CLC Forum and my thoughts

[Derek Sherwood]

I had a long (1 hour or so) conversation with Barry Wheeler about this last summer on the phone.

He listened and was respectful, even acknowledged that he is a member of other forums, some of which use names and some of which don't.

He was the member that someone did a "sample test" on of how easy it is to find information.  They posted all kinds of things about him that were found simply by using his name as it was required to be posted on the forum.  Bad taste?  Perhaps.  But it proved the point that so many people here who argue in favor of the name rule seem to ignore.  It's very simple to find people with their real names.

In the end he basically said that the club had decided to stand by their rule.  Which is fine, but which also means, I don't post here anymore, unless there is some pressing interest.  I prefer to go to one of the other 10+ forums that I am a member of - hunting, shooting, model building, history, etc. - which do not require me to use my real name, but don't seem to have problems with spammers or other issues. 

As to the people who think that the forum should be limited to paying members - what a narrow-minded viewpoint.  I started visiting the CLC forum in college back in @ 1998.  This was before I could ever afford an old Cadillac, or even a membership, working part-time and buying books, paying tuition, etc.  I wasn't a paying member until 2000 or 2001, when I had graduated and was working full time.  I paid my dues until about 2004, when previous forum issues pushed me away, and I left.  I started coming back this year, as I had a few parts requests from friends who wanted me to source some things for them.  Then I got involved in these ongoing real name issues and the heavy-handed moderation that surrounds them.  I remember I had a post pulled the day my son was born.  I was in the hospital with my fiancee and son and got an email that my post had been removed because I had left part of my email address out, or something.

No matter what anyone says the "benefits" of the club are, for a lot of people, the Self-Starter and the Forum are the only interaction with the club that we have time or money to pursue.  I've owned probably 6-7 old Cadillacs, but don't own any right now, and probably won't again for a long time, because of the cost and storage issues.  I wrote a few articles for the Self-Starter that got published, but at the time, my interests were late 60s-early 80s cars, and most of the focus was on 30s and 40s cars, so I wasn't getting much out of the magazine. 

When the forum or magazine aren't meeting our needs, those of us who are casual members drift away and spend our money and time elsewhere.

Building a wall around any community rarely serves to keep the riff-raff out, but generally is great at keeping everyone else IN, stifling the flow of new ideas and opinions.

[weephee]

Maybe this is a crazy idea but my feeling is that a paying member has more rights and privileges than a non-paying member and since this is a rather contraversal issue why not ask paid up members to vote on the name policy.   Majority rules.   If you don't vote, don't complain.   Sounds more democratic to me than having one or two moderators making major polcy decisions.   As to the logistics of having a vote, surely the moderators can figure that out.   
Larry McPhee

[Derek J. Sherwood]

My understanding is that it was a board/president decision.  Dues paying members didn't really have any choice but to try to influence the board.

[bill refakis]

GM has no problem with names,the blown up 6.2 CHEVROLET engine in my 08 CADILLAC ESCALADE is one example!

[ship]

My understanding is that at the National BOD meeting recently held in Quincy, MA the name topic came up and it was agreed upon/voted on by those present (including many regular members) to continue to require full name.

As for requiring auto club membership to access a particular forum....I belong to five other forums and none of them require the participant to be a club member (i.e. AACA, Buick Forum, Riviera Performance Forum, ROA-Rivlist Forum, Cadillac Owners Forum).
Dave Shipman

[R Schroeder]

I have a question.
I noticed in the for sale section that many sellers and lookers dont use a name. Is it different for this area ?
This is getting confusing .
Roy

[AHBrown]

Seems to me the biggest problem with this forum is the people that have nothing else to do but complain about the forum itself.