This website is exactly what you make of it...YOU and only YOU...not me
 

I would just like to state something for the record. All those complaining about message boards or twitter or this website or whatever...BLAME YOURSELVES.

Don't blame me. This website, and everywhere else you go...it's made up OF ALL OF YOU.

If ALL OF YOU wanted to have quality conversations about upcoming races, or handicapping principles, or the state of affairs of the world (in off topic), it's UP TO YOU to start those kinds of threads, and contribute quality content to it.

It's up to ME to rid the board of people and comments that are not appropriate.

It's up to YOU to NOT RESPOND to bullshit and troll replies. Once you start RESPONDING, it blows up quickly...then when I show up, or another moderator shows up, I don't have just ONE troll comment or inappropriate post to delete, now I have all these REPLIES and BACK AND FORTH from the very people who are now going to COMPLAIN what a cesspool this place is...and BLAME ME for not being around 24/7 to delete every single thing that upsets them.

Here's a novel idea...LET SOME THINGS GO...ignore the BS, and it will get deleted within a few hours at best. And the repeat offenders will eventually be kicked off the island.

But don't go around blaming me for what ALL OF YOU decide to post here...ALL OF YOU make this place EXACTLY WHAT IT IS...good and bad alike.

Sure. Now, WE are responsible for what this place has become. We should "BLAME OURSELVES"...because this website is made up of "ALL OF US".

But in that OTHER thread...you told Murph that "YOU can do whatever you WANT here". "YOUR world...YOUR house...YOUR rules...YOUR whims"...you said.

Will you please make up your mind, PA?

Nothing to make up. My only goal when starting this place was to get it to the point where MY CONTENT wasn't what drove this place, but all of YOURS. And it reached that point many, many years ago.

My posts are but a fraction of the overall content here.

Yes, the collective YOU are responsible for how good or how bad this place gets. 100%

The website's quality is determined to a point by the quality of the responses on various threads.

PA has stated that the quality is based on "You and You Only...Not me."
That would be totally true if PA never made interjections and commentaries on various threads here and there.
To date that is not the case.
I enjoy his contributions even when I don't agree with some of them.
So PA has to assume some responsibility along with the rest of us for the quality of various threads.

OK, that makes sense. Since I am also a contributor here, I am also responsible for the website quality and since I am also the admin, I share in that responsibility as well.

BUT, my point is, it's all of you that have WAY MORE CONTROL over the direction this website goes, and the quality of the content, then I can EVER hope to have.

If you all want to get into flame wars constantly, there is very little I can do to stop it...yes, I can delete posts and ban people, but it just cycles over and over again because people REFUSE to STOP ENGAGING what are obviously useless contributions. But hey, who am I to stop you? It's obvious that at times, this is what people want, because they get so worked up and post machine-gun rapid style in response to the slightest troll posting. You guys love this, apparently.

Can't get enough of it...then you all cry about what a dump this place is...

My guess is that the vast majority of contributors here are quite thankful that the site exists and are satisfied with it.
You can't please every one though and I can see where it must get tiring responding to those few squeaky wheels who keep demanding grease.
No one's perfect but from what I've seen, you're doing a good job for the most part. :ThmbUp:

:ThmbUp: I couldn't agree more.

The only thing that I, personally, find "wrong" with this site is PA's refusal to instill some sort of "order" in the off-topic section of this forum. He treats the off-topics section as if it were another site altogether, and even instigates some of the arguments there...without realizing that the hostility that's allowed to brew there is bound to infiltrate into the racing side of the forum.

The posters are allowed to "take the gloves off" when they visit the off-topics, and then they are expected to rediscover their civility when they return to the horseracing section of the site...as if human behavior could be altered at the drop of a hat.

I guess I'm snow blind then. I don't see off-topic as hostile as you see it. Strong differences of opinion, yes. And that should be encouraged.

Maybe I can interest you in becoming an off-topic moderator? cj doesn't like to go in there...:lol:

You don't see the off-topics as being "hostile"...but you notice the hostility in the racing side of the forum? That's funny.

I said "as hostile" as you. You seem to think there is a major problem in there, that somehow carries over to horses. I don't see that either (the carryover, not that there isn't some hostility in both).

I don't see where off-topic is to blame for racing and vice versa.

You can't overlook (and even cultivate) the hostility in one part of your site...while endeavoring to maintain civility on the rest of the board. You either want your guests to be CIVIL here...or you DON'T. This "distinction" between "on-topic" and "off-topic" exists only in your MIND...because this is still the same website. And this notion that "we all cry about what a dump this place is" exists only in your mind as well. NONE of us have ever called this place a "dump".

Why must both sides of the forum be homogenous? Do you really believe that a reaction to "what do you look for in turf sprints" would elicit the same emotional (civil) response that a topic such as "ban all muslims" would. I for one appreciate the differences between the two forums. It's nice to be able to express an opinion without the PC police knocking it down.

i agree the off topics is only reflecting the great divide in america.

I speak for myself here...and I voice my OWN opinion. And my opinion is that gathering a bunch of guys in an online forum so they could call each other "idiot" isn't "nice"...nor is it an appropriate way of publicly expressing a view-point. But, hey...as I've said to you before...you are entitled to your OWN opinions about things...and you are welcomed to disagree with me.

I speak for me here...and you speak for you.

Some of my comments about what I think that is needed for PA to become an even better site:

Moderation policy needs to be changed:

https://stackoverflow.blog/2009/05/1...of-moderation/
https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation

The forum software is antiquated. See the following for better approaches:

https://www.reddit.com/
https://news.ycombinator.com/
http://stackoverflow.com/
http://flarum.org/features/


Redundant thread topics.Topics must comply to specific guidelines that must be applied strictly.

https://stackexchange.com/tour

Off topics create a lot of noise and need much stricter moderation.
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...d.php?t=136470

Lack of RSS feed.
https://problogger.com/what-is-rss/