Gary Mc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
The recent & ongoing thread “FS Lobdell Horizontal Springs men's seat” prompted me to write this. It is just the latest in an ongoing trend I see on the “Sell Trade” forum, where it is just ugly. I don’t know why but when a seller doesn’t conform to the rules it is invariably going to end up in a 7-8 page thread of just pure UGLY, no other way to say it. I refused to post on that thread and here are my thoughts on why and things we need to keep in mind.
This thread had it all:
This was just the latest in a trend I’ve been seeing on these threads, if it were the first, second, third, etc. (you get the idea) I’d keep this to myself.
Guys & Girls, we need to keep in mind we are LUCKY. Scott provides one of the best forums around we all use free of charge. He has very few rules and has been very democratic in setting those rules he has chosen to add usually at our urging. We pay NO FEES for the CABE or to buy & sell on the CABE. When he weighed in I thought the thread would die but no we established CABE members kept it going.
We have had newbies come & go in a hurry due to threads like this. I see way too many threads turning negative even not in the sell trade forum and it seems to me it is getting worse. I know of many people who love antique bikes who will not come on the CABE due to the negativity they see at times. They view US as negative, unfortunately they come on the site & see a few posts like this and are turned off to US. There are RRBers who love antique bikes but WE turned them off rather than help educate them about the bikes they too love.
Maybe I am different, maybe I have a take most here don’t agree with, but I see the CABE as a place WE, particularly the 50 or so of US who are always on & posting need to:
We do all these things well most of the time but there are some things we don’t do so well in my eyes, these are my opinions.
Again we have a great site provided free of charge by Scott so we are a lucky group but there are some things we established members can do better. I did not want to write this but felt compelled due to a trend I am seeing that is in my eyes ruining a great site we are lucky to have. I am NOT the CABE police either but as I feel an established member, I am concerned. Feel free to blast away at me, I have a thick skin. I probably will not reply back as I’ve now had my say but needed to get this off my chest and not in someone else’s thread. Love all my fellow CABE members but feel we need to lower the negativity level I am seeing lately.
This thread had it all:
- A seller who refuses to follow / thinks he is above the rules
- A seller who chose to go ugly
- Established CABE members who view themselves as the CABE police
- Established CABE members who got into pissing matches airing their own dirty laundry
- Established CABE members going at each other way over the line
- Established CABE members “attempting” humor keeping an ugly thread alive
- Established CABE members with some well said posts all in all but in the end just keeping an UGLY thread going
This was just the latest in a trend I’ve been seeing on these threads, if it were the first, second, third, etc. (you get the idea) I’d keep this to myself.
Guys & Girls, we need to keep in mind we are LUCKY. Scott provides one of the best forums around we all use free of charge. He has very few rules and has been very democratic in setting those rules he has chosen to add usually at our urging. We pay NO FEES for the CABE or to buy & sell on the CABE. When he weighed in I thought the thread would die but no we established CABE members kept it going.
We have had newbies come & go in a hurry due to threads like this. I see way too many threads turning negative even not in the sell trade forum and it seems to me it is getting worse. I know of many people who love antique bikes who will not come on the CABE due to the negativity they see at times. They view US as negative, unfortunately they come on the site & see a few posts like this and are turned off to US. There are RRBers who love antique bikes but WE turned them off rather than help educate them about the bikes they too love.
Maybe I am different, maybe I have a take most here don’t agree with, but I see the CABE as a place WE, particularly the 50 or so of US who are always on & posting need to:
- Help each other out and help newbies to the site out
- Help educate each other & newbies
- Use this as a place to showcase our pride & joy bicycles and bike memorabilia including builds & restorations or original finds
- Bring out items people have never seen that may be 50 to 150 years old
- Showcase the rides, events, shows, & swaps taking place
- Bring new people who are interested in old bikes into the hobby whether their interest lies in rides, show, restorations, educating themselves, etc.
- And yes Buy & sell
- Etc, you get the point
We do all these things well most of the time but there are some things we don’t do so well in my eyes, these are my opinions.
- View ourselves as the CABE police, we members are NOT, there are moderators to do this. We do need to gently remind sellers they need price & location. If they do not conform, turn it over to a moderator, end of story. Let it drop. It’s up to the moderators to end that sell trade thread, not members. This can keep these unending threads to a single page, not 7 or more pages of UGLY which invariably seems to happen.
- Follow the “Sell-Trade” rules OURSELVES which means keep Items 7-9 in mind. They are:
7- No hijacking items for sale. Make your own post.
8- Keep negative comments to yourself as far as the item goes.
9- Watch your language. This a G rated site.
It is unbelievable to me we blast someone for not following rules 2-3 in particular (2-Prices required. The majority has spoken. We want to see prices of items. You know what you want for a given item. Tell us, we want to know as well.; 3-Location required. We want to know where the item is. This is pretty easy. You can put your location in your profile under settings.) and then I see people break rules 7-9. It then becomes a case of who is NOT following the rules?
8- Keep negative comments to yourself as far as the item goes.
9- Watch your language. This a G rated site.
It is unbelievable to me we blast someone for not following rules 2-3 in particular (2-Prices required. The majority has spoken. We want to see prices of items. You know what you want for a given item. Tell us, we want to know as well.; 3-Location required. We want to know where the item is. This is pretty easy. You can put your location in your profile under settings.) and then I see people break rules 7-9. It then becomes a case of who is NOT following the rules?
- Follow Rule 9- Watch your language. This a G rated site. – Guys keep in mind we have children who are members and non-member children coming on the site who love old bikes so keep the language G rated.
- Again, Follow Rule 9- This a G rated site. – Scott asked nicely in ballontyre’s thread “babes and bicycles” thread to not put nudity on the site. Let’s please comply with this. Again, guys keep in mind we have children who are members and non-member children who love old bikes coming on the site so keep the content G rated or at least PG.
- USE THE PM FEATURE - Quit airing so much dirty laundry, there are people hear who obviously don't like each other. Use the PM feature if you are unhappy with each other. Many of us do NOT want to see your grievances with each other, they are obvious, we get it, but keep it between the two of you, not putting it out there for all to see.
Again we have a great site provided free of charge by Scott so we are a lucky group but there are some things we established members can do better. I did not want to write this but felt compelled due to a trend I am seeing that is in my eyes ruining a great site we are lucky to have. I am NOT the CABE police either but as I feel an established member, I am concerned. Feel free to blast away at me, I have a thick skin. I probably will not reply back as I’ve now had my say but needed to get this off my chest and not in someone else’s thread. Love all my fellow CABE members but feel we need to lower the negativity level I am seeing lately.
