Is this a private party or can anyone join in?

[paulsewin]

macd said:

Great thread Paulsewin.

Thank you Macd - very funny. I was beginning to think everyone had had a "sense of humour" bypass

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I also want to thank everyone who sent PMs instead of risking the wrath of other contributors.

My intention was to voice a mildly critical opinion in a humorous way. It quickly became apparent that there were all sorts of issues.

Springer made the most extreme post and I would like to respond to the points he made.

1. As you rightly pointed out, I was new to the forum. If you thought I had made a mistake, it would have been nice if you could have given me the benefit of the doubt.
2. Any problems you may have had in the past, before I joined, have nothing to do with me at all.
3. My opinion is my opinion. It is neither enhanced nor diminished by the number of posts I may or may not make on this forum.
4. The fact that you might take me more seriously if I had posted a number of “great threads” or “I agree, great thread” and was now a 2 star Junior Salmon Catcher is baffling and says a lot about your judgement.
5. Contrary to your perceived views, I have spent quite a lot of time visiting the forum before registering.
6. The reason I asked the question about abusing the thread was because I saw the reaction to anyone unfortunate enough to start a thread on the wrong board.
7. Threads exist for every conceivable subject so I didn’t understand why the content was allowed to change half way through
8. I did not mention the existence of any cliques – many respondents, especially in the PMs feel they exist. I don’t know and have no way of knowing if you all fish the same beats of particular rivers or not. The point I was making was if I read a thread, say about tying a fly, I don’t expect a discussion about a beat on the Dee. I would look for that under River Reports.
9. I fully agree that many members have been helped by the pool of knowledge that members are so happy to share, as I acknowledged at the start of my post.
10. Far from trying to cause trouble, I wanted to offer an opinion, a criticism and a suggestion in one post. I didn’t know the history of the forum.
11. The name calling in your response to Hornet and Annan Angler was astonishing.
12. Maybe this is why the forum currently has about 600 members, 250 of whom have never made a single post. Given that they could look at the forum without registering, I want to know why they went to the trouble of registering and now haven’t posted anything. Is it because they are worried about getting mauled by someone with a different opinion?
13. In fact the situation is even worse than that. The combined posts of 468 members, over 75% of the forum, equals the single effort of springer himself. I wonder how much richer our discussions would be if we could persuade some of these to join in.
14. Whether you want to accept it or not, there is a perception that cliques exist. The facts may be quite different. You cannot seriously expect anyone to believe you when you say everyone is welcome, if you then attack anyone who says something you disagree with.
15. You left me with the following “Life is life, rough and smooth, good and bad. Get used to it.” Excellent advice, I recommend you try a couple of spoonfuls yourself.

[akflyrod]

hats of to you paul i very much agree, lucky you made no spelling mistakes, there is a regular checker reads the posts

[ibrox]

Yep I'm back !

Before anyone pipes up the fact that I said I wasn't coming back. MY CHOICE !
The points that paul brought up IMO, are very true and by the looks of it, this is not just my opinion , we can't all be wrong. Anyway I didn't come back to stir it up, I came back because I enjoy reading about other people's experiences and to learn more about fishing, "I" like Paul and other non posting members don't want to go to a specific thread and have to read through all the dross before we see something worth reading .
I started a thread on fishing books and all I got for my trouble was we don't need books to learn about fishing, "this forum is great", well after all the negative reactions we found out there are people who read books on fishing and fly tying after all, surprise surprise! its always the same ones. We are not all super great anglers like you. so let us learn, stop putting people down for trying to contribute, after all it will help us all in the long run surely.

Those of you who think this isn't the real world, think again, we are all real people with real stories to share and advice to offer or what's the point of having this forum, is it all bull ?

Regards Mike

[Sloggi]

ibrox said:

Yep I'm back !

Welcome back AA

[ibrox]

Thanks sloggi

[speycaster]

nice to see you back paul ;D

[macd]

Mike, glad you are back

i thought i was on my own....no chance of a proper sing song without you.

Come on big guy: how blue are those bluebells. ;D

ibrox said:

Yep I'm back !

Before anyone pipes up the fact that I said I wasn't coming back. MY CHOICE !
The points that paul brought up IMO, are very true and by the looks of it, this is not just my opinion , we can't all be wrong. Anyway I didn't come back to stir it up, I came back because I enjoy reading about other people's experiences and to learn more about fishing, "I" like Paul and other non posting members don't want to go to a specific thread and have to read through all the dross before we see something worth reading .
I started a thread on fishing books and all I got for my trouble was we don't need books to learn about fishing, "this forum is great", well after all the negative reactions we found out there are people who read books on fishing and fly tying after all, surprise surprise! its always the same ones. We are not all super great anglers like you. so let us learn, stop putting people down for trying to contribute, after all it will help us all in the long run surely.

Those of you who think this isn't the real world, think again, we are all real people with real stories to share and advice to offer or what's the point of having this forum, is it all bull ?

Regards Mike

[ibrox]

Cheers boys,

The bluebells are always blue in Annan Ross. ;D ;D

[macd]

Never doubted it big man.

[hornet]

Welcome back Mike.

Hornet

[akflyrod]

yes mike good to here from you again
gary

[sinkingtip]

Good to hear you and Hornet again AA. Welcome back and look forward to both of your contributions as before.
Best regards
STip

[davewallbridge]

I logged on this morning and, reading through replies #24 - #33, actually laughed out loud much to the surprise of SWMBO.

Given the subject and content of this topic, are these replies just an attempt at ironic humour or are you all actually trying to make a point ? ..........

Dave.

[ibrox]

Good point Dave , it made me laugh after reading it through again .
Just goes to show were not perfect either, let that be a lesson to us all ;D.

Here endeth the lesson .
i hope

[greenalert]

Welcome Back AA

[davewallbridge]

ibrox said:

Good point Dave , it made me laugh after reading it through again .
Just goes to show were not perfect either, let that be a lesson to us all ;D.

Here endeth the lesson .
i hope

AA,

Sorry, I should have typed " replies # 25 - #33 ". Your post not included - but you obviously got my drift.

Dave.

[salmoseeker]

I've read what you have to say Paul and I don't have the detail of the forum politics that you seem to have picked up.

What I have found is that all the guys/girls are invariably willing to offer positive response to any issues posted for discussion.

I think it would be good if you stick with this forum and actively participate; you've clearly got much to offer. Kind regards, John

[sjf]

Well I think PaulSewin has a very good point, and is brave to come straight out with it. As you can see, I have been a member for a considerable time and yet have not crawled past 20 posts, there is a reason for that.

This board can seem too cluby/clique'y at times and it is frankly off putting. There are also some very self important posters on here whose attitude is repellent to many.

It is just something that regular posters should consider before they get in to a comfortable circle jerk.

There is a lot that is good here, advice, help and guidance as well as some interesting tales. I intend to remain a member, but I can't see myself being as regular a poster as I am in some "other places"

[akflyrod]

ok ,now that everyone has aired there feelings, we can all move on,
as the fishing season is apon us, there are helpfull tips & good sound advise, that can be shared among us, and hopefully happy days ahead, tightlines to all.

gary

[sjf]

springer said:

It is easy for people to suggest we move on, there have been some comments and statements made referring to as yet unnamed members and/or clicks who apparently scare others away.

It seems that making regular posts is now becoming unfashionable and rather those of us that have racked up a few posts should let the minority have its voice. There will always be less talkers than listeners, that is life.
I believe I have encouraged rather than discouraged and defended what we have created when it has came under attack.

If I am guilty of any of these so called offenses I will be horrified and ashamed, I have opinions and am not afraid to voice them, either via keyboard or in person but aside from that I abhor bully's in any way, shape or form.

We all have a voice, just some of us have the balls to use it regularly. If left to the occasional poster or little voice I wonder how interesting and informative and beneficial to members the forum will become.

This post and accusations leading from it has in my opinion sent tremors deep into the roots of this forum and at a time when relative calm was called for by many. As a result my interest is rapidly diminishing.

Either you have not read the points carefully enough or you are wilfully misinterpreting them to your own end Mr Springer. However I feel it was done by you in a defence of the board rather than of yourself, all be it a bit of a knee-jerk reaction.

No one is criticizing regular posters, for being regular or for being frequent. Merely the style of some posts by some regular posters, and the clubby nature of others.

It is interesting that those of the "regulars" who have so far posted in this thread tend not to be the ones that I at least feel are most guilty of putting off less regular posters and "newbees".