Goodbye Everyone

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cobarcats
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Cobarcats said:
It's with much regret that I'm leaving the forum.
A handful of members on here have broken me. They use vpn's and keep coming back posting #orn pm's to me and others cause me grief.
I've sent kul an email to remove my membership.
My health is in a dire position just weeks after brain surgery, I'm still in bed and finding I can't cope with agitators who's only agenda is to aggravate me. Today I snapped, I have no regrets though.
I am going to miss so many great friends on here that I've formed a close bond with and I pray they will be happy and healthy moving forward.
I will pm all my friends before I leave.
I had no other desire than to do the best I could for the forum members.
It's sad for me personally that it's come to this but with limited time left on this earth I don't want to spend it deleting whinging, obscene or disrespectful posts and getting upset all the time.
Thankyou to all the 99% of great members who were a joy to interact with, you are true champions.
I'll read the forum jokes thread in the future for sure as a guest.
Go the Wests Tigers. Black, Gold and White.
All the best,
Cobarcats.
Click to expand...
Wish you a quick recovery, Godspeed 💪
 
Hi mate.
I really thank you for your concern with my health and genuine offer to be of any help you could be.
We’ve both been through hell and it’s horrible to hear you’re still not in a good place.
I can only wish you the best and tell you that I think you are a champion.
Don’t let the scum get you down mate.
Love to my Tiger brother.
PM me if you’d like to have a chat.
 
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It’s extremely poor form that someone who obviously loved this forum and who has been working hard to enable most of us to enjoy this place could be treated so badly that they now feel that they must leave. There is absolutely no place for unnecessary rudeness and disrespect especially when you’re hiding behind a keyboard!
I am sorry that you are not well CC, i hope that you can take some time out and return to good health soon. All the very best wishes.
 
I was deeply saddened this morning to receive a request from Cobar to have his account removed due to feeling broken. First and most importantly I’ve offered my own personal support to Cobar in this stressful time for him and above all wish him a speedy recovery and quick health as we await his return.

This episode demonstrates that we’re not a community of avatars, but actually real people with real lives. The keyboard gives people anonymity and the power to forget their problems and interact with likeminded fans of their favourite sports team. Sadly people also forget that we are all real people too (well, maybe there are a few bots!) and when you make a comment, send a PM or do an action, you’re affecting a real person. The vast majority of us understand and respect this, but for those times where things slip through, that’s where we have mods.

The mods now have a vastly broader range of tools at their disposal, certainly more that previous years. Overall, I’ve received overwhelming positive feedback from across the userbase on the “new” mod team. There has been some criticism and behind the scenes I’ve tried to offer advice on how things can be improved. Cobar has done an excellent job in organising and ‘jazzing’ up the subforums and I know everyone appreciates his effort.

It's not all rosy though and there have been several complaints of over-moderation which I’ve personally been working to address. While I’ve no doubt that the intention was good, yesterday’s bulk deletion of posts and banning of people who criticised it was neither required or acceptable.
I cannot be here to read every single post, all hours of the day, seven days a week. I certainly don’t expect that of the mods, nor have I ever asked them to do that. My opinion has always been that mods should act quietly, tidying up topics/threads only where needed and actioning any issues reported by the collective community through the report tool, thus effectively having community-lead moderation. On the whole most people seem to agree and prefer this approach too.

The fact is that some people may have different opinions to you. Sometimes those different opinions may be uncomfortable for you. Part of being a diverse community who all passionately support the same team means that people will clash, but this is where it is your responsibility to act like an adult. For the entirety of this forum’s existence it has been policy that people are entitled to express their opinions as long as it is not illegal or offensive. I will not be here to hold your hand and give you a tissue because you got into an argument with someone on the internet. At the same time, I will not ban people because they have a view or opinion on the team that may be unpopular, but I will not hesitate to ban a blatantly offensive person or someone who is demonstrably antisocial.

Remember: if you post your opinion on a public forum you are inviting others to make comment on it.

Moderators shouldn’t have to deal with childish bickering and users are totally turned off by it. No one cares if you win a fight on the internet. Unfortunately most of the issues arise from people forgetting that they posting on a public forum where – I hate to say it – your opinion is equally as valued and valid as it is unvalued and invalid. In my opinion the Moderators do a fantastic job in keeping trash away (you don’t see the bulk of the work they do behind the scenes).

I note some comments made above regarding me removing willow as a Moderator. As you know, after many years of being a dedicated mod, I released Willow from the role.

Towards the end of that period I was being inundated with complaints, pleas and abuse at me about Willow’s behaviour, typically from long-time community members who he had either unilaterally banned for trivial things (eg. typing SH!!T) or for having conflicting views or being critical of the club. The criticism was that forum was no long a place where opinions could be expressed. Despite multiple attempts by me to get Willow to reign in his moderating for his own sake, he kept going. I note that some of the people who’ve commented above were people who he had banned and who emailed me pleading for action to be taken.

Sorry, but if you want a lovey-dovey place with only happy rainbows and sunshine then this isn’t the place for you. Our team has been performing poorly for years so it’s only natural that passionate fans become negative. Deleting this and banning people for being frustrated is not acceptable. I offered Willow (and others) the chance to stay on as a Forum Leader and still have some powers but he asked to have his account deleted. It was a very difficult decision to make and I wish that it could have ended up better.

Never the less, we've moved on, but that's not so say that the criticism hasn't stopped.

From the last month alone, looking through comments and emails to me, I’m being asked to:
  • Enforce strict content control
  • Instant banning on any offence
  • “Ban all swearing”
  • “Allow all swearing”
  • All new posts to be approved by a moderator
  • “There are too many mods”
  • “There are not enough mods”
  • “This person shouldn’t be a mod, I don’t agree with them”
  • “Make me a mod!”

If you are one of the ones complaining but you haven’t used the Report tool, then your complaint is useless.

This place will never be perfect because we’re drawn from a wide range of fans, from different ages, demographics and expectations. Someone will inevitably be offended by something. But we all trying to support out team, so please just try and be kind to each other.

So here are my suggestions for everyone to try to get the most out of your time here:
  • Don’t take things so seriously. It’s just an internet forum.
  • If you are easily hurt by people disagreeing with you, do not post.
  • If someone doesn’t agree with you, understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion.
  • Use the IGNORE function. If you don’t like someone, IGNORE them. Their posts wont appear for you. Simple.
  • If you see someone attacking another poster (remember, disagreeing with someone is not attacking them) then immediately report the post.
  • Understand that what you don’t see is the regular issuing of time-outs for users who don’t comply with the community rules, but who otherwise come back after their timeout and successfully take part in the community

I now await the inevitable emails, complaints and attacks that I'm about to receive...
 
Hi Kul, thanks for posting your advice/expectations. I would like to add the lack of respect directed to a mod yesterday was disgraceful. Yesterday it happened to be Cobarcats. It could be another mod next time. I also took offence at the attempt(s) to undermine Cobarcats' authority by direct appeals to you from the two main protagonists. Mods give up their time to perform this role and the least we can do is support their efforts. Like Cobarcats, I am ex military so you can consider (or not) my comments in this context.
 
Dear Cobar
I didn’t really see the drama unfold as I spend less time on the forum than I used to but I’m so sorry to see you go in this way. Your health is paramount and if this is what you need to do to protect your wellbeing then I support you 100%.
I hope things improve for you and very soon. I’ll miss you and hope that one day you might return, perhaps under a different name.
Best regards
Coivtny
 
Bit of a disgraceful post by Kul piling in on a bloke who's obviously extremely fragile.
The repository of all wisdom chose this time to point out the failings of Cobar as a mod. Could he be more dangerously insensitive to a fragile mental situation?
But hey he welcomes all views, no matter how dangerous, or extreme so what more could I expect.
This is why I don't bother posting and rarely check in to read posts.
The repository of all wisdom perhaps could've chosen to start a new thread and leave this thread to others to record their goodbyes.
 
Todd Packer said:
Bit of a disgraceful post by Kul piling in on a bloke who's obviously extremely fragile.
The repository of all wisdom chose this time to point out the failings of Cobar as a mod. Could he be more dangerously insensitive to a fragile mental situation?
But hey he welcomes all views, no matter how dangerous, or extreme so what more could I expect.
This is why I don't bother posting and rarely check in to read posts.
The repository of all wisdom perhaps could've chosen to start a new thread and leave this thread to others to record their goodbyes.
Click to expand...
You make a good point.
I think Kul’s efforts to appear balanced may have given the indication that he was not fully supportive of Cobar’s efforts, and that is a worry.
As I understand the forum generates income but none of it goes to the Mods due to the forum not being profitable. Mods voluntarily devote their efforts.
I’ve been a member for only a short time and have never seen a more devoted Mod than Cobar.
 
twentyforty said:
You make a good point.
I think Kul’s efforts to appear balanced may have given the indication that he was not fully supportive of Cobar’s efforts, and that is a worry.
As I understand the forum generates income but none of it goes to the Mods due to the forum not being profitable. Mods voluntarily devote their efforts.
I’ve been a member for only a short time and have never seen a more devoted Mod than Cobar.
Click to expand...
Exactly mate. Whether Kul agreed or disagreed with Cobar's mod. style now was not the time to issue a critique. Now's the time to use some human decency and refrain from posting a sermon from the mount that could push a shattered man over the edge.
Common human decency, it isn't difficult, but sometimes hard to apply from an ivory tower somewhere in a castle in Bavaria.
 
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