Morning - I love being here - love the set up - like how you can access the tutorials etc (not that I can actually see myself doing any of them myself - except cleaning the air con filters once Ollie has removed them!!!!!) One thought at this stage - how about a FAQ on how to search the site (might seem a bit basic but its something I found difficult on another similar site when I first joined up)....
Saturday, October 23, 2004 - 04:37 pm, by: Peter (Admin)
Hmm.. my popup filter was stopping me from choosing smileys - something to work on. Do we just have a FAQ explaining to disable pop-up filters? It might be better if I can find a way so it doesn't trigger the filter so easy, though not sure how much fun that might be
Just a note on forum policy, what are your thoughts on "booting" people that piss people off?
A forum really should be somewhere that people can express different opinion freely, but I guess, occasionally people overstep the bounds of "reasonable conduct".
How do you determine where those boundaries are and what action to take? Maybe some form of formal warning system rather than an immediate ban? What happens on forums other than the ALSC? Do people get booted?
What made me mention it was the thread on the ALSC where "Dicko" started attacking Neil Griffiths and his business.
I've noticed occasionally people register just to shit stir. The guy who hammered RH when he was selling his car was a classic example. He seemed to get on there just to try to wind Rob up. Those types you can do without. But there are others that I honestly believe don't realise how they come across on the forum. I guess it's a case of trying to "educate" those.
Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 12:55 am, by: Peter (Admin)
It's always going to be a hard call.
My personal view (not necessarily policy) is that you let it go to a point.
Most times the offending poster will be seen as an idiot, so it won't get them anywhere.
If something get's drawn out however, then action needs to be taken. No point in something just going on and on and on.
Also if something is very offensive, abusive or may get into slander etc, then action has to be taken.
Technical Options we have are: Close the thread so it can't be continued. Delete offending posts. Delete the thread. Suspend the user. Ban the user. Delete the User. or a combination.
As non technical options, we can: Privately warn the user in email. Publicly warn the user. Do a non-specific post reminding people that we would like standards to be maintained. Possibly others.
Overall, I prefer the concept of trying to throw a bucket of water on the fire, and hopefully educate people to gain a good reputation and contribute instead of being negative and nasty.
I have had experience at moderating before, I ran a busy BBS back in the days before the Internet, and learned a lot in that time
Most people will respond to being treated with respect and like an adult. There are always exceptions, I had a user with ADD, just couldn't help himself from attacking people (on screen) no matter what. Didn't matter what you tried, sooner rather than later he would shaft someone else. However, over time other users got to know that it was just how he was, so it was mainly a matter of simple damage control at the time, in those days, shutting him out for 30 minutes until he cooled down. With the forum at least you can delete really offending posts which I couldn't do at the time as it was live chat.
At the end of the day, I think each situation will need to be evaluated, and just take whatever action is needed, but with an explanation both private and public so people know where we and they stand.
Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 01:19 am, by: Peter (Admin)
In the case with Dicko and Neil, unless it gets worse, I would leave it be. The guy is showing himself to be a bit silly, and Neil doesn't need it to look as if he can't defend himself. The other members are also doing their bit - quite responsibly too I might add, doesn't appear that any of them are quite sinking to Dicko's level. (Disclaimer, I haven't read that thread since late afternoon in case it has changed).
And Dicko does have some points. Pretty much all we know about the S/C is that Neil did some very slow runs on the strip because he was having fun and smoking it all the way.
It's also a fair question to ask if it is value for money.
Where he went wrong, is HOW he handled it however.
Same with RH's car. It's understandable to question the price, we all certainly would if a car salesman was trying to sell us a car at way over normal market value.
That no-one wants to see anyone bagging the value of Soarers is beside the point.
Again though, it was a case of how he went about it.
At the end of the day, neither of those threads will have affected anyone's view point of either Neil or RH's car.
In terms of moderation, less = more.
My favourite saying: "The first thing about having power, is learning not to use it"
Very good points. I must admit that, with Neil being a personal friend, I got a bit offended at Dicko's comments. As you say, not so much WHAT was said, but HOW it was said.
As for what we know about the charger, I've driven Neil's car and while it's not stellar in performance (compared to a modded TT for example), it's certainly an improvement over stock. From memory it pulled about 178Kw on the dyno with other mods being a pod filter, extractors and full exhaust system. How many Kw can be attributed to the charger alone, hard to estimate but given 1UZs with BFI, extractors and exhaust pull between 140kw and 147kw you'd estimate roughly 30 to 35.
I think the problem is with expectation. It seems that people, like Dicko for example, feel that by strapping a supercharger to 1UZ they're going to transform the car into a tyre frying 1/4 mile animal. That's simply not realistic, and I don't remember Neil making those sorts of claims. For a start it's dragging PLENTY of weight. Secondly it's only running 5 pounds of boost to maintain reliability.
Whether it's value for money is for individuals to decide for themselves. For $9000 in mods, you'd have a very quick TT. For the same money you get a charger and unichip to get near 200Kw from a 1UZ. While $9000 is certainly a substantial investment, until someone comes up with a viable screw type charger kit running much more boost or a turbo kit for the 1UZ I don't know of another way to get 200rwkw out of a 1UZ.
My feeling is, had Dicko made his point by simply saying he felt the value wasn't there so he's looking elsewhere it wouldn't have been an issue. The derogatory comments were unwarranted. But I guess people have different ways of expressing their opinions and we need to respect that.
I think you're right in the approach you recommended. It'd be interesting to see Dicko's response were he allowed to continue, particularly given everyone's replys. Whether he'd simply spit the dummy, or decide to consider his comments and pull his head in.
I think those moderating views are broad and sensible, exceptional sense of alternate arguments. The experience shows Peter
A lot depends on who is moderating and their sensibilities. Perhaps a moderating policy may be to run it by another moderator before any action is taken. Must be hard at times to look at an argument objectively, when personal opinion enters into it.
The 'cool off' period is a good one... a 24 hour lock out hahahah like it. What do they call that in sport... the 'sin bin' hahah.
Dunno about you guys... Some of the pics in the Sexpo thread were getting a bit rich for me... need some guide lines on graphic content since I note boys will be boys and get carried away hehehe. Lisa made the point when she said her parents could have walked in and thought she was in a porn site. Would like to think I'm not prudish, but there is a line between what is just a bit of good fun... and what it boarding on porn.
Hi guys. Sorry I haven't been on here for a few days but got a lot on my plate work and home wise (comes with having a young-un I suppose) at the moment plus trying to get two cars ready for the East Coaster.
I've put together a bit of a list of useful websites that we could link to. Was thinking of something along the lines of:
"The Library" - Incorporating reviews and general articles on Soarers and SC300/400s. Have found about a dozen reviews on the web of various models. Also have quite a number of articles in various High Performance Import magazines. Don't know what the go would be re getting permission to scan and display them on the site or whether you want to take a punt on just doing it. Copyright can be a tricky thing though. I might try to capture and save locally the reviews that I've found to date in case the websites disappear down the track. Would be interesting stuff to have copies of.
"Parts and Service - As the title suggests, a list of (and links to) those parts suppliers and Soarer repairers/maintainers that we know to be reasonably reliable.
"Forums" - Again, as the name suggests, a list of (and links to) Soarer and SC300/400 forums in Australia, the UK and US.
"Government" - Links to various parts of the DOTARS website with relevant info like recent changes to rules re aircon and seatbelts in Soarers, general RAWS info, finding a RAWS compliance shop etc.
I'm not too confident when it comes to modifying things on here so I'd feel more comfortable if one of you guys wanted to incorporate the stuff I found. I've saved it all in an Excel spreadsheet. Just yell and I'll forward it.
Lastly, the more I use this skin the more I'm thinking maybe the original one could be the go. I find, as Daina said, it's easier to indentify the poster of a message quickly with the other skin. Maybe it's the familiarity thing for me too. I'm not sure. Cheers.
If we have a "Memorabillia" type topic I can provide some pics of some Soarer model kits or Hot Wheels models that are available on Ebay or elsewhere if you like.
I'm getting into collecting these suckers for myself. Have about half a dozen different Hot Wheels SC400s so far and 7 different 30 series Soarer model kits. Could also post some pics of other Soarer stuff that's available around the world just as a general interest thing. A lot of people have no idea what's out there.
Just figured it's something that doesn't seem to have been covered much on other Soarer sites and would provide something unique. Likewise with the various Soarer/SC400 review links I sent you.
I agree with your thoughts Pete as far as making this site a "one stop shop" as far as Soarer info goes. There's no doubt that while most things have been covered on assorted sites it's a pain having to go from site to site looking for what you're after. If we can get permission from the various sites to host it all here it would make life substantially easier for people, knowing that it's all in one spot.
The biggest drawback will obviously be the fact that it'll be a huge amount of data to manage but once it's here and organised that should reduce the workload substantially. Obviously the initial collection and professional presentation will generate the most work.
Oh, and I've just purchased from a guy on Ebay, the original sales brochures for the 1996 and on UZZ31 and the same for the UZZ32. Missed out of the 1991-96 UZZ31 brochure (SPEWING!!!). If you like, when they get here I could scan them in and we could display them on here. Can't see there being an issue copyright wise seeing the cars are no longer available new and neither are the brochures. I think any Soarer literature that we could legitimately make available would be useful. Much like the pics from these brochures that Pete put up on Planet Soarer. Unfortunately the text will be in Japanese though. What do you guys think? I'm trying to get my hands on more of this kind of stuff as we speak.
Previous
- just signed up from the UK - usually based on the TIF site there
