Lud, I have no interest in setting up an "anti-NSXPRIME forum." That was a facetious comment and I personally have nothing but appreciation for nsxprime, your efforts and the community. The "smiley face" following that comment was intended to show that I was facetious, but jokes don't always come across well on forums. Please be assured that I do not harbor any negative feelings or have any intent to cause "harm" to nsxprime.
Thank you for clearing that up. It upsets me when a long-time NSX owner and member of the site seems pissed off at me for just trying to run the site the best way I can. I am glad to know I was simply misunderstanding the real intention behind your posts.
And you are right, communication often does not come across well on the Internet. See below for a perfect example...
What I was greatly dissapointed and still am that I received a "demerit" for posting a 2nd ammendment thread. I've never heard of something like that and feel I received it because of my critcism of certain failed ( though not all..) liberal policies and philosophies
I'm not sure if you are talking in past or present tense here. If you still feel that way, I am truly puzzled as I thought I had explained it pretty clearly above. Either way, it seems to be human nature.
Here is another perfect example:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113759 (Incidentally, the person who was suspended in that incident was clearly anti-republican.. I must not be doing a very good job of singling one side out for biased treatment.)
Anyway, ultimately, it is your forum, and you can do what you please. My gut is that political forums, although heated, do bring traffic to the site and thus revenue for you, so if it was me, I'd be encouraging them
.. but that's just me
My goal is not to increase site traffic. I've done plenty of things to actively reduce traffic and keep the site very NSX-focused instead of expanding it to include more and more topics. Expansion has been almost entirely NSX-related.
Sites with heavy ad content may generate more revenue than expenses with additional traffic, but I am currently running this site in the red and need to upgrade to a more powerful server due to existing traffic. But I don't like sites with excessive advertising like the underlined words that pop up a little ad box when you hover over them, etc. that many forums use to generate that additional revenue. So I don't use that here.
I've also completely stopped accepting sponsors because I grew weary of the ridiculous nonsense people were spouting off about how I "protect" vendors since they pay me (even though I never received a dollar from any of the vendors I was supposedly protecting.. people who are all worked up about something rarely let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory).
So at this point, more traffic just means:
1. More time needed to moderate threads or intervene in petty disputes
2. More people who need technical help with the site (lost my password, can't register, didn't get activation link, can't figure out how to use something on the site, etc.)
3. Costs increase faster than revenue
4. More things to distract from the focus of the site, which is the NSX
Thus, increasing traffic is not really my goal.
While I'll do my best not to be inflamatory, I plan to continue to post on political forums my personal opinion with few punches pulled for stupid politicians. I also want to be able to start threads for issues I feel strong about (particularly 2nd ammendment) and not get them deleted.
As long as it is respectful, that is fine here for the time being. As you can see from another thread in this section, I am on the fence about whether to continue to allow any political discussion here or not. But please respect that this site does not exist for the purpose of serving as an electronic soapbox on political issues; it exists for NSX owners and enthusiasts to share everything NSX. What I view as an increasing lack of respect for that fact is one of the main drivers pushing me toward banning political discussion here after all these years.
However, I
strongly encourage you and anyone else who feels so inclined to engage in ongoing political discussion and even vigorous debate in the appropriate venues, and to become involved in the political process. If 2nd Amendment rights are a big focus for you now, join the NRA and become active. That is the great thing about this country.
