*IMPORTANT* A decline in forum conduct that needs addressing!

[ZBOYD]

THIS THREAD IS INTENDED FOR EVERYONE TO READ. SOME THINK THEY ARE BEING SINGLED OUT BUT ITS BEEN SETUP AS A FORCED READ THREAD FOR EVERYONE.

Myself and the rest of the team, are becoming more and more annoyed about some of the conduct by certain elements of the forum population. Lately some of the content of postings in this forum have bordered on the downright disgraceful, from today it needs to, and will stop!

Some key points of friction:

1. Total disregard for forum rules, and a general lack of any kind of respect for members, moderators and admin.
2. Threads being taken well off subject/topic in idiotic ways, using important and informative subjects as an excuse for general pub talk.
3. Abusive, rude and threatening behaviour to fellow forum members.
4. Racist comments, this includes linking to offensive material (pics etc)
5. Unsavoury comments and threads, the over-use of bad language and "text speak"
6. Claiming to represent SEATCupra.net, using the site for financial gain and generally dragging the name of SCN down.

This forum was set-up more than 8 years ago, for like minded SEAT owners to discuss, and share information about their beloved SEAT cars, and has equally welcomed other members of other brands, and ex SEAT owners who have moved on to other brands.

It has a reputation as a well-natured, friendly forum, a good reputation that has seen us become respected and recognised by SEAT, the motoring media and many other linked motorsport and tuning companies.

Just lately though, we feel the image and nature of SCN is beginning to lose some of its focus!! The way people use the forum and the way they act is poor, and the mud is starting to stick.

Now some seem to think, because this is a 'public forum', and its my freedom of speech, blah blah., I can say and do what ever I like!!! etc, etc..

Well you couldn't be more wrong, everything that goes on on this forum, is the responsibility of myself and the other admins that manage it. Your so called freedom to do and say as you please, can have direct legal consequences for me and the admins.

So with the greatest of respect, we will protect the interests of this site, if that means we bin, or close your posts/threads that we feel are not in the interests of the forum, or public at large then we will at our discretion and without your permission if necessary:

1. Those whose content is deemed to be illegal, or even bordering on it.
2. Potentially racist, or inciting abuse or violence to anyone, for any reason, whether they are resident to the forum or not.
3. Anything that could be legally challenged, defamation of character, slander for example.
4. Worthless threads, stupid stunts or bragging rights.

Some people are using the forum as a doss house, and frankly are taking some pretty big liberties. Well no longer, the land lords are serving notice!!

WHO RUNS THIS SITE!

YOU do not own this forum or website, and on the same hand we do not ask or demand any money from it's members. You are not in anyway asked to contribute to the financial burden or upkeep and never will be.

Its a considerable cost don't let anyone kid you otherwise into thinking its cheap to run a forum and website this size, because it isn't.

Myself and the other admins, moderators, take no money from this site, it has its own bank account, it has always been designed to support itself financially with the aid of sponsorship, which it has done very successfully allowing it to grow.

We input everything back into the site, whether it be to purchase new equipment, update software licenses or use it for publicity means such as banners, flyers etc. We also contribute some of our annual income to charity.

Myself and the rest of the team, have and continue to give up many many hours of our free time to serve and support this community. The only thing we ask for in return is a little respect, we don't wish or expect you to bow down and lick our shoes or anything. On the same hand we don't want to cramp peoples style, only the ones that blatantly shirk the rules will be dealt with in the manner laid out before and here again.

Our aim is for SEATCupra.net to remain a welcoming forum, an informative forum, and a good place to spend time for everyone, including ourselves.
If it starts becoming a job or a chore and we're taking abuse from people, then, Im sorry but the site will close.

So i'd like to make it absolutely clear that WE run this site, and from now on we will take a dim view of anything i've pointed out above.

Furthermore we the admins, can and will delete content which we feel doesn't satisfy the interests of the forum community. This is a wide remit, we're pretty easy going, but if were not happy about anything, or we receive complaints about deleting your thread/post slagging off X Y and Z it and possibly you will be history on SCN, simple as that.

PENALTIES
The rules of the forum will be updated in due course to reflect these latest additions and changes.

Any member publicly arguing with anyone from the admin and moderation team on the forum, from today will be subject to the following penalties.

You will be warned ONLY once, and be advised to take your grievance to email or PM for private discussion.

Failure to comply with this request, will result in an instant 24 hour cool-off ban from the use of the forum, if this happens we advise you to respect it.

If persons persist in abuse of the admins or any other members of the forum after they have already been penalised, will then receive a further ban anywhere from a week, to a full permanent ban depending on the seriousness. That is at the total discretion of the admins.

You are quite free to appeal against any decision made by the Admins, but these are to be done privately by email.

REPORTING OF POSTS

Now i've said this many times before, but we can't be everywhere all the time we have real lives and commitments too, so frequently we miss stuff.

Much of the time we have better things to be doing rather than reading 30 pages of 'willy waving' just to see if anyone has decided to start an argument.

We rely on YOU to tell us when something is getting out of hand, the

REPORT POST function is there for a very good reason. It sends a message to every admin so that we quickly become aware of any situations that might be brewing and we can then act to knock them on the head, before the issue becomes a problem.

Please DO help us to help YOU. All received report posts are in the strictest confidence, they are not shared with anyone but the admin team.

TAKING THE LAW INTO YOUR OWN HANDS

This has also come up recently, where one or two people feel they have the right to attack other members over their conduct.

I'll make it clear, that only the admins and moderators of the forum hand out the punishments, bottling stuff up over weeks then exploding at someone on the forum does you no good, and makes you look just as bad in our eyes and ultimately causes an online argument.

Report it to us, and let us deal with it.

FINAL NOTE:

We are fully aware this is mainly directed at the minority, but this minority is having an effect on the majority who are becoming dis-illusioned with the forum and are visiting less often as a result.

This isn't meant to antagonise anyone in particular either, so don't take it personally, its a general view shared by myself and the other admins
Things MUST start to change, and we want your help to help yourselves.

As always we welcome feedback, offers of help etc and everything is taken into consideration.

We don't want to cramp the FUN, the banter is all good, and fine if its kept well-natured and most importantly in the right section, but some of the attitudes have got to go!!

IF YOU DON'T LIKE ANY OF THE ABOVE, AND CAN'T FOLLOW OUR RULES THEN YOU KNOW WHERE THE LOG-OFF IS.

As from now on your not going to be welcome if you continually cause problems.

Thank you for reading what i know is an exhaustive post, but we felt it needed saying.

ZBOYD & The rest of the admin team.

 

[andycupra]

Very well said.

This forum is a class above (in my humble opinion) and deserves the acclaim its received.

The admins and staff do a fantastic job and the continued success of this site is down to them and those who contribute to this site in a positive way.

I am continually amazed how helpful many peope are on this forum, (staff and otherwise) and have no doubt that the majority of members will respond to this request positively.

I look forward to the continued success of seatcupra.net

keep up the good work!

 

[stoneyfordNI]

lots of worried faces (mine included) about scn tonight ,

i see a few ebay links being posted ( weren't they banned last week) and also i hate threads started specifically saying i beat a RS turbo etc last night ,

im sure theres lots of work behind the scenes that no one sees

towards the admin

 

[GreyKnight]

I do agree with this ruling. I used to post a lot on SCN and there was a solid core of regulars who never got out of hand (well, okay, there was one ), but in recent months I've noticed a LOT of new members with massive post counts that have only achieved them by talking utter dross to each other in text speak or purposefully poor english for eight hours a day.

I know I don't own a SEAT anymore, but I still like the brand and I've met a lot of people worth knowing on SCN who I'd like to keep knowing.

Well done Zboyd, m0rk and the team. Glad to see the action being taken.

Graham

edit: Funnily enough, I was thinking the other day what one thing would make me buy a SEAT again in the future, the only answer I could come up with was to be a contributing part of the SCN community again (soft old me!).

 

[Ant FR]

Did i miss something,

 

[m0rk]

an ongoing culmination of annoyances.

So we're wrapping them into a 'catch all' situation, and allowing people to read & agree (if they choose) to ensure SCN is kept to the high standards we expect.

 

[Forbez]

Fairplay, you make a good point, ive become increasingly annoyed at the number of posts that have gone totally off topic, with utter pointless posts between people who are continuing on conversations from othe threads and making no sense at all, and turning informative threads into pages of, pants!

 

[Icecavern]

If only we could go back to the way the forum used to be when we started up, every technical question answered and no about how X beat a skyline/evo/M3/etc.....

Ahhh the good old days when it was all about the cars and not about grabbing attention, making yourself look important, and bragging....

Pete

 

[MarkE]

Fair play to the admins.

This site has earned itself the title of #1 source of SEAT information and there's no reason why the admins shouldn't try to do everything possible to keep it that way.

I've yet to see another manufacturer-specific site with the level of access to (and the good relationship with) the manufacturer that this one is rightfully proud to have.

In addition, this forum has a reputation for being one of the most helpful, friendly and bulls**t-free places going, which is why so many members, including myself, still frequent the forum despite no longer owning a SEAT.

I know it gets said from time to time but I don't think it gets said enough - m0rk, ZBOYD and the rest of the admin and mod team do an amazing job here for no financial reward and, if it has got to the stage that they are taking the hard line that they are doing, I can only assume that their almost infinite patience has been stretched to breaking point. I assume that the people responsible will either respect the facility on offer here or choose to go elsewhere. Either way, I am sure that I'm not alone in wishing SCN the best for the future.

/headteacher_mode

 

[NowGottaIbizaMk5]

Keep up the good work folks. I appreciate it and I'm sure that virtually all folks do too.

 

[acidstrato]

does sucking up to the admins get punished to?? iv noticed that alot recently, in some way of achieving a social status asap and quite frankly it pisses me off

 

[PABLO ESCABAR]

fair play lad splease keep up the good work and keep the threads to what they are supposed to be about.
I joined up last june before i even bought my car and i can honestly say that if it wasnt for Seatcupra.net i would not of bought it but after speakin to people on here and gettin to know the car before i did buy it helped me no end and i can now say that i love the brand and will be stayin with it for many years to come and as long as SCN lives i hope to be part of it
BIG THANKS TO ALL INVOLVED and please keep up the good work and please can we have more weekends like donington as that was supperb...

 

[cupra-c_ya]

Fair play to you guys for making the boundaries be known, since becoming a member on here I have learnt so much from other members and the admins, i.e. mork and martyn who have always been willing to help and advise me on some of my posts.

If posts do get out of hand then you do right to just pull them, there will always be someone looking to Antagonise or make a thread spiral into nonsense, however I am sure most people have gone slightly off subject on the threads

I am sure the majority of people who use SCN appreciate the efforts of all involved in the dialy running of the site, its good that you have done this to keep people in check as to speak.

 

[Brummy]

well done fella's. its always good to re-iterate the rules every now and then and we all need a reminder every so often too..
I know M0rk put a thread up recently in a similar vein, and it went off kilter fairly quickly, which was a reflection of just how things were going.


and there IS an appreciation of the stuff you do behind the scenes from the majority of peeps on the site..

 

[Martinoutfront]

I agree with all the points raised by Z and the rest of the team. As a frequent (daily) vistor over the last couple of years I have noticed the things they have mentioned and this does seem to have had an effect on the numbers of members online at times. This IS a very good forum and I'm glad the guys have stepped in and spoken their minds, well done

 

[CupraUK]

I can't help but think that if you want to go back to the "good old days" then you may as well make your forum invite only. You offer a free online resource (which I apreciate the time and effort that it must take up) so as the member list has grown to a massive number then you are bound to get a cross section of people signing up. You may not like the way these people talk, what they talk about or the way they conduct themselves but this is just a product of having an open door policy. If you start chucking people off then they will just resign up and have a giant flaming session causing you more hastle than closing a few threads at the moment.

I mainly post in the Leon Mk1 area and, other than a few crazy threads, I diddn't really see much of a problem. Maybe other areas were worse.

I've no idea what the "good old days" were like but I'm sure the core users from that time know each other well enough offline now to pick up the phone or go down the pub together rather than spend the time in the forum.

 

[ZBOYD]

Its got very little to do with going back to the good old days, and more to do with folks just acting a little more courteous to other people, and not treating the place like something they stepped in.

Recapturing the old days isn't what my post was about.

And they are welcome to try and flame us if they are really that petty, they will be lining themselves up for a legal issue, that we would take up directly with their ISP.

No-one is anonymous!

I am however fairly confident thar a high percentage of the forum members here, do have some noodle about them, and are actually on side.

 

[ArosaRacer]

so now when i address F2 stu do i say "Az you got da boost" or "excuse me sir does you cars engine have a KO3 turbocharger fitted?"

On a serious note Z i think this fourm is brillant and is the sole reason i sold my ford and got an LCR and the rules are fair which is why ive ticked the agree box

 

[225]

Fair enough fellas, good to get things in order.
I think more and more people will log onto SCn as the more popular and well known cars such as the LCR start to become available to a wider range of people. This is a good thing as it obviously promotes the SEAT brand as a whole.
Even for us who no longer actually drive a SEAT (or anything else for that matter at present!) SCN is still the place I go back to. Although I'm not on here as much as I used to be It is still the first Forum I log into when I'm on the interweb.

 

[F2 Stu]

so now when i address F2 stu do i say "Az you got da boost" or "excuse me sir does you cars engine have a KO3 turbocharger fitted?"

Hello Treacle..

Why sir it is with some regret to inform I do not have nor currently plan to fit such a device.

on a more serious note I'm glad this is being addressed - I'm all up for a little banter but sometimes (often) it oversteps the mark(been guilty a couple of times myself)