If you've been here on the forums for any length of time, you may have noticed in recent months there has been some tightening of the forum conduct and stronger enforcement. This was in response to NUMEROUS blow-ups, arguments, fights, people leaving, etc. that led to MANY complaints from members about how the forums were degrading and "not what they used to be".
Many people thought the mods and I were allowing too much to go on, and were especially too lenient on long-term members; and they criticized us for it. I heard a lot of complaints about double-standards, lower family standards, and lack of enforcement of the policies.
After A LOT of discussions with the moderators, we did some serious gut-checks and realized the critics had some valid points. So we worked on gradually reigning in the long-term members to be more in line with rest of the membership regarding conduct. We also focused on making this site more family-friendly. What you've seen is really more of us enforcing existing rules more so than we have in the past, not the introduction of new policies.
We proved we listened to the membership, learned, and changed. No advertiser had any input on this matter, so they had no influence in the decisions. In fact, advertisers do not have any influence on forum policies.
So honestly, we've been attempting to bring back the magic that members want, not usher in some era of advertiser-dominated rules. We were just responding to the wishes, complaints, and ideas from the membership. For the most part, the response has been positive.
Unfortunately, a couple of the long-term members we were reigning in got very upset. For some reason, it seems they felt they had "earned" more latitude with the rules. All we were trying to do is enforce the same rules we've had, evenly across the membership.
However, I admit now we may have gone too far to the other extreme, as now we're getting complaints we're too restrictive. Keeping a balance between members who feel we're too strict vs. those who feel we're too liberal is extremely difficult. No matter what we do, we're criticized by the extremes.
All I WANT is peace. I don't want all the drama, arguing, bickering, in-fighting, etc. and neither does the membership. Every move the mods and I have made has been an effort to maintain the peace and address the concerns of the membership, not appease advertisers.
Never, and I mean never, will I bow into pressures by sponsors to make changes on the site that favor them and not the members. If anything, I favor the members over sponsors. The mods and I have always been here to support the membership, and that hasn't change, nor will it.
But given the massive number of members we have now, it's impossible to make everyone happy. We're doing the best we can. And we do that by listening to the membership.
If ever you have a concern, question, or idea, feel free to PM me or one of the mods. The door is always open. Heck, we're just fishermen like you.
