Community Stories

State of the forum

dsio
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Caliber561 Caliber561
I haven't been here super long, but to me, there has always seemed to be some modicum of drama present on the forum. There are snarky replies and arguments, but those are always present to some degree anywhere discussions take place.

That said, is it possible more members are becoming jaded with newbies asking for an appraisal without posting pictures, etc? Is it possible that there are more newbies joining with less of an understanding of our forum's etiquette as Omega – and watches – seem to get more popular? There's really no way to know unless we have the numbers, but that's not to say your observations are invalid.

Regarding that last part there’s this great story that gets told every year or two that “back in the old days we didn’t have newbies coming here for appraisals and leaving” and it always makes me roll my eyes because we first saw it in 2012 and it was completely false then and is false today. In the earliest days of this site, over a decade ago the one defining difference we had over timezone was that they banned all discussion of prices and we didn’t, so we were the place people could come for that. We helped those people and many of them left and never came back but a small percentage stayed and a small percentage were interested in the watches discussed and were helped by those old threads when they found them so they stayed and joined the discussion.
 
dsio
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These are the oldest threads on the vintage omega topic and they’re all newbies asking for identification and / or pricing. For several years this is all we had, and we have less of it now than ever before just because there are more other topics now than ever before. This is early 2011!

33D334EA-1FD3-454B-9AAE-35ABDD4FDA67.jpeg
 
Walrus
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
The squirrel seems to be a defining person. Either you were a member with the squirrel or you came after. Kindof like the Berlin wall, when it was up and after it was torn down. Or before the moon landing then after. Or something like that.

Sadly I am post-Squirrel and feel like a kid staying up late to listen in on the parents and their friends talk about the good old days with their friends whenever the squirrel is mentioned.

Not complaining or implying anything other than to say I admire the enduring relationships of the Squirrel era members.
But things always change. People come and go. Damn I hate to tell you how long i was on a boxing forum. I still visit. Carl Bernstein, who is an excellent boxing announcer was a member for a while along with a few pro boxers who would stop by. There were members who kind of “set the tone” and just disappeared, one we found out unfortunately passed away which was very sad as he was a great guy and incredibly knowledgeable. Every single boxing forum did a little memorial to him. I’m not familiar with the squirrel gentleman just heard his name mentioned. This place seems OK to me, if we want to find reasons not to like something we always will. People coming and going, that’s life, sad part of it often. I’ve met plenty of very decent people here, much more so than any negative encounters but it’s probably not realistic to think any groupings of humanity will be without conflict or there will not be personalities that don’t clash I don’t think that’s so much the forum it’s just a microcosm of the world, town, neighborhood, RNC, DNC etc.
 
MTROIS
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I will echo what most have already stated before:
- overall the OF is a very civil place, made of very knowledgeable members who are really willing to help anybody, whether a newbie (who has shown a deliberate effort at finding the answer to their question) or the more expert ones;
- mods are doing a fantastic job at keeping things on track, even if sometimes there is a slight lack of consistency in their approaches (which is to be somewhat expected as we are all humans).

On the other hand, the piece I think could be slightly improved based on some recent threads that were either derailed by the same few offenders, or that blew up because someone had a breakdown would be to:
- take care of the offenders by (temporarily) suspending their rights, rather than deleting the complete thread,
- and, similarly, when someone shows poor behavior in a thread, that thread should indeed be locked, but, again, not deleted so as to not remove the history of what has happened, regardless of the level of seniority of said member. Otherwise, what is really the message conveyed to other members?

Again, I am a very strong supporter of OF and truly enjoy the place on a daily basis (or thereof), but some minor improvements are possible here and there.
 
Tony C.
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MTROIS MTROIS
On the other hand, the piece I think could be slightly improved based on some recent threads that were either derailed by the same few offenders, or that blew up because someone had a breakdown would be to:
- take care of the offenders by (temporarily) suspending their rights, rather than deleting the complete thread,
- and, similarly, when someone shows poor behavior in a thread, that thread should indeed be locked, but, again, not deleted so as to not remove the history of what has happened, regardless of the level of seniority of said member. Otherwise, what is really the message conveyed to other members?

So, do you consider it to be "poor behavior" to point out that an existing post contains dubious or false information, and to back up the assertion with facts? Because that it precisely what occurred on one of the threads that was deleted today.

Who, exactly, was the "offender" in that case?

I'm not suggesting that the Mods weren't correct to take action, but it's overly simplistic to suggest that it is simply a matter of punishing individual offenders. I have been involved in a few threads that have been moderated, but not once did I simply arrive and post something provocative out of the blue. In every instance that I can recall, I responded to a previous post that I found to be dubious, and invariably backed up my positions with facts.

In other words, there is plenty of grey area, and I believe that the Mods do a very good job of taking appropriate actions when warranted, and without being heavy-handed.
 
MTROIS
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Tony C. Tony C.
So, do you consider it to be "poor behavior" to point out that an existing post contains dubious or false information, and to back up the assertion with facts? Because that it precisely what occurred on one of the threads that was deleted today.

Who, exactly, was the "offender" in that case?

I'm not suggesting that the Mods weren't correct to take action, but it's overly simplistic to suggest that it is simply a matter of punishing individual offenders. I have been involved in a few threads that have been moderated, but not once did I simply arrive and post something provocative out of the blue. In every instance that I can recall, I responded to a previous post that I found to be dubious, and invariably backed up my positions with facts.

In other words, there is plenty of grey area, and I believe that the Mods do a very good job of taking appropriate actions when warranted, and without being heavy-handed.
I have no clue about today's example of a thread that was deleted (and it seems appropriate if it contained incorrect/misleading info), and yes, OF COURSE there is always a spectrum of grays, and not just B&W. Duh!

On the other hand, you have been pretty prone to derail threads with some completely unrelated discussions such as, e.g., the state of the US military budget in the thread I had opened to ask suggestions on how to live a life that is more respectful for the environment and this planet.

Several times did the mods clean it up, but of course, you could not just give it up and had to "educate" everybody with your $0.02 economics theories and "facts" whenever it was outside of the scope of the thread. And BTW, claiming a "they started first" does not make it right on your side.

So, yeah, not cool, and an example where the bunch was spoiled by a few...
 
TimeODanaos
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I feel I should somehow get given back the time I spent reading or contributing to a deleted thread. Not sure how that gets done though.
 
Tony C.
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MTROIS MTROIS
On the other hand, you have been pretty prone to derail threads with some completely unrelated discussions such as, e.g., the state of the US military budget in the thread I had opened to ask suggestions on how to live a life that is more respectful for the environment and this planet.

Sorry, but it is ridiculous to suggest that the budget of an organization that, according to a 2019 study by Lancaster University, "is one of the largest climate polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalent) than most countries", was somehow unrelated to the topic of that thread.
 
MTROIS
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Tony C. Tony C.
Sorry, but it is ridiculous to suggest that the budget of an organization that, according to a 2019 study by Lancaster University, "is one of the largest climate polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalent) than most countries", was somehow unrelated to the topic of that thread.
See... you can not help yourself! 🤦

And for the records, this topic of budget, etc. is INDEED absolutely out of the scope of a thread that was simply asking for TANGIBLE, DAY TO DAY Solutions to living a greener life.

Obviously, this is too simple for you, so I will let you go back to your theses and wish you a great night! 👍
 
Tony C.
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MTROIS MTROIS
And for the records, this topic of budget, etc. is INDEED absolutely out of the scope of a thread that was simply asking for TANGIBLE, DAY TO DAY Solutions to living a greener life.

Actually, I would consider woking to decrease military funding to be a very useful form of "tangible" action.
Edited:
 
sdre
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Tony C. Tony C.
So, do you consider it to be "poor behavior" to point out that an existing post contains dubious or false information, and to back up the assertion with facts? Because that it precisely what occurred on one of the threads that was deleted today.

Who, exactly, was the "offender" in that case?

I'm not suggesting that the Mods weren't correct to take action, but it's overly simplistic to suggest that it is simply a matter of punishing individual offenders. I have been involved in a few threads that have been moderated, but not once did I simply arrive and post something provocative out of the blue. In every instance that I can recall, I responded to a previous post that I found to be dubious, and invariably backed up my positions with facts.

In other words, there is plenty of grey area, and I believe that the Mods do a very good job of taking appropriate actions when warranted, and without being heavy-handed.

I thought it to be common knowledge or agreement that we are allowed to post questions/confirmation of authenticity or vetting of a watch on a sales post on the forum? (was that the post that was deleted?)

Anyways, I think the forum has changed quite abit and there were numerous threads that were closed regarding certain watches under scrutiny and it suggested that either dealers were complaining to mods/owners of the forums that what we discussed and shared might come to light and de-value the watch or that folks with a vested interest had some form of influence over the forum.

(anyone remember the ultraman debate?? lol)

I had always thought OF to be fairly objective but it is what it is.
 
Dan S
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
I feel I should somehow get given back the time I spent reading or contributing to a deleted thread. Not sure how that gets done though.

At the very least you should be reimbursed for your lost "likes". 😁
 
pdxleaf
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Tony C. Tony C.
Actually, I would consider woking to decrease military funding to be a very useful form of "tangible" action.

Having strong opinions is a sign that a person cares, is thoughtful and alive. Having the same opinions as everyone else is boring. So when there are bright and engaged people we can expect strong feelings and disagreements.

In other situations, that might be the end of it. But here, we are all watch nerds. We share an interest that not everyone understands. It is strong enough to keep us interacting when some of these same topics have broken apart families. That is some powerful mojo.

I'd like to think that if we were all together in person at a party we could strongly disagree, poke each other in the chest, and be the best of friends because even though we disagree, we respect each other and know that we share something other people do not understand.
 
Willi
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dsio dsio
telling people who repeatedly start it here to take it to Facebook which is where they really belongs
I just snorted coffee out my nose. Just thought you’d like to know 😁
 
Willi
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DoctorEvil DoctorEvil
Just want to thank everyone for making this forum mostly fun and enjoyable. It's been a great outlet for me this past year, what with this pandemic and lockdowns etc. And thanks to the administrators and mods for supporting this platform.

You summed this up perfectly. Ditto
 
SkunkPrince
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dsio dsio
the one defining difference we had over timezone

One of the others is that the Timezone forum was all "look at me, I'm rich, I bought these three watches today!" and the resident droolers would pile on with "nice watch!".

Bah.

This forum is at least more honest when necessary, and shows restraint when necessary. I'm not interested in a suckup. If you can't tell it to me straight (and a lot of you do, bless you), then I'm in the wrong place.
 
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