Thoughts about a Merger!!

[donetao]

Hi! This thread can be deleted if it's not appropriate. I will understand!
I have been around the block a couple of times and I have my thoughts about help forums. You will not find very many like this one. I can guarantee that. This is a very special forum. No big ego's here. Everyone works as a team. Some times we have different suggestions about how to solve a problem, but that's to be expected. No one puts you down here for trying to help or post your opinions. The owners here are great people and I appreciate them. I'm to windy, to friendly, and give to much information.
So far I'm still around. I'm hoping that lasts a long time!
Most if not all help forum leaders are in a little club, where they exchange ideas and discuss people like me. 95% of them are good people and then you have 5% who can black ball and get the others to agree that old Dokie is a very bad person and is a trouble maker. Watch out for Dokie and ban him as he is there to cause you grief. I know you think I'm crazy, but it's true. I can't prove it, but a lot of good people get banned from forums for one little petty mistake.
The bigger the forum the better your chances are that one of the staff members will not like you and you're history and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. Large forums have 100's of staff. Don't cross one of them or you get the axe. I guarantee they will get together and you'll be history! Bans are the most hurtful thing that can happen to a member of a forum. I've been there. It really hurts!!
This is a great forum and it's getting better all the time. Personally I hope the merger doesn't happen, but we have to consider the owners reasons and we'll have to except their decision or move on.
These are just my thoughts on a Monday afternoon!
Gary!!
If your visiting and read this thread, join our forum. This is one of a kind and you will always be welcome here. I guarantee that!! Ask a question or just post on one of the fun threads! To windy, to friendly, but I'm not a trouble maker (I hope)

 

[Trotter]

No need to worry about a big staff with the merger, Gary. Counting myself and not counting the folks from Social Knowledge the entire staff at Techist is all of six people.

I have seen situations like you described, both before and after I became a mod/smod. I can honestly say I have not seen it since I became the admin at Techist, though. Even when there have been personality clashes it has been my aim to keep things flowing smoothly. There have been times when I was the one having issues with a member and in those cases I stepped away and let others on staff handle things so that things would remain on the up and up.

I completely agree that some sites are top-heavy with personalities. The very nature of the internet allows people to hide behind facades of their own construction and to remain anonymous. Being a member of a site's staff should remove that pettiness and it is my aim to make sure that happens.

Can things still happen? Yes. Can something happen and it look like what you described but not be? Yep. We recently had a situation where a longtime member had to be banned, and said member had been at loggerheads with all the staff and quite a few members as well. The ban came because of other reasons but not things readily apparent to the general membership but I can assure you that we did everything humanly possible to keep said member. I prefer to reconcile that to excommunicate whenever possible, even if that means having to grit my teeth in the process.

 

[donetao]

Thank you my friend! I'm feeling much better about all this. I'm not hard to get a long with and I can take constructive criticism most of the time. I have been wrong many times, but I'm trying to grow. I don't want to tell all my secrets here,but I will answer any questions you have. I would like to share this with you. I have been a fan of malwarebytes for years. They saved me from many attacks from a Chinese forum called IObit. Recently I was banned from MBAM because of the user name I used there 10 years ago by the big dog on their forum; when a troll exposed me. These are things that scare me because they do happen. I have grown to love this forum and I have 16 friends here that I admire. The talk of a merger leaves me wondering how all that might change.However, I'm feeling much better after reading your reply to my thread.
The decision will be made by the owners and their advisers as it should be. Personally I can see a lot of difference in the members here and the members on Techist. Although I spend very little time on Techist and most of my time here, there seems to be a lot of difference here. I see team work here and no big ego's. I like that! I'm afraid that some of my fiends here will move on because of the size of the merger. I guess we will just have to wait and see what the future holds.
Thank you for your reply Trotter. I feel a little better!! I'll try to spend a little more time on Techist. There is a avatar on that forum that is very ugly and very offense to people in my age group. In my day as a young man, there would have been a big fight for that kind of behavior!! Moms are very special and that avatar is very crude and disgusting.
Gary!

 

[BK_123]

Trotter whats the current situation on the merger, Where are we at and whats the next step?

 

[Trotter]

Thank you for your reply Trotter. I feel a little better!! I'll try to spend a little more time on Techist. There is a avatar on that forum that is very ugly and very offense to people in my age group. In my day as a young man, there would have been a big fight for that kind of behavior!! Moms are very special and that avatar is very crude and disgusting.
Gary!

No sweat, Gary. I know the avatar you mean. I doubt it will be around for much longer.

Trotter whats the current situation on the merger, Where are we at and whats the next step?

Last I heard was that the SK team were working on figuring out how to merge the databases of the two sites. The originally proposed timeline is way past but with good reason. While things could have been slammed together it would have been a mess. By taking the time to work out the kinks ahead of time it should go much more smoothly.

As for when, though, I have no idea right now. Once they get this figured out they will test it thoroughly, most likely in a temporary server/test site. When everything is solid then they will move forward with it.

 

[donetao]

Hi Trotter! I spent some time on Techist tonight. I can see why WOT gives you your low rating (language). It is much different then it is here. There were some threads I could have replied on, but it just didn't feel right. It is definitely different. Maybe a generation gap! LOL. Those are just my thoughts. I feel more at home here where I have friends!!
Gary!

 

[cb600fshornet]

This seems to be a mainly social forum with people of all backgrounds, nationalities and many different interests, it's almost a miracle it works, but it seems to...!

Techist does have a few more egoistic characters I think, we have opinionated people here but that seems to be as far as it goes, nobody treads on anybody and we all appear to get along, hopefully it maintains that sort of spirit with the merger. We can't expect the whole forum to be exactly the same but if you pick and choose the threads/conversations you get involved in then it should feel very similar.

I've been a member there for a little while and both forums appeal to me, but we're all different so my tastes likely differ a bit to yours. I intend on visiting both forums in parallel up until the merger to smooth things out a bit for me, probably better to use the same name there as here though, as I've used a different one so nobody knows who I am! (cb600fshornet)

 

[donetao]

I think there will be some adjustments to make. It would be great if we all could blend together, but that just won't happen I'm afraid. There will be some personality clashes and I expect a few members will leave both forums. That's to be expected and it happens on all mergers. We do all seem to get along very well and I haven't seen any big ego's here. Everyone works together. It will be different and will be a big change for everyone. I guess that's called progress. I hope it all works out for Janet and Andy. They are good people!! It will definitely be a different ball game and not everyone will be happy. I hope it works out!
I think it's good that we can talk about our feelings now and maybe get some of the negative feelings and our concerns out in the open and hopefully out of the way!
Gary!

 

[Janet H]

There are some differences between the two sites as noted but I think they are complementary. CF is a bit friendlier - social and Techist is a bit tech heavier. CF would benefit from the elevated tech talk and techist could use a little more social angle. If the two sites were identical there would be no advantage top a merge. They are not however and I think the merge will be good for both.


Another thing to remembers is that the site teams at both site handle issues in about the same way. They function as a team and this provides a system of checks and balances when needed.

 

[donetao]

I hope it works out the way you have it planned and the merger goes well. There is bound to be a few bumps in the road and I'm betting not everyone will be happy, but I'm sure you have given this a lot of thought and planning. Big forums lose their personality IMHO. This site is one of a kind and I'm a big fan. I've been looking for a forum like this all my PC life. I have made 16 new friends and I look forward to logging on every day. It will be different and I'll probably have to change my ways and adjust. Bigger is not always better IMHO. There are some members that have been here a long time. I hope they give the merger a fair shake and we become a bigger and friendlier family.
Thank you for replying to my thread! I'm concerned and that's the reason I started this thread. I'm hoping members will post their thoughts and concerns and they can be discussed in a rational way. I do not like the larger forums and I have voiced my thoughts about that!!
Gary!