Guys, I want to toss this out and hear what you have to say.

Lately, it seems that we (the moderators) are having to deal with more and more petty BS that should not even be coming up. Nothing major, but it's the tiny things. I also see it in comments from you (the forum members) in some posts. It seems like there may be some people (or a whole lot of people, for all I know) who may not be happy with how the forum is moderated.

Maybe I am just perceiving things incorrectly. Lately, because of things beyond my control, I am able to spend more time on the board. This coincided with a couple of the other moderators spending a bit less time on the boards for their own reasons. A good bit my time is spent doing the minor things of moderation. But this also means, I get to be the heavy hand more often. We usually try and spread the blame around a bit, but that does not always work. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Lately, I had to deal with a few posts that were moderated, moved or locked because they did not belong where they were. In at least one, I asked for anyone who had questions or comments to contact me or any of the moderators and we would be more than happy to discuss our actions. Apparently this was not understood, because a public airing of the dirty laundry ensued. We work hard at moderating behind the scenes and by publicly flogging us, it makes that kind of hard to do. If you never knew we were here, then we could consider it to be a success. I have frequented other boards where things were ruled with an iron fist. I am hoping we do not come across like this.

Some of the conflict seems to come from a few things that are just not debatable. I can't outline all of these things (there are a few no-no's, like cross-posting, personal attacks and bashing newbies) but one is the difference between Isuzu Tech and Isuzu Talk. The overall reason for this division is to split the general areas of information into two gross groups. Sometimes people are not sure what goes where. This is fine and it is what we are here for. But the definition of Talk is Isuzu related talk. It is not an off-topic or open chat board. We (and those mods before me) have decided to keep it that way. This makes it slightly different than the other Talk forums on the wire. The guys in Toy-land and Mitsu-land have off-topic talk forums. For many reasons, we do not want to do that here. There are other sites on the internet to discuss things that do not meet the required Isuzu content.

To some, this may not seem fair. To those folks, I am sorry, but when it comes to the base rules, they are not going to change. Outside topic questions (somewhat dependent upon the actual question) are sometimes allowed for a short while, but we don't want them flowing into a heavy discussion. Pictures and videos that are not Isuzu related (even if the Geo Storm getting its rear end torn off is made by or influenced by Isuzu) are just not allowed. If you have questions about what you want to post or propose, please contact us.

The other side of this is that we (the VOLUNTEERS) who moderate are only human. We do make mistakes from time to time. If we do, it would be better for those involved to send us a note, instead of firing up the flame machine. Trust me, we will be nicer if we are not called nasty (although it is humorous) names. If we do something that upsets you, please let us know, nicely. Personally, I know I can be perceived a blunt from time to time (sometimes more than that). Some of it is how I type, some of it is a lack of smiley usage. I can say that 99% of the time, I am not out to make you mad. This is only the internet and I have better things to do than upset someone else on the end of my keyboard. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I want to hear what people are thinking. What do you see? What could we consider doing to make it better? We have not done this in a while and maybe it is time. All I ask is to try and understand it from our point of view to some degree. We are Isuzu enthusiasts first and foremost, moderators second. We would rather read the posts and help those that we can. I know I completely dig this Forum. The amount of diverse people bring a tremendous amount of knowledge into one spot, while at the same time we are able to keep some humor in it. I know I have made many friends via here, and I know there are some of you who have made even more than I have. In general, this place is good, let's try and see if we can keep it that way.

If you have comments that you do not want to post, then send an email or PM. There are links to our email addresses at the bottom of each Forum page. Just to absolve the others, I've done this without warning the other moderators, but I think they will play along with it.

Michael