So, now what?

[cynwulf]

The stuff I 'dug up' was a similar thread that I started that seemed to show that everyone wanted a vote in everything and not any sort of representative group. Just pointing it out...

Almost everyone wanted to vote and almost everyone refused any kind of moderation - even if only for discussion - or the idea of a "forum council" - another +1 for democracy.

I threw out ideas to discuss and they all ended with "everything is fine" and "stop these long discussions" so i happily did.

I agree that this is what happened and has been happening all along. It seems that people don't even want these discussions - hence why I say "nominate/elect a staff and be done with it". We've had people vociferously defending their rights here and then disappearing for weeks if not months. I don't see the point in being part of a board if you only turn up to vote and protect the democracy here.

For me the system here is wishy-washy in that some things are done by vote, sometimes by general agreement and other times it is executive action. That to me is no system.

I agree, but we've had two years to sort out a system - in my opinion we did not get even 50% there and the enforcement of the system is non existent because people simply don't have to bother and no one can force them. When the finer points have been discussed or the procedures and processes for the system have been brought up, people have not wanted to discuss it. So what do you do? Taking a week with everybody voting on every little detail was ridiculous as there were hundreds of details to go through and we never even scratched the surface. Instead we had people making reactionary legislation - i.e. attempting to rush through changes to the rules on a knee jerk in reaction to some particular incident. This is what has been going on for two years and it's not working.

The board quiets down and people say "oh well it's alright now, just leave it"... then the shit hits the fan again in a few weeks/months and we're back here again debating the same old things... again: It's quiet and trouble free at the moment because there's nothing doing...

But my understanding is that the members were fine with it when i brought it up in the past. I am not fine with it so there is nothing for me to do but stand aside. That is what I have been doing and more than happy to continue. I am not willing to participate overly much on a board where I feel the system is wishy-washy I hope that is understandable. No hard feelings, just not interested in that.

I am not fine with it either, I don't think any member is content with the status quo here, but people have simply gotten jaded with this site and the unnecessary complexity of it. The voting is a ball ache and most new members simply haven't got a clue what's going on here...

As far as the ban I was pretty sure it was not by vote but have no idea beyond that how it was handled. It could of been by vote and I probably would of missed it. I honestly try not to pay attention to anything in the community section since I am not in the voters group and since I don't think the system is what it should be.

As far as I recall, the ban was an executive move. I didn't agree with that, but to be fair, members could have voted to impeach or overturn the ban. It seems that no one did.

The biggest problem I see here is that members fell out and we lost some of those members and others because of all of this. huggybear in particular was one of the pillars of this site and now he's gone. I find that unacceptable but I'm not pointing the finger at anyone.

[cynwulf]

"So, now what?"

Well nothing apparently...

[jheaton5]

"So, now what?"

Well nothing apparently...

If you mean the flurry of activity on the board, I agree.
If you mean the clamor for changing the board by-laws, I agree also.
If you mean the inundation of spam I would have to agree with your assessment too.
Hence my suggestion of returning the donations and shutting down the board.

[debil]

Well nothing apparently...

Hence my suggestion of returning the donations and shutting down the board.

Guess there's just no interest or need for DUF anymore. Maybe I'm wrong but it certainly seems like it.

[cynwulf]

Yes, this is getting to be like Miss Havisham's wedding party... We could go on forever about "what went wrong" and why there's no need for DUF, but the fact is it's time is done - DUF's small window of opportunity was two years ago.

I did not see the point in people stumping up cash for this in January and I still don't see the point...

[JohnDeere630]

FWIW, It might be a good idea to save the how-tos for posterity; they represent a lot of work that shouldn't go to waste. There's not much sense in adding to that mess at FDN, though....so maybe not....or maybe I'm mistaken. Wouldn't be the first nor probably the last time.

[mharrison]

Meh, the bills are paid...let it runs its course....I say in November of this year, put up 1 (singular, just one) post asking for donations if anyone wants to keep it going and then be done with it...if we get the money, cool, 1 more year. If we don't, return what has been donated to those who donated and shut the lights off on your way out. If we don't get enough, we can extract the data and maybe register something at freeforums.org and dump the data there so we at least have some record of the howto's and the problems that were solved. Be a shame to see the knowledge that was shared here go to waste in the abyss.

[jheaton5]

Meh, the bills are paid...let it runs its course....I say in November of this year, put up 1 (singular, just one) post asking for donations if anyone wants to keep it going and then be done with it...if we get the money, cool, 1 more year. If we don't, return what has been donated to those who donated and shut the lights off on your way out. If we don't get enough, we can extract the data and maybe register something at freeforums.org and dump the data there so we at least have some record of the howto's and the problems that were solved. Be a shame to see the knowledge that was shared here go to waste in the abyss.

+1

[golinux]

I do refer to posts on this forum occasionally and would miss them if they went bye-bye. I don't miss the endless administrative debates. If the database can be ported to a free forum option, I suggest that be considered when renewal time is on the horizon. Then it can remain as a KB with occasional posts. And who knows it could eventually become the gathering place we would like it to be. Especially with the spam problem on the 'other' forum which might send users elsewhere.

[CiaW]

I've been quiet on this thread, since I was too darn broke to contribute any funds for the renewal. I agree with the sentiments of the mharrison and golinux, fwiw.

And hopefully by the time the next renewal time rolls around I may be able to hold my head above water enough to contribute.