open to hearing EVERYONES opinion on them. If you don't put your thoughts down you will have no say. If you get all pissed off and can't make a normal attempt to discuss then you missed the whole point of this and should just walk away.

- Make the site 18+
- Make all Tech part of restircted access
- Make advanced tech part of restircted access
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
- Add some more moderators
- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
- Add some more fun activites to the site
- Possible changes or additions to rules

That's it for now. Honestly we are a big site now, and have ALOT of good things going and ALOT more possibility for more here.

Now just keep it civil...

Thanks,

Allan

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
- Add some more moderators
- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
- Add some more fun activites to the site
- Possible changes or additions to rules

All of the above. I don't like the idea of making the site 18+. How can we courpt the young in to buying DSMs if that's done? Ban people that can't settle thier differences through PM's, email, AIM, or even in person. I hate computer tough guys. Also topics need to stay ON topic. I hate reading a thread that starts out with something good, then ends up somewhere else. I can honestly say that I have spent less time reading threads and replying to them cause everything seems to get way off topic.

I think things have gotten out of control with NewB's lately. 18+ would help, but we need more of an IQ test. There are some people that add nothing except smart ass remarks and drama (most of HORT).

I also think we need to make the site DSM (3S/3g's too I suppose) only (except for Mark). They seem like the ones that really are bringing the site down (that includes non-owners). I know that probably won't happen, but I think that would fix it.

Both excelent replies JET and Andy. I like the word thus far and hope other can put thier opinions up just as good.

On the subject of moderators if anyone has any ideas for new member to the moderating team please toss out a name or even suggest yourself. If you don't feel comfortable about putting in in public view, PM me with it.

I also want to get more 3S cars on here as well.

I guess i missed this whole HORT thing while I've been gone. But like Nash said, I think 18+ isn't the greatest idea. I know 16 year olds who are more mature then me. I also don't like the idea about adding the tech forums to the restricted list. I will not live in MN for about another year so I can't get into those forums. I'm not the most knowledgable one here, but i can add in a few things here and there, and i can't help anyone if its restricted. I do like the ideas of T-Shirts or hoodies and stuff. I'd get one as long as it isn't white cuz im pretty sloppy and it wouldn't be white within 2 weeks. Also how many moderators are there now? I guess I always thought there were plenty, but i mighta missed out on a lot since i've been gone. I dunno if those responces helped any, but there ya go!

I will have to agree with JET on negative comments and such reading a thread that is trashed to all hell gets annoying and it seems a lot of threads get laughed at or teased. Dont like it dont post.

More events would be great.

Moderators can only do so much shouldn't even need them if people thought, I'm not one to talk or lecture about that.

One of the bigger problems is the site keeps getting bigger and bigger, not everyone has the knowledge of Jet or Raptor and I myself do not and have questions and its nice when people are patient and offer and geniune answer.
Like my last question in tech about my tranny thanks for not just dogging my car saying its a 3g and Craig gave me an idea I never thought of so patience with the lesser knowledged is always great.

If i think of anything else i'll post up.

-Joe

Here's my two cents. Take it for what it's worth :)

- Make the site 18+
In a way I agree and in a way I don't with this. What if 18+ can sign up and be members, and anyone younger has to be approved? This way you can regulate the younger members a bit most easily. Maybe you could make then PM an Admin and explain why they want to join.

- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
I would make the new members forum public domain as well if you do this.

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
I love this idea, I think that this would help with the drama as well. I think it would make it easier on the admins and mods when they want to ban people as well. It seems like members of a club would take things a bit more seriously then members of a site would.

- Add some more moderators
Why not, you really can't have too many.

JET's idea about DSM's only makes me a little nervous though, I don't have a DSM as of now so that would kick me off and I want to stay.
You can disregard these if you want or use them.
~Kat

- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often


I dont think that more mods are needed, just more moderating. I also like the idea of a number of tightly controlled private forums.
Too many people lately signing up just to turn around and try to start shit. Members starting shit in their first X number of posts should be removed. Older members constantly starting shit should be suspended.

I just glanced over this so someone may have suggested this already, how about a newbe forum? So the younger crowd can ask questions without getting ripped on.

I'm a firm believer in fewer moderators. More moderators mean more people in charge with different ideas with what can and won't be tolerated. In my opinion, the moderators we have are doing a fine job and I really don't see any problems. There are always going to be a few idiots on the forum, just warn them once and if they don't behave ban them.

The www.fiero.nl forum has almost 9,000 members and has ONE moderator and it is the best run forum that I have ever been a part of. They have a rating system to regulate the trouble makers. I didn't like it at first but it works flawlessly. They also have a "trash can" where shitty threads get moved once they get out of hand but you can still view them.

Well, I think that a lot of stuff has popped up because of teh mustang vs. dsm thing going on. I am buddies with punch over on TCstangs, and everything is just in good fun. Some people take it too seriously. I would like to see more events and stuff like that. A 18+ would be nice too. 18+ would work if people under 16 had to be prescreened and were on a "trial" period of like a month or so. I like the mods that we have right now, but don't think that more would hurt.

Noah

- Make the site 18+
- Make all Tech part of restricted access
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access

I don't see these changes as making a large improvement, or a big difference, however you want to look at it. It will also drive people away, as I see it. Might be good, less newbs, but then our horizons never expand.

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
- Add some more moderators

I am indifferent on these.


- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
- Add some more fun activities to the site
- Possible changes or additions to rules
- Make advanced tech part of restricted access

I agree with these, except maybe just restricted posting on Adv. Tech? I can see these making a difference.

Yea I dont think more moderators are the answer... I think that the current moderators need to step in and start warning people when they either post unnecessary comments or are just out of line.

Allan- 18+ would be cool. hint hint :banana:

i like the idea of making the site more like a club.

a newbe forum instead of 18+ would make more sense to me.

Also to all the people who don't post a lot but are areading this and moving on. We need your input as well. 12 replaies and 37 individual people that have viewed and not post. That really tells me that their are 25 people already that either don't feel like posting about it, or just don't give a fuck. So I ask, why did you sign up? Do you want to make it a better site? Then speak up. All of the ideas posted are not suggested by me, but differant members of the site at differant times. So everything needs to be looked at.

Thanks for all the replies thus far.

Allan

I like what Seth has done with his site. Highly restricted, but for the better I think.

- Make the site 18+
Put people under 18 on a trial basis as stated above.
- Make all Tech part of restircted access
Why? Isn't that a big part of this site is to help people with their problems? But
first they would have to be pre-approved, I don't think many people would go
for that.
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
Put them on a trial and after 30 days or 50 posts, let them view all.
- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
Would def. bring some more togetherness and seriousness
- Add some more moderators
Fine the way it is.
- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
If being stupid, 1 warning then goodbye for a week, no hesitation.
- Add some more fun activites to the site
Would make it a lot more lively around here.
- Possible changes or additions to rules
Good the way they are.

:goodluck:

I think either 18+ would be good. Maybe people under 18 could be admitted after a trial period. I think the number of moderators are fine. I think the tech section needs to be moderated more harshly than they are right now. I say this because I HATE searching for something on the 2 larger DSM forums. There is just way too much useless shit on there and not enough on-topic replys. Restricted access to the tech forums kinda seems like a bad idea to me but it depends on who it wold be restricted to. I say it would be a bad idea because if you go by # of posts, some of us people who don't post a lot will be forced to post a possible advanced question in a noob forum which would cause a problem. In conclusion, the only things that I think should change are:
Stricter moderating
maybe 18+

I think we should have a trial period for new members with restricted access for them. After they post a few times (10-20 post) in non-restricted forums, they should ask for review by the moderating team (any one moderator would do). The moderator who looks at their post history could decide to allow them the normal level of access or not based on some guide lines (completeness of post, spelling, punctuation, context, attitude, ability to convey what they are trying to say, etc.).

I think you should only be given full posting access to the site if you own a DSM, period. That would include E/L/T 1g, 2g, 3g, EVO, Galant, or GVR4. Restricted access for wanna be's DSM'ers. Allowed age? If you are old enough to drive it, you should qualify to be here.

As far as more moderators go, I think too many going in too many directions would be bad. I can tell you as a moderator it's tough to be very harsh unless somebody really gets out of line. As Allan (DSMStyle) has said, "This is your site". And it's a free speech site on top of that. Unless somebody gets rude, or starts bashing on another member I usually let it go. Got have the good with the bad if it's a free speech site. Keeping post on topic does need to be enforced a little more though.

As for the Tech sections, I think there are some great people helping with those areas. Not everybody will have the correct answer, I know I've been wrong a few times, But those forums seem to take care of them selves, other than the smart ass remarks every once in a while. I like the restricted tech area for those of us who are really in the know and want to discuss tricks and fine tuning that most average DSM'ers won't understand.

That's all I can think of right now.

Peace,
1ViciousGSX

- Make the site 18+
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
I do not agree with these. There are several people who get into dsms before the age of 18. There are several mature 16 year olds around. I do not see this helping much if at all. I think it will throw away members. As far as restricting everyone to the parking lot, I think this will deffinitly throw away members. I heard of this site long before I joined. I didn't follow it much but started meeting the people around town. I didn't think that there was much going on here. If there was only one bs thread and no tech, etc. I would be on tuners.

- Make all Tech part of restircted access
- Make advanced tech part of restircted access
I like the way it is now. A basic, advanced, and for those who know about it, a no bullshit tech. I like the idea about a newbie teck forum but I don't think we need one. maybe we can change the name for basic to newbie.


- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
- Add some more fun activites to the site
I like these. I like the gatherings that are usually held in the summer at KK and the general events. The reason I originally joined was to meet new dsmers to hangout with.

- Add some more moderators
I do not think that we need more. If the mods now feel that they should delete something I will go with there desision. There are some threads that just get out of hand (the mustang thread). I like the idea of having a trash thread where all of the trashed/deleted threads go for viewing, not posting.

- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
I agree with this. I think a warning should be given so that someone knows what they are doing wrong. A second time they should be suspended for a week. I don't think that it should be posted publicly that someone has been banned and for the reasons. It should be something somewhat confidential.

Ok, well here goes my .02....

- Make the site 18+
No, I have seen alot of mature younger members

- Make all Tech part of restircted access
No, not a good idea

- Make advanced tech part of restircted access
Again, not a good idea

- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
No

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
Maybe, but there are so many "club" / "sites" that what's the difference really??

- Add some more moderators
I dunno, maybe the ones we have just need to moderate a little more. I don't always get on the board everyday to see what's going on.

- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
Yes, we need to put in place some type of warning system possible. 3 strikes your out type of thing.

- Add some more fun activites to the site
Definately, events are always a good way to get people away from the computer and meet the members. Usually it's a good time with no drama...

- Possible changes or additions to rules
Sure, more changes to the rules, but who really reads/follows them?


I liked what Nash & JET said as well. I think some of the non-DSMer's come on the site to cause problems.

I also think maybe a Newbie Tech section wouldn't hurt. Say if you are under "x" number of quality posts, you have to post tech questions in the Newbie area.

how would you enforce 18+ is everyone going to have to fax you a copy of their DL or something? i think a noob tech is a better idea.

I agree 100% with everything viscious said.

More moderators won't help anything, probably just lead to more problems. I think that the board should be restricted to DSM-owners (0G, 3G and 3/S included) except for the guys who have been around a long time, such as Mark. I think the board should be 16+, but anyone between 16-18 needs to submit a publically-viewed application for the senior memers to vote on based on intelligence, williness to learn, etc. This GT40 crap this past week has really pissed me off, that is the stuff that needs to stay off the board. I am all for having fun on the boards, but there must be limits. Making the advanced tech a restricted area would also be nice...and possibly add a newbie tech area where the questions that have been asked 1000 times already can be asked once more. If PM's don't work for resolving problems then I say feel free to ban/suspend the member(s). More to come later I am sure.

- Make the site 18+

I don't really see this helping anything, b/c some people that are 30 are more immature than some 16 year olds.

- Make all Tech part of restircted access
- Make advanced tech part of restircted access
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access

That would kind of suck for someone who is new to the site b/c they just bought a DSM and they need to get it running. If they want to join this site, then they should be able to get help from people that might actually live near them, and might be able to lend a hand.

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items

I don't exactly know what your definition of a "club" is, but whenever I hear "car club" all I can picture is dumb ass stunnas in grand am's with aluminum wings and 17" dub caps with there windsheild banners that announce their dumb club name that replace all the "S's" with "Z's" like "Exotik Revolutionz" or some stupid shit like that.

As long as nobody gets all eliteist and starts looking down on people who aren't "in the club" then it wouldn't be a problem.

- Add some more moderators
- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often

I think that if you banned/warned people more frequently, it would solve the problem of having enough moderators.

- Add some more fun activites to the site

Why the hell not, who doesn't like fun activites??

I think everything is pretty good so far, but I agree that it is starting to slip a little bit here and there, and it is better to solve the problem before it gets too bad.

Well, I as always have a few opinions ;)

I think the 18+ thing is a serious mistake, Not that I think we have had an intelligent crop of youngyins sign up lately, I just think it is wrong to put an age limit on what people can enjoy young or old. Maturity isn't necessarily based on age. And being over 18 doesn't mean you arn't a total newb and about to ask a million stupid questions.

I do like the newbe forum idea. People with intermediate experience could tackle those questions and feel like they had been a help instead of trying to answer questions that are way over their head like now. which leads me to the next point,

The restricted forums idea. I definately think it would be worth it to make tech and advanced tech restricted to people based on their experience. Specific masks could be made to allow access to those areas based on admin approval etc. That would cut down a lot of the OT stuff and provide less BS to navigate.

The club idea is cool, everyone likes to be considered part of something bigger and represent so I don't think that is a bad idea at all. Same with the events etc.

Banning is cool when needed, I can usually think of a few people that could be banned. I don't think limiting the site to dsm type cars only is necessary, those people just have to realize they probably won't have access to anything but the parking lot anyway.

I also think we should have a specific idiot award for the most annoying person each month. We could have it in the parking lot and everyone could post why they thought that person deserved it. Maybe the point would get across and they would change. Never know.

For someone without much wind, I think I have typed enough.

I like the idiot award. It's something I could win.....

Gramps took his Geritol today. :lol:

I know we talked about this once before, but how about a DSMStyle awards.

Catagories could be,

Most annoying
Most post
Most helpfull
Most humor
Best avatar
Best sig
Biggest shit talker
etc.

Here I go:

- Make the site 18+
Kind of, people under 18 with DSM's, cool. People under 18 without DSM's should be pre-screened.

- Make all Tech part of restircted access
- Make advanced tech part of restircted access
- Make everything but the parking lot Restricted access
Tech should be restricted to DSM owners and other approved senior members of the list. But these forums should be open to view for those not approved in case they may happen to know something of use. They may reply through PM or through another member, etc.

- Make the site more of a club, t-shirts and items
I really like this one, mainly because I have DSM pride! :dsmrule:

- Add some more moderators
Nah, I prolly couldn't list all the mods as it is because they aren't the most active at doing it besides Allan and Jana.

- Don't be afraid to ban/suspend members more often
Yes, some people have been warned enough. Others are just starting to be warned. Iron fist is what I always say.

- Add some more fun activites to the site
Please do. I know I am not the most social person out there, it usually takes me meeting with people on a few occasions in order to have some real fun. Some of you may have even seen me just kind of sitting around at QPR not talking, us socially retarded people need a lot of opportunties to open up :)


On a side note I would say also let other clubs' members join up, that way there is some communcation from all clubs. I would say just limit their access.

All I can say is that I owned my DSM for about 6 months before finding Style, and now that I have had a chance to open up a little more, I would say I have learned more in the last three months then I could if this list hadn't existed. I owe a lot to this site, and owe a lot to my credit cards because of this site ;)

And for God's sake, bring back the Featured Members Rides forum. That would help to make people apart of something.

I agree ^^^^^^^^^

I loved voting on a monthly car, deffinately bring that back.

I dont agree with the 18+ only. 1 im not 18 yet. 2 like 92tsiawd84 said kids are getting into cars at a younger age now, or at least before 18.

For the restrictions im cool with what other people are thinking. Like the newb has to post a certain amount of post before posting in the restricted forums.

other then those two im cool with everything else.

Fixed.

I think stuff is ok the way it is. The only gripe I have is all the stupid questions in the tech forums lately. There should be a place where there is links to search for shit first. Then if you can find then ask for help.

CRAIG

I personally don't see what's wrong with the way things are right now. I think the moderators should start deleting bullshit posts and anything that's related to any unneeded drama. On top of that put something in the rules saying that the moderators will delete any senseless and blatantly off-topic posts... The Parking Lot is just that, an off-topic forum, but derailing a thread shouldn't be allowed, especially outside of The Parking Lot.

Nonsense technical posts should be locked and a post directing the member to the VFAQ, or tell them to search one of the other DSM forums where more technical posts are made and have been archived.

Bring back Member/Ride of the Month... I've posted in the site requests forum twice and haven't seen either of the board options I've mentioned even attempted to be used here. A list of things I feel would make this place better:
-A user list with personal profile, along with the user's car info and pictures
-A user's location listed in their posts under their avatar
-A user rating system like what is found on some other message boards; If a user posts and valuable post, people can vote them up... If they act like a dumbass they can be voted down

If you want me to leave just tell me. I came to this site mainly because people were open to people that didn't have dsm yet. I want to know more about them and whats so bad about learning about something before you get it. Not to mention that through experence with my brother that I know more about them then some people that own (very few I will admit).

That was not directed at you. There are some people that are exceptions to what I said, but how do you discriminate? Unfortunately you have to do blanket statements/actions to be fair.

How would you put an age restriction on a chat board? Are we required to fax in a copy of our license or something? :stick: ;) *edit* Someone beat me to it.

Jumping in and halting a stupid discussion is a moderator privilege and right. So is deleting a thread and banning stupid people. That should take care of 99% of it.

I am actually working on those as Allan doesn't have much extra time. The featured ride will be his deal, but the user profile & rating system I am hopefully going to get done. Just give me a little extra time since I'm new to all of this stuff. :)

They are great ideas Matt, and I probably wouldn't have looked into them if you hadn't mentioned them.