Wow

[Gerard]

Well, I quit CAF for good. Kim just pushed it way too far last night, telling me publicly then by PM that I was somehow in violation of rules. He offered no evidence, nothing to support his ridiculous claim, as no proof was possible: I broke no rules and was nothing but polite, in the context of a discussion of the new silencer petition which a Conservative MP has posted for eventual submission to government. I support the petition. I offered thoughts elaborating in how little sense prohibitions of this sort make. Apparently Kim was in a bad mood. So I'm done. They have 2500+ posts from me, that's enough.

Brent Lauchlin, your role in this in the past as regards banning me for defending a good friend against unwarranted attacks and assaults on his integrity played a part in my decision. I know at least half a dozen senior members of CAF who have expressed serious concerns regarding moderator misbehavior and the generally strange attitudes you guys seem to have regarding the rules. Following the rules isn't enough. One must lick moderator's boots. And that's not something I'm willing to do. Content JSB everything for a forum to remain viable. CAF will get no more of that from me.

[AirGunEric]

Brent Lauchlin, your role in this in the past as regards banning me for defending a good friend against unwarranted attacks and assaults on his integrity played a part in my decision. I know at least half a dozen senior members of CAF who have expressed serious concerns regarding moderator misbehavior and ...

Other online forums are not the best place to express your displeasure with specific individuals- but of course this sort of 'conflict' is also what seems to drive too many people to web forums (and one of the things I stated up-front here we really didn't want).

I should probably take this opportunity to mention that this is at least the second or third wave of 'senior members of the CAF' leaving and never returning in the last 10 years- yet it survives. I can only surmise that this is partially because the drain of people with actual expertise has no effect on the transient traffic, and the not-yet-experts maybe work a bit harder and become part of the 'senior' member crowd. That being said, when these members leave, certainly some expertise leaves and it may never be replenished- but no one has ever done much about this and the world appears to barely notice beyond the short-term. Bottom line of course is that we all have to make our own choices, and losing sleep or getting upset about any online forum is probably not worth it.

[Gerard]

True enough. And I've not lost a moment of sleep over CAF. Had a few laughs about it as a few of us shared our incredulity over the way things are over there, but so things go sometimes. As you say, the vast bulk of membership numbers (handy for driving up the few pennies of income for each advertising banner) are guys who post a handful of times, mostly to congratulate themselves or others on cheap airgun purchases. Ultimately most with technical interests of any depth gravitate towards other online 'clubhouses' so as to avoid wasting quite so much time in vain attempts at educating those who don't really want to be educated. Most aren't so selfless as to just hammer away for years trying to be helpful only to get kicked out on a moderator's whim. I tried. No more.

As for a forum owner handing over content... it's a bit hard to imagine anyone doing such a thing. A forum founder is likely to feel a proprietary connection to their content, then when things go sideways and the forum dissolves, seems unlikely that saving the content for another forum owner is going to occur to most. Might happen, just saying it seems unlikely. It'd take an exceptionally ego-free individual to do such a thing. Perhaps if a friendship developed between two forum owners while both were healthy? Could work then. But since it seems more often than not an airgun forum is born in this country as a reaction to hostility in another forum that the opposite is more likely. And 'Webstein' (I have no idea who that guy might be) seems determined to remain an absentee landlord. Not exactly buddy material. His henchmen love what they do, like a lot of cops seem to love their power in the 'real world.' It just doesn't seem like the kind of environment where logic or even reasonable thinking can prevail.