As some of you know, I've been running the OzVMX forum for over 10 years. That's a long time and it has succeeded and grown far more than I ever imagined it would. Which is great. However, one aspect of the forum that has always consumed a lot of time, effort and careful judgement is moderation. When I began OzVMX, I had the view that as long as discussions didn't end up in the gutter, pretty much anything was open to debate and I felt that very robust discussion was fine.
Well, over the years this hasn't always worked. I've been threatened with litigation, had threats made against me, had to adjudicate all sorts of weird disputes and had many many phone calls, messages and emails about matters on the forum.
A couple of years ago when a few members became regularly abusive of others, I eventually had to apply stricter moderation, provide some guidelines to forum use, and ban a couple of people. This was in response to a torrent of complaint and dissatisfaction from many members. We even lost a few of the stalwarts of the forum over this.
In recent times, the debates about vintage racing rules, administration by MA etc and endless discussions about class structures and so on have become a rather prominent feature of the forum. My time and effort to manage the forum has been growing substantially and I am seeing a similar sentiment being expressed about the general tone of the place.
These days, I am no longer an active VMX competitor. I still enjoy the old bikes, like to hear and read about vintage, and I still have a couple of 1980 models in the back shed. But, my real passion for now is modern dirt track racing. I just don't have the time or desire to put a lot into OzVMX.
And to be honest, I'm a bit over it.
Now, the ongoing saga of rules and MA and so on has sapped my desire to continue. So, I've spent the past couple of days considering next steps. My inclination was to close it down. After all, Facebook does a great job of doing the same sort of thing. I know a lot of people still enjoy the forum, but many have told me that its negativity, the infighting, and the arguments about eligibility annoy them.
I can see where they are coming from.
So.... Have we reached the end of the line for OzVMX? No, I don't think so, I think it still has a place and I still have enough enthusiasm to try reinvent it to an extent. I have decided to keep the thing open for the near future at least. I'm gonna take it back to its roots. When I started the forum, it was meant to fill the gap left by the loss of Ray Ryan and VMX Magazine. His philosophy was simple - Same Old Dirt, Same Old Fun. Today, Ken Smith and crew run VMX Magazine true to that philosophy. And I think that's what we need to take the forum back to.
Now, I agree that many of the concerns and contentious issues that have been raised are valid and deserving of discussion and resolution and so on. But from here on in, you'll have to find somewhere else to do that. I'm not doing this to run away from the problems or to fold to pressure from MA or anything like that. It's just to firstly make my job of keeping things on track easier and more pleasant, and secondly to make the forum a place of positive energy.
From here on in, the forum is meant to be above all, fun. And in the course of that, informative, inclusive, positive, supportive and generally uplifting. Get where I am coming from?
So please, no more comments or posts about MA, eligibility (other than to ask for guidance), rules, or personal sledging of any person or club or organisation.
I will moderate with a heavy hand, and believe me if it becomes too hard to do that, I will close it down. Not a threat - just a fact of life. I don't need the stress of it all.
So over to you all, enjoy OzVMX but please, keep it civil and keep it fun. Oh, and I will be deleting the Administration of Competition board - that sort of discussion is what I want to avoid from now on.
