From fingerz@woh.rr.com Mon May 20 11:19:20 2013
Subject:RE: Changing of the Guard
No Kidding Bruce is awesome!!! Thanks a million Bruce!!!
Brian In Ohio
From: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of ccmacdon@rogers.com
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 10:33 AM
To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CWSG] Changing of the Guard
Bruce,
I just want to take a brief minute to thank you for your efforts as moderator of the Clonewheel Forum !
I think we all know that there are many members who are VERY passionate about their Hammond clones, myself included, and the fact that the Clonewheel forum has run so smoothly is a testiment to your efforts! There's no question that you probably haven't been thanked enough for all that you've done, but there is no question that without your leadership as moderator, the Clonewheel forum would not be such a great place to share information AND opinions!
Thank you Bruce for all of your contributions both as a very knowledgable member and as the moderator! Thanks also to Ben for his efforts as well, and I look forward to assistance from both of you guys as I take on this new role!
Craig
________________________________
From: Bruce Wahler >
To: CloneWheel Support Group >
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 10:17:16 AM
Subject: [CWSG] Changing of the Guard
Hi All,
I'd like to take a moment to announce that, effective today, I'm going
to step down as Lead Moderator of the CloneWheel Support Group. Craig
MacDonald will be taking over the role, and Ben Ninmann will continue to
co-moderate the Forum. I'll still be around, but I plan to keep a lower
profile once the transition period is over. I don't have a lot of free
time these days, and finding time to moderate is becoming increasingly
difficult for me.
I hope that you will all welcome Craig into his new position. Craig is
a long-time member of CloneWheel, and already a big contributor to the
knowledge base on our forum, so it seems like a great match to me. I
know that he and Ben will keep things rolling smoothly.
I'd like to thank you all for your support while I was Lead Moderator.
This is a good group, and despite the occasional flare-ups, I'm glad to
have started it back in 1999.
________
In parting, I'd like to ask you to think about how this forum is going
to run in the future. We're at a crossroad: we can stay a pleasant
forum like before, or things can deteriorate into the same flame-filled
mess that most large forums ultimately become. The fact that a forum
with 2,200+ members, most of whom have never actually met, can be civil
and fun is pretty amazing. But it's not a given; it takes effort from
*every* member.
I've see a lot of antagonistic attitudes and 'parting shots' used in
threads in the past year, much more than in years past. A lot of it
seems to come out in OT posts, or legit posts that turn OT. There's the
rub: When we discuss clonewheels, there are accepted rules about how
the discussions go -- facts trump opinions, no one flames another
member's choice of clone, etc. OT changes these rules, because, well
... anything that isn't on-topic is, by definition, off-topic. That
includes volatile subjects like politics, economics, and religion. And
being online makes it worse, because there are no visual cues to let one
know that statements aren't being received well, or are misunderstood.
Remember, there are behaviors (sarcasm, rants, insults) that sometimes
work in a small group, but can't work in a large one. And this is a
very large group!
Being the moderator of an online group is pretty much a thankless task:
The best outcome is that the group just moves along on an even keel, and
members barely know who the moderators are. The worst outcome is that
the moderators spend unplanned time calming discussions, suspending
'rogue' members, and trying to return the group's direction to the
subject(s) at hand. Yahoo Groups provides little in the way of help.
Unlike other forum services, moderators can't lock out a thread if it
turns ugly or badly OT; the only tools available are suspending/banning
members, and shutting down the list. Both alternatives are pretty
extreme, but that's the way it works: Yahoo expects members of their
forums to 'play nice,' period.
If you want to keep this forum pleasant, then you'll have to play nice.
--
Best regards,
-BW
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com^(TM)
mailto:bw%40ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com/
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)
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