An appeal for tolerance

[The vast minority]

I knew that would catch your eye Les...you need to be more tolerant....

Come on guys, that is funny.

[les]

I knew that would catch your eye Les...you need to be more tolerant....

Yes I guessed that was for my benefit! Good to see we can still have fun here

[Mark Wilson]

I can understand that this is a broad church and expect a wide range of attitudes and communication skills. You soon learn to recognise that some people adopt a brusque style in dealing with queries, but that doesn't mean that they are not a valuable asset to all members. I find the really personal and aggressive responses to perceived rudeness far more out of keeping with the spirit of the forum than the original offence.

By the way, Fingolfin, come back please - I learnt a lot from you and Mog!

Mark

[Trickydicky]

One of the biggest problems I find with electronic communications is that you cannot get across the "tone" of what you are trying to convey. For example, it's difficult to have a sense of humour with forums or emails, all you have are pesky smilies!
You try to joke but sometimes it can come across as arrogant,
I for one class myself as having a "warped" sense of humour and find myself having to hold back in front of people that do not know me.

[les]

You're right about 'tone' you can say something with a smile on your face or say the same thing with a grimace! or

[Johnd103]

As a new enough member to the forum I have found everyone I have encountered so far more than nice we all ask dumb questions at times it's to be expected . but keep up the good work I love the forum

[olderisbetter]

All in all this forum has been very inviting and usefull to me, the members that i have interected with have given me encouragement and the benefit of years of hands on knowledge, I am a very tolerant person and in life i have seen even the nicest people can have a bad day, If the forum annoys you just take a break and come back later, The combined knowledge here is worth more than any book can tell most of us, and i am sure we all have a skill set that can be usefull here to others at some point,

[irmscher]

I think the forum can sometimes come over as draconian in its moral values and could be a bit more tolerant .I have seen some of the stuff on facebook regarding the minor club by young members and some are not happy and I suppose that's why They are on there .I think there is a lot of talented young members maybe not yet with a spanner but with IT and everyone has to start somewhere .I think the level of help on this forum is second to none but needs to be a bit more light hearted and have a change in the rules slightly.Iast year members were asked what they would like to see on the site and what changes I haven't noticed any

[trabant]

I think people need to stop thinking they're always right and sitting on other peoples input. A prime example of this was a thread about non starting a couple of weeks ago where I put in a comment having experienced exactly the same symptoms as the guy that posted the thread to instantly be told I was wrong which to be fair I most likely wasn't. However I doubt we'll ever know who was right as the poor guy that posted the thread has probably run a mile from this forum.

[trabant]

Oh yes and being told you can't do this that or the other to your car ir possibly fit one one of those coz its just not right. That's really really annoying.

[crackers]

Well, I'm new to the club and to the forum. I'm also Australian and experience over a range of forums has lead me to understand that a common language often does little to aid understanding. I haven't been bitten yet, but I will be because forums are like that. I haven't imagined I've been bitten yet, but that'll happen because I'm human and a sadly frail one at that. For my part, I'll try be helpful and, where possible/practical/sensible, try to lighten someone's day with a bit of humour. I also understand that many forum users are not interested in long posts (and hence sometimes give replies condensed to the point of being terse themselves), some are offended by attempts at humour (to which I'll delete my reaction ). An internet forum, particularly an international one, is a weird exercise in social behaviour that you'll find nowhere in real life and this is why some people find them so hard to come to grips with.

The basic 'rules' are:
- if you feel offended, it probably wasn't meant to be but if you aren't sure, report it to a moderator, that is part of their job.
- people from other places, particularly other countries but even just in the next county, think, speak and write differently to you, so if you don't understand their post, or they don't understand yours, just put a little more thought into the interpretation. THEN call them a complete dill (but not on the forum).
- never ever post when you're drunk, even slightly so. The written word is too inflexible as a form of communication and the chances of misunderstanding escalate with every drink.
- don't get upset with us mug Australians because we're actually quite harmless and only bite when defending a juicy bone.

It's always a loss to a forum when someone decides not to post anymore. Sometimes you need to ignore certain members, or choose not to post in certain areas, but please, keep posting.

[Corn22]

You only have to look at what is going on between two members of the forum at the moment to see why people don't want to post.

[SteveClem]

It's a shame,isn't it...so many nice people as well though.

[AliceDurose]

I'm a pretty new member to the messageboard, and a very inexperienced car owner (being a 25 year old woman who bought my Morris Minor in October, and getting behind his wheel for the first time was my first ever experience of driving, and Ive not taken my test yet - I could quite possibly be the most inexperienced member on the fourm?) I'm very lucky that when I joined the MMOC in January, and started attending meetings with my local Branch they welcomed me so, so warmly. They understood my inexperience, and although we joke about it, I could never have imagined how fantastic the Branch have been and the support and advice they have given me. They know I don't have the years of experience and knowledge that they do, but I'm willing to learn, which at the end of the day everyone's done at some point. I have never been belittled, only encouraged, and I would hope it would be the same for any advice I would seek on the forum.

I have seen people suggest a place for new members to be welcomed/introduce themselves. I do agree this would probably be a good ice breaker for nervous new members

[RobThomas]

Glad to see some Moderation going on today.