IDEAS!!!!!

[Alex]

Any objections to people using the board as a place to chat (not to cause trouble), but who aren't interested in meetups?

 

If there is, feel free to ban me.

[LiquidEyes]

^ yeah that!

[James]

Jack,

 

People who are here to chat and create a positive & friendly atmosphere are helping the site grow in the right direction and this in turn attracts more people with the right attitude so no of course this isnt an issue. In either case I intend to meet everyone on here at some stage - whether it be in 10 months time or 10 years. I probably didnt make myself very clear but basically people who arent here to grow the community in a positive fashion can go - and if we do ever get to a stage whereby all the members are helping the site grow then we simply wont need any moderation at all (apart from moving posts and editing posts to make information clearer)

 

Its clear that 2 or 3 people can actually change the atmosphere on the site overnight and within a week we can have 10+ 'real members' leave. So its basically a task of understanding exactly what/who is changing the atmosphere and putting a stop to it. Many people on here have told me they actually like and enjoy the trouble that goes on - and this was the excuse for letting it carry on to some extent - but its just not worth it in reality as we are putting off an awful lot of potential new members - it only takes one person a month telling me that they arent going to bother signing up now but they would have done before to make me realise that things do need to change.

 

Yes we all love a bit of banter and this is fine but if its going to be stuff which a newbie could mis-read then and take personally then this isnt on - only last week I had another friend tell me that its very harsh on here at times and no way would they sign up - I personally couldnt see a problem but then I'm not reading every single post - plus most importantly I know peoples 'true' characters and know when people are actually joking - a newbie doesnt know this and I dont blame them for getting the wrong end of the stick.

 

You have to ask yourself whether you have enough friends & contacts already or whether you are after forming new friendships & contacts - I'm sure its 50/50 on here and that is fine but the people who arent bothered about any new people joining must realise that their banter at times can spoil it for the other 50%

 

One last comment on people 'leaving' - practically everyone I've spoken to doesnt have a problem with CTW or me or the concept - its down to a select few members who have upset them, and not just from this board as we know most people are on multiple boards. Also the 'leavers' I tend to see on invisible mode a lot of the time ! I even had someone ask me the other day if I couldnt allow them to view the board as a guest as they still like to read the posts ! I dont want to see anyone leave and my message would be 'why let a few people get the better of you'

[James]

QUOTE (Mark 2 @ Sep 1 2004, 00:22)

My thought is to gather some further information from members (& new members) as to how often they would be prepared to attend a meet in their area etc? There are some other questions that i can think of adding.. Alternatively, construct a fresh survey and get some feedback from all existing and new members...would need to sell this in a positive way.

Mark,

 

Some great ideas - if you can help me come up with a list of questions I can do both of these - I agree it would be great to have some kind of anonymous survey - we'll also get a good idea from the response rate as to how many members we have on here who are backing the site's concept.

[Alex]

Ah... I get what you mean. I'm a bit slow on the uptake at the moment.

[James]

Yeah sorry for not making things very clear - the last thing I want to do is put off people such as yourself Jack who have already helped out and shape the community - thanks for all your efforts !

[Guest Kev]

QUOTE (James @ Aug 24 2004, 18:57)

RE: DJs / bookings We may well be stopping our involvement in this area and getting back to being purely a meeting place for people and putting our efforts into arranging non-clubbing meets as well as the standard clubbing meets. I'm afraid Tony has decided not to continue with the DJ booking side of things on here and I can appreciate his reasons for this. I am going to have a longer think about the DJ side as its not really turned out as it was originally intended and I think we are already currently trying to cater for too much here. If anyone wants any cards to hand out let me know but I'm still very keen for the site to grow by purely word-of-mouth (i.e. speaking to those who are actually interested / have a reason to join), rather than just blanket flyering. I'm also keen to keep the membership numbers 'real' and not jsut have a load of people register and post once for the sake of saying 'hi' I do think that long term the site and its purpose will go in a positive direction again. Its crucial that we dont have too many people involved as we end up with communication issues, but those that are involved have to be aware that this takes up an inredible amount of their time and for most of the time little return. I currently only get to spend a couple of hours a week on here at present, as apposed to a few hours each night a year or so ago. If there are people out there who can be self sufficient and handle certain areas of the site confidently it would be good to speak to you. You should all be aware of what we are trying to do here but as I say I'm quite happy for it just to be a meeting place and nothing else, however I'm keen to increase the properly organised meets (which havent really happend for several months), rather than put energy back into promoting the DJ side - which is after all an add-on to the original concept.

These are not really new ideas though are they. Just old ones being churned out yet again. It would be better if you actually made a decision and stuck to it rather than fart arsing about with ideas you've had now for about ..... oooh, I'd say two years.

 

I mean, take a look at the DJ's booking, wasn't there countless arguments about this about a year ago when both you and Maria agreed this was going to be booted. Oh, but yet agin you changed your mind and I was effectively told to fuck off from both of you, more so Maria.

 

With every offence intended this site has gone backwards by about two years, in fact it was a better state then, at least you had decent content, reviews etc. At the moment its nothng more than pap.

 

And members have gone to with no effort made to bring any of them back or get them involved, the ones that were there to provide help you have just basically fucked off and blamed for the downfall of this site. You'd rather just ban them if they say something you dont like.

 

But members leaving was all my fault wasn't it. Oh wait .....

[James]

The main issues have been;

 

1. People getting involved, taking on certain areas and then leaving at the first sign of trouble

2. A huge amount of issues regarding cost and space of CTW servers - this probably put the site back about a year

3. Trying to get to the bottom of the DJ aspect of the site - it being thought of a something positive for the site and the member DJs and good promotion for the site. This actually did end up working very nicely when the list of DJs was streamlined and the list of events streamlined but we then got to a stage whereby nothing new was happening and then of course the departure of Tony who was heading up that side of things due to some members causing him and his girlfriend Lisa an enourmous amount of trouble un-necessarily. Tony had donated a huge amount of his time to the site for free because he backed the site fully 100% but he realised this was taking up a lot of his time for little return and the member attacks on him were the last straw (and I dont blame him). Its precisely this event which has caused me to take the action now - in the hope that in 6 months time or so people like Tony will be back.

4. Myself and others getting threatening emails from people who have a problem with either me, one of the team or the site's concept - even I got to the point whereby I wanted to shut the site down - I later realised that I couldnt let 1 or 2 people spoil what had been created and that it wasnt fair on the real membership to close it down. This distraction again affected the sites development and put it back I'd say a year. Unfortunately to this day the hackers and the source of the threatening emails was never discovered... I was quite shocked that people could hate a concept such as this so much.

 

There are many things being blown out of proportion here. Its amazing how many people are quick to pick up on problems (and often be part of the problem) rather than help out. Finding people to help out who havent got hidden agendas is practially impossible but I will continue to entrust people and find new ways to improve the site. Just recently at least 3 members have offered invaluable input and it will be these types of people who shape the site into what it was originally intended - just a waiting game I guess in terms of finding more and more key people.

 

ps. re: Bannings - I can honestly say you are 100% wrong about this and in fact we only have 5 members who are banned and this was due to multiple accounts ! People who know me and know the background to the site will have no doubt in their mind as to how this site is run and what my intentions are here - its certainly not to waste time arguing and banning people / going on a power trip - these statements continue to amuse me actually.

 

pps. Remember the site is constantly evolving and yes we probably will be 'fart arsing about' for the next 10 years getting the formula correct

[Guest]

QUOTE (Kev @ Sep 2 2004, 10:46)

I was effectively told to fuck off from both of you, more so Maria. wait .....

:S You've lost me ? :S

[James]

Yeah that ^

 

Not once have I ever told someone to leave !

 

However, if people think THAT low of the site then precisely why are you here and why wait until a post like this comes up to post yourself !

 

I'm actually quite confused and yet again constructive threads like this will turn negative so when people have had their say I'll come up with an action plan and we'll discuss this topic further on that thread...

[Guest Jay]

 

I dont think Tony will be back, in my opinion it is a bit embarrassing for him to be linked with this site at the moment.

 

He doesnt want to have promoters whoi book him come on here and see shit like this.

 

i always thought there was a way back for this site, too many people are too fucked off with it now for it to be big again.

 

maybe one day with different people, but who cares about new people??

[James]

Well thank you Jay & Kev for demonstrating that you are clearly not here with the best intentions. There has been a long and running history of comments from you both that make it clear that you 1. have a problem with the site and the people here and 2. not willing to ever help out and 3. quick to pick up on and escalate the problems here to people both online and offline - often the cause of such problems

 

I will not waste any more time discussing how things were / how bad things have become with you two - as you say we are going over old ground ! I'm also not prepared to discuss long running historical debates about the site - it really is time to take action and move on once and for all. If people want to meet up with me and discus ideas then great.

 

Goodbye

[marias mum]

QUOTE (carl nicholson @ Aug 24 2004, 17:48)

[/quote] Dont get on your high horse with me ya muppet! If u wanna talk to me like a fuckin adult then PM me!!!! Not like a snivelling little kid wingeing on a messageboard!! REMEMBER THATS WHY EVERYONE KEEPS LEAVING!!!!! And did u not read the post above i havent been well mate, yeah and thats why i havent been around for the last 6 months!!!! So let me guess who u want to run the DJ side of things, ermmmmmmmmmmmm.........YOU! Remember, YOU DONT LIVE IN ENGLAND!

OI

 

Watch it YOU.............Liam is a fellow countryman of mine apart from being an excellent DJ..................and as he said .............IN HIS OPINION................

So YOU GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE ...........and drink your milk

 

 

 

 

 

P.S

 

I think thats 24 pkts of TAYTO you owe me now Liam

[James]

QUOTE

"half the reason i stopped coming on so much was because i couldn't be arsed with all the shit.. it's something to do for fun in spare time, i didn't see the point in coming on and ending up wound up/annoyed or upset over what was going on/being said etc"

 

Thanks for the email - I think this sums up nicely what the main issue has been here - this is now being addressed properly as we speak

[Claire DC]

Right, well having read all that i feel i have to put in my 2p worth!!

 

Having been a member of clubtheworld for well over 2 years now i've gone from being a moderator and the second highest poster (with over 20,000 posts on the old site) to not even registering on the post count with the new site.. because i can't be arsed with all the shit that goes on in it.

 

I go on a message board to have a laugh and as a nice way to spend my free time, meeting and talking to newer and older members. Not to be bitched at or about, not to have digs made at me and not to go away from the site feeling annoyed, wound up or upset because of constant shit i'm getting or is going on and i think (hope) most people feel the same way, which is why i just can't understand where or why it is all going wrong so often.

 

I took the opportunity of the new site coming into action as a time to 'leave' so to speak.. well not completely leave but to not bother with the site/posting as much because most of the time on the old site i felt i was having to fight my corner at every turn and to be honest, it was getting very tedious aswell as leaving me annoyed after being on here which kinda defeated the reason for me to be coming on here. I'm not gonna mention names here but the older members should know the kind of people i'm talking about when i say this.

 

On the old site i helped as much as i could with anything and everything i could.. i loved the site and enjoyed coming on it for the first 10 months or so of me being a member and loved the regular meet ups in different parts of the country but after a while on the site, people started having little arguments/digs at people which made me slightly less impressed with things as you end up going away from the site being annoyed by things that are happening. It was always petty things like me not being out much, or if i'd said i would be somewhere at a meet up or organised one and then couldn't make it/afford it i'd get digs made at me both on the board and via PM off a certain member when really people shouldn't be made to feel bad because they can't always make it out due to money/other commitments etc. I always felt i had to stay and fight my corner when it happened to me though, because i'd been a member so long and also because others had asked me to stay on the site.

 

I think the problem with clubtheworld comes from lots of little problems all merging into one massive one as bad feeling feeds more bad feeling. For instance one person may have a dig at someone at every opportunity so then there's 2 people not impressed with things.. others see this happening and either join in with making digs/harsh comments or try and stick up for the person who is getting the harshness, and then you have the people who make no comment in the post but are still pissed off with it happening.. which therefore turns from 2 people having a problem with things to any amount of others having a problem with someone/something.. spread this over a few posts each with different people being bitched at/bitching at others and you're looking at MAJOR problems for the site.

 

I have recently been on the site more but not on the forums, mainly playing games actually but this has led to me having a browse of the forums and posting occasionally again in general forums only to be disappointed with the fact that posts like this are still occuring. Like Jay said, this must be the 456387657987 (or whatever) post like this on clubtheworld and to be honest it's a bit off putting to read through it all and see such problems with the site, if i was a new member it wouldn't leave me wanting to stay and post regularly especially as these posts always consist of the same kind of things.. including token arguments/disagreements which kinda defeats the object of having a discussion like this.

 

I mean if people can't even put aside differences/let a comment go instead of retaliating to it/not post a comment that would need retaliation etc, in the hope that this will help the site and make the discussion one that is of any benefit to the site then really.. what is the point at all? I know people are coming up with ideas to make things better on here or offering to help in posts like this, they're either not being followed up and put into action, or theyre not working.

 

So maybe instead of making a post complaining of all the bad things or what can be done to make it better.. you just make the effort to make the site a nicer place for EVERYONE without having to be prompted with these posts that just end up with the same result in general and if anyone has any ideas on how to make things better or wanting to offer to help then maybe to contact James and talk it through with him and let him make a decision regarding it and if need be to post up what IS going to happen as opposed to everyone discussing it and putting their opinions forward and ending up with nothing happening because we can't get everyone to agree or maybe posting a topic in which people can't reply but they can vote for outcomes of things without personal differences and arguments coming into play. At the end of the day.. you're never gonna please everyone with an outcome, but so long as you're pleasing the majority of people then i think you're doing the right thing by the site.

 

As for scrapping general chat, to whoever said that.. what a ridiculous idea!! The whole concept of CTW is to talk to and meet up with new people so to scrap general chat would disable the ability to chat to someone and get to know them before WANTING to meet them.. i know if i didn't chat to people on a site that i'd be less inclined to want to meet them at a club!! Yes it would stop arguments in the general forum but the arguments could spill over into other forums like the meet ups/music forums easily.. depending on if people took the time to go to the meet ups to meet people they'd never spoken to before which i doubt very much to be honest. All other forums have general chat with no problem so it's obviously not the forum causing the problem.. it's the people!!

 

People 'leaving' is inevitable, due to other commitments with work/social life/lack of computer/less time etc etc but to have people leave because of the site itself shouldn't be happening like it is doing and i think this needs to be addressed and sorted, you can't force someone to come back, but you can make it more appealing for them to wana come back and post!!

 

Anyway this has gone on far longer than i'd imagined when i started typing it ( ) and my fingers are starting to get stiff so i'm gonna leave it at that!! If you agree with me, great.. if not then that's your opinion and you're welcome to it, but please don't use it to start an argument and i think that would go for every post made on the site, not just this one.