Hi everyone,
Firstly let me begin on a positive note in that I hope you have all had a great Christmas and go on to have a happy and healthy 2015. 2014 has been a pretty good year for sim-racers and we???ve had quite a bit to talk about here on VirtualR over the past 12 months. The new sims are really bringing things up a notch from what we had a few years ago and things can only get better for our niche community. We have a lot to be thankful for I think.
In the main, on VirtualR, things have been good. Regular members still posting their thoughts and some interesting and sometimes thought provoking discussions have been had. More of those please!
We???ve also welcomed new members to VirtualR, giving their views on the topics at hand, which is brilliant.
So here???s hoping for more sim-racing goodness in 2015 and beyond.
Now onto the more serious stuff…
Over the past year, numerous members have had to serve temporary, or in some cases, permanent bans. As far as I am concerned all permanent bans were deserved and some will not be coming back from that. Quite a few of the temporary bans will be up at the end of 2014 or a bit beyond.
However, I have spoken to Montoya, our site admin, and suggested that as a New Year gesture (and with some caution) that we lift the majority of bans on VirtualR (temporary or permanent). This has been agreed. Not all bans will be lifted as there are some who are simply not welcome here as they are guaranteed to re-offend so it???s not worth wasting the time.
That being said, if you were one of those perm-banned and there is ANY re-offence, you will be banned for life. Those that were temp-banned will serve much longer 2nd bans if they re-offend.
So I suggest, everyone properly reads and gets acquainted with the recently tweaked posting rules (and the pre-amble).
Read those here…??
Also lately, I feel that the overall ambience of the site has been degraded somewhat by some of the comments from a few members. Lots of bickering, provocation, ???I like sim A so I???m going to hate sims B and C and let people know about it!??? type of comments which we can really do without.
I take a big chunk of the blame for this degradation myself as I have perhaps been a bit too lenient with what some members have been allowed to get away with. That???s going to change.
Disagreements are fine, heated debates are fine, not liking a certain sim is fine… But comments MUST be kept within the confines of the rules.
Other unacceptable posts from here on in are those that can bring VirtualR into disrepute, including posts that insinuate any bias based on posted articles. We???ve had quite enough of this and will no longer entertain or tolerate nonsense posts of this type.
Comments such as ???this is crap??? or ???that sucks??? with no explanations will be considered as provocation or needless negativity.
Lastly members should think twice before provoking other members for whatever reason and particularly because they either like a different sim or don???t share your opinion etc.
I will be tightening the reigns even more in 2015 simply because it unfortunately needs to be done.
Any post that infringes the rules or is seen to be a negative influence on the site???s content, will be removed without warning. If a member persists in the same manner then a ban will be swiftly introduced.
I think this is fair for all as we simply want VirtualR???s comment sections to be a more pleasant read than they have been of late. I???m sure Montoya would agree with me that we would rather have 100 members who can post and behave in an adult matter than 1000 members with the majority who can???t. Quality over quantity.
This is not a power-trip or anything along those lines. I would prefer to not need to do this at all.
I, like many others, want VirtualR to be as pleasant to visit as is possible for other sim-racers. If it isn???t then I???m not doing my job properly. That???s all it is and nothing else.
Now that that???s out of the way, I hope you all have a brilliant sim-racing year to come and most of all enjoy yourself and your (our) hobby. We are all in this community together and we all want the same thing, the best sim-racing experience we can get.
F1Racer
