Where’s Waldo err Linda?

[devo]

I'd like an anything goes thread,just know going in, what you might be in for. Pat

I respect and thank you for your feedback. In a perfect world, the "Absolutely Nothing to Do with Datsun Roadsters” would need no moderation, right? The reality is that it eventually will, and it is up to a few moderators (who work on a volunteer basis) to monitor things. They can easily say "F this I'm out!" and then it falls on the shoulders of 311s.org founder Steve. My fear (tell me if I'm overthinking this) is that he can do just the same and throw in the towel.

So, while we all have good intentions with non-roadster related discussion...my feeling is that will always end up with a moderator stressing out about it. I will stop speaking for them now

You are correct again, sir. This is a forum for Datsun Roadsters and not a political, or any other type of forum. We all saw the "Absolutely nothing to do with Roadsters" thread go straight down that rabbit hole. It ended with one banning and hard feelings by some of the other participants, as well as a locked thread and a scolding by the moderators. I'm sure they didn't want to have to do that. One of the worlds greatest artists of all time said it best,

“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people ... Religion, Politics, and The Great Pumpkin.”
— Charles M. Schulz

I say, lets keep the focus here on Roadsters. There are plenty of other forums to discuss your other beliefs.

[unklpat]

Wait, what about my bare chested photo.......? Pat

[Alvin]

She brought up a political topic and when people disagreed with her took her toys and went home. On the way out she posted the above "poll" trying to get others to take her side. Sorry, I don’t miss her and her childish actions.

Mark,
My understanding is that Steve Allen (founder of 311s.org to for those that do not know) started that poll:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34613

It pained me to see him even consider that this site had "run its course". IHMO he should never be driven to make a post like that.

[Alvin]

I also would not want a picture of me posted on the internet, forever, without my permission. Alvin, no harm meant, just sayin..... Pat

It's customary to take people photos and share them here from roadster events. If you attend the Solvang Show, just let the photographers know ahead of time. We will happily honor your wishes.

[Curtis]

What you are missing is a person whose profession is health care that is very knowledgeable and has a very caring attitude towards people. She has given me very good advice about a couple of my health concerns.

I made a silly or stupid mistake without thoroughly thinking about it and started a thread that couldn't be left to just roadster comments. I've learned my lesson. I had it locked.

She may not be posting here but she is around.

[unklpat]

I also have a background in healthcare, and apreciate science based decisions on masking/not masking, vaccing/not vaccing. I just want to thank those of you who refuse to do the right thing as a society, so those of us that do, have to suffer. Pat

[notoptoy]

As a moderator I will chime in, the "Absolutely nothing" category was a nightmare to manage in the background. The topics that came up for discussion tended to be contentious and something that no 3 people can, or likely ever will, agree on.

In the end, it really came down to the fact that this is a Roadster forum - and a relatively happy, helpful one at that. The behind the scenes complaining in that topic were 5X the volume of the online disagreements and postings. With so many other outlets on the web to have any possible such non-roadster discussion, Steve, Garth and I all agreed that it is best to stay on point with the purpose and reason for this forum - Roadsters. We do not want to moderate hot topic political, social or religious discussions, and simply do not need to take on that hassle. It's simple, stick to the one topic we can all (mostly) agree on!

Some contributors felt that with this topic heading the forum had a "civic duty" to inform on healthcare and the adjoining political hot-button topics. So when it was decided to limit the forum to Roadster topics, some of these individuals were not happy with the decision and chose to stop contributing altogether. That is their individual choice. Anybody is welcome, and welcome back, we just ask to stick to the topic we know and can "fairly" moderate.

One last reminder to all, this is a privately owned forum, so the decisions of the owner are final. Steve has done so much for this community with this site, and should not have to (and has vocally refused to) take crap when not everyone agrees with his direction. His proposed alternative is to shut it all down, and I for one would very much like to avoid that!

[Curtis]

Yup, it belongs to Steve!!! So it's his way or the highway. I'd do the same thing if it were mine. Just think where some of us would be without the information available on this forum. You sure as hell can't take your car to Datsun anymore and good luck trying to find someone that knows what they're doing to work on one.

Do you you really want to go here to try to find stuff?
https://archive.org/web/

[S Allen]

I knew Linda got upset over this and quit posting. I know for a fact she checks in regularly as I can see whom is logging in. Political and personal opinions on what is happening in this upside down world are non-productive and always end up with hurt feelings and turn nasty. She was not banned or removed. Her choice not to participate because she got bent out of shape over this is on her and her alone. I don't claim to have made the correct decisions in all cases but I do try to be fair. The other fellow that got banned was bashing 311s.org which was a personal attack on me. He got warned and kept at it so he was booted. I am certain we lost a few folks over this but as long as we have participation I will keep 311s.org going. We keep getting registrations pretty much everyday. There are enough people donating to keep the site going and I sincerely thank those folks. Have a great roadster day.

Steve

[bajaroadster]

This site has been invaluable in my ongoing attempt to keep my car on the road and upgrade as time and money allow. All of my interactions with members and vendors have always been positive and helpful, with many going out of their way to help me resolve issues and questions in regards to my car. I check in daily because there is always some interesting tidbit of information to be learned from reading other members questions and the responses from the groups collective experience. Simply put, a bright spot in my day. I avoid any hot button topics because that is not the reason I visit this site, and realize that its not likely that my opinion is going to affect yours or yours mine. Steve and his "staff" provide us all with an incredible service and I hope they will continue with a minimum amount of grief the rest of us. And that reminds me, it's been a while since I donated to the site. I'll get on that!

[S Allen]

Thanks for participating bajaroadster. I just ranked you as a site supporter. Cheers.

Steve

[theunz]

Well, as the OP of this thread I’ve got to say that I’m surprised that Linda left due to a political issue, and Covid discussion’s seem to not be about science, but politics. For that reason I did not follow that thread. I’m so middle of the fence that if I ran for office my slogan would be” I will pi** you off! And I would, on both sides of the fence! I thought that maybe Linda had just lost interest or was so busy with work that she just didn’t have time. I hope that at some point that she returns, as she truly was an asset, however perhaps she has had enough controversy and and needs to reduce her stress level. On the Porsche forum I follow one of, if not the most knowledgeable, member who shared untold amounts of hard to source and very valuable information got mad, quit, and deleted all of his previous posts. Now that’s just being a jack a**!
As for open topics, I can take them or leave them. I do feel however that they do indeed cause hard feelings amongst members, and since there are so many other avenues for these discussions perhaps we are better without them.

[Gregs672000]

Wow, I go to bed and 311s blows up overnight! Just like a family sometimes, eh? With a family this big you are bound to run into differences of opinion... it only takes two people, and every person is unique. With the advent of the Internet and the ability to express your views and beliefs, the level of controversy and discord has increased exponentially. There has also been a serious and very concerning lack of mutual respect which has resulted in highly emotionally based encounters, which are no longer a discussion but are a fight, and in a fight it's about "winning and losing" instead of an exchange of information, contemplation, and mutual understanding. There are few if any black and white issues or solutions to problems, but since these become EMOTIONALLY based "discussions" they become conflict (fight) and the base person within all of us does not want to be the LOSER, so we will fight to defend our opinions (which now represents WHO we are, and often in people's eyes even the "worth" of another person who may hold a different position). We as a society are going to have to figure this out, and if we don't I truly believe our democracy is in serious danger, as witnessed by what happened on January 6th.

One of my best Roadster friends has completely different political views than I. Even before things blew up to where they are in this country, we would have some challenging discussions around the camp fire, but we always remembered that we are friends, that each view has its value and merits and validity, but that NO ONE has "the" answer that fits all. What I have always grounded myself with and what we agreed to do was to be willing to call "BS wherever BS is found." That means you stay objective, temper your emotions, seek "verifiable" facts from others who use an empirical methodology (such as good, non-biased science), and "share" your thoughts and conclusions to refine them and the thoughts of others. This means that when the people I elect or generally support do something that doesn't make sense to me, I can objectively (i.e. BS meter on) investigate and if found call BS on it, just the same as I would on someone I don't typically support. This makes for a better government and leadsership.

With freedom and power comes great responsibility. The Pandora's box of the Internet has been opened. Politicians are EXTREMELY good at engaging your emotions and blinding you with BS. An emotionally controlled person is blind and no longer objective, making them much more easy to manipulate, and believe me, THAT'S THE PLAN. The internet is a double edge sword: Maximum information, maximum BS. Other countries governments have decided that they will control the info, and will serve you whatever info they want, which will undoubtedly have BS in it and will be spiced with emotionally triggering things to keep you blind (think good ol George Orwell "1984"). Freedom however does not mean you're free from BS. In fact, you're nose deep in it! The only way you can approach freedom is to be objective, open minded, flexible, understanding there are ALWAYS shades of grey and no black and white decisions or solutions... we're gonna have to accept shades of grey, and that can only be done with an objective mindset and not an emotionally based win/lose, us/them tribal approach. Unfortunately a lot of people are not taught critical thinking enough in high school or even in college to be equipped to do so (much more natural to remain tribal)... this is the next step in the evolution of society and humankind now that we can destroy ourselves and the planet.

Will we grow up? Tune in next week for another exciting episode of "Planet Earth: Those crazy humans." We'll see.

Oh, getting back to the real topic... unless everyone could commit to calling BS wherever BS is found (which I think would be freakin AMAZING! Join Me!), I think anything here should be Roadster based, otherwise negative emotions will (and have) damaged relationships and something that we all enjoy regardless of other views. Its far more valuable to have things in common so as to be able to maintain respect when dealing with problems. I know I've unintentionally triggered or upset people before, as well as been triggered by them (hey, I'm human!).

Love this family.

[iloveredmeat]

I feel like Greg's, BajaRoadsters and the previous 4 or 5 – are a collective "Mic Drop".

I vote we move back to happy helping. My $0.03.

Okay, one more thing... just a big thanks to Steve and the moderators for herding cats and taking care of a giant Kindergarten Class

PM

[Linda]

Well, I see everyone has been busy….
And I like to see a lively discussion without name calling ( one usual exception to that was noted)
However, it is true that it is Steve’s forum and he can set the rules. But the rules need to be clear. 1.
Get rid of the Nothing to do with Datsun Roadsters if you either don’t like the topics or can’t supervise. It’s a tease.
But I did not see the problem with a vigorous discussion as long as there is no name calling. And because it is a topic , Covid , that has killed alot of people , I strongly felt that it should be kept if possible as the info needs to be disseminate where people are, not just the CDC website.
I did not see the discussion as “ political” but as “scientific”. Not every discussion that is a disagreement is “political”
However, Steve’s rules so get your Ivermectin info elsewhere, gang.( In Oklahoma City there are so many Ivermectin ODs that the gun shot victims have to wait their turn….true, reported on Net)
So I have been busy trying to outrun Covid, in the day job , checking other sites, working on the Datsun ( slave cylinder problems etc) and planning my next booster shot since it has been 7 months..
I check in and read, do searches as needed on Google, but otherwise I see others can answer questions as needed, right?
Thanks to those with kind words.
Hope to see you at JCCS or Solvang, with or without your car. I promised Harlan I would make Solvang with my car finally , and I will as long as nothing breaks.
Any other thoughts you can PM
Alright, back to the Datsun equivalent of Mr Roger’s Neighborhood, eh?LOL
As for Ted, the fantasy of being able to torture him endlessly was tempting, but duty calls in SoCal.
Stay safe.
Linda