My take on the whole deal..... NAM is.... And it's not going away. It has critical mass, it has a ton of usefull information accrued, and for many, it's still a usefull place to go. commercially, it's a great place to be. They have more member, more people who have cars that are at the start of the modification process, and that leads to more revenue for the vendors. As far as taking the time to actually post complaints about NAM, what's the point? And it actually has a negative side effect. Here are my thoughts on that... First off, there's the standard "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..." Then there's the "if you don't like it, why give it the time to comment on it?" And here's the downside. The perpetual flinging of craap at NAM, and listing how some enjoy what amounts to some sort of internet monkey wrenching, from here gives ample ammo for those that don't want to allow references to M/A on NAM. So this perpetuates the chasm. Far as I see it, this is actually counter to MA interests in that the block of MA links means that MA gets less exposure on NAM than if there were no block. So venting here is a bit of a pyrric victory. Anyway, I post links to NAM when I think there are items of value there. I'd like to be able to do the converse. I can't now, and that's too bad for those that could gain some knowledge and with some added exposure to MA to boot. In my perfect world, those that had a NAM axe to grind would just keep thier thoughts to themselves, so that whatever bad history is there could fade from the collective conciousness, and the ban on NAM of M/A references could go the way of the Dodo. As for myself, I feel a bit like Harry Potter. I say "NAM" not "the sewing site".... I think that reference is a little amusing, a bit more juvenile, and definatly counter productive. So anyway, I've had a very open discussion over on NAM via PMs with the braintrust there. They have thier reasons for doing what they do. I don't really agree with them but then, it's not my site. I just thought I'd share my thoughts with those here to see if maybe some may reconsider thier posting behaviour. Or not. Matt
Matt, you're spot on! Although difficult to keep from jumping on the bashing wagon, I'm mending my ways. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Scheisse Now I admit I've been off the forums for a year in my relatively brief MINIless period, but man, reading all this, I had it GOOD. Somehow I was oblivious to all the batchit crazy going on over there. I searched for data, i browsed the marketplace, I greeted new members, and when the flamers and trolls got going I would drop the topics, just like any other forum*. I will say this: I was active in the MINI Mavericks group here in the bay area during my first MINI years, not only for the runs, but the forum they built as well, and much like MA, the reason was chiefly that it was a return to a smaller, more respectful community that actually helped newbs rather than chastised them over the search function or their preference for this bonnet strop over that. It's the classic problem with any site that grows too large to effectively manage: the mob rules, and all mobs are ugly. *I host a message board connected to my comic illustration site that hosts a weekly art jam and lots of miscellaneous BS but my goal there is to foment artists to feel comfortable expressing themselves at various skill levels with an emphasis on encouragement not competition. As a result of that, and it being my privately owned site, I have a zero tolerance for trolls and jackasses. The user count is low relative to big forums like the car stuff, but what it IS is a no BS, friendly board. I imagine this is quite difficult as membership gets big, of course... I'm totally ignorant of the politricks that led Nathan to create MA but personally, glad he did. I completely support privately-owned and moderated communities over leviathans.
Thanks Nathan for giving us a forum where frustrations can be vented and discussions can take place on everything from local events to future designs in work.
This came up today Advisory provided by Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic page for northamericanmotoring.com What is the current listing status for northamericanmotoring.com? Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer. Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days. What happened when Google visited this site? Of the 721 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 9 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-10-10, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-10-10. Malicious software includes 3 exploit(s). Malicious software is hosted on 6 domain(s), including 4safe.in/, overskka.co.cc/, isteemps.co.cc/. 3 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including crabbeyroad.com/, 4safe.in/, isteemps.co.cc/. This site was hosted on 2 network(s) including AS13897 (CDC1), AS25973 (MZIMA).
I am unable to get on NAM too. Bummer because thats where our club information is..so now I don't know whats up! And very well said Matt.
OK.....just found out that you can not even put a working link to MA in a PM on NAM. Are we that big of a problem that they have to censor even the PM's? WOW
Amazing!! They must do that cause they are shaking in their boots!! I'm assuming the system that pulls out the link is automated....but to think that the PM's are filtered too!!:crazy: The plot thickens!!ut:
Sir Francis Bacon said "knowledge is power" Click on the picture for the link its off MA so it should be safe for a day or two from Motor On :devil:
There is a customizable censored word function that will turn the selected word or phrase into a group of ***'s no matter if the phrase is used in a post or PM. Motoringalliance is censored on nam but the individual words are not. However if one tries to use just the words and certain moderators see it one will earn an infraction. Also if one uses a service such as tiny url and is caught they will issue an infraction. I'm kinda flattered they feel this lil site is such a threat.
At one time I would have cared about the infraction. Key words would have, I spend little to no time on NAM since they started playing moderator war games.
Ever since I posted a link to MA several months ago I have been on monitored posting, even though I didn't receive an infraction and have not been informed that I am being monitored. The delay in posts is really annoying, when they finally show they are already lost in the threads. I recently sent a message to the admins questioning the delay and assumed monitoring of my posts and have yet to receive a response. Friendly guys over there.
After reading this, I can see that a lot of the people are from the old NAM. Glad to be back with you guys =). I've gone silent for the last few years. Synthia still only has 9k on her dial. Taking her out this weekend for some curvies, if anyone is up in san luis obispo this weekend =)