I believe the site is doing very well! Content remains good as does morale, for the most part. It must be realized that 1500 people are not all going to always be having a good day out in the real world and that written comments never convey the full meaning or tone as the author ever intends. Quite frankly, when it comes to some of the issues often seen as gripes, the answer is just to get over it. I recall my introduction to GCA, when after my first post I was flamed by the grammar and spelling police. Personally, at first, I thought those guys were a bunch of pricks. Over time I have realized that they were just engaging is some good natured ribbing, like I’d expect among any group of friends. I now consider myself privileged to be apart of the group.
As to deleting post and topics- I think this is an awful idea. No one is ever better exposed that by his or her own foolishness. I would rather see the an individuals right to delete their own post removed, hoping that maybe, for just one moment, a bit more thought might go into an individuals comments before hitting the submit button.
New guys, we’ve all been there and we will all be there again at sometime. There is no way you can come in and hit the ground running, knowing all of the history among all of the participants. Consider your early days on GCA more rite of passage than pledging and you’ll be fine. Enjoy it! In a few months you won’t get the benefit of the doubt for being the FNG. It is worth it though.
The Treehouse. I know there are some who would like to see the site become more stoic and academic in nature. Good for you. I think that need can be met by a better search function. Perhaps there is a means by which a thread creator could tag a thread key words, like those sites so many of you have told me about. Perhaps rather than more administration and moderating we need to have someone function as a librarian to tag threads according to some general method of tagging. As for the inter action among friends, don’t mess with it! Its hard enough finding one or two guys who even consider some of the topics we discuss, how could a group of whack jobs like us not become our own little on line fraternity. It is a very special thing to have friends in life and life is just to short to go wasting energy stomping on other peoples parties.
Course reviews are great! It would be nice if the majority didn't sit back and wait for Ran and a select few to do all the work of putting them together. It is not as easy as you may think to put one together and even harder to justify or support your remarks after posting. So get in the game and put a formal piece together for the group or, with all due respect, shut the hell up. I know there are a number of things I've been tempted to put up over the years and haven't because I don't have the energy to argue with folks who have never laid pipe or drainage or what have you. We all also need to remember that all situations are local. Just like politics. How could I ever tell Mike what to do with that orange stuff they call dirt down south or Don about bermuda issues or the mountain boys about dealing with rock. You think Mikey D had an easy time with those stone formations up at Greywalls? Remember, every architect had an owner and a bunch of other site specific issues to deal with that change at every project. It is not a formula, but a series of compromises that yields and end result and the architect does the best he can to get what he feels is best for the client.
Cheers!
JT