I do hope that you will remain as President, Steve. You've always had a lot to offer the club and you are a very enthusiastic ambassador of the Sunbeam community. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.
On the subject of forum moderation, I'm a member of another forum on the SOEC site (Saleen Owners and Enthusiasts Club). I also lurk on a couple of other Mustang and Ford forums. The SOEC has a "one-warning" policy against the kind of stuff that seemingly happens here on a daily basis. That doesn't mean that there cannot be any dissention between the members; that's obviously going to happen whenever you get a number of people together. What it DOES mean is that the sarcastic and caustic comments are not tolerated, no matter what and without exception. Anyone on that forum who partakes in that brand of communication is given one warning and a chance to change their tune. If it happens again, they are dismissed from the forum...end of discussion. It is my opinion that this is what must be adopted for this forum. The bottom line here is that this is a Sunbeam forum dedicated to Sunbeam enthusiasts. It should be a supportive and friendly place where help and assistance can be freely given without the fear of a personal verbal attack from someone with a differing opinion.
I read your earlier post in this thread, Paul, and I appreciated your apology. It's obvious that you and Al had a bit of a controversy going; shoot, everyone gets wound up now and then but an apology like yours shows your ultimate strength of character and goes a long way to fostering a better, stronger forum. I, for one, appreciate your efforts and input on this forum.
Bob...I'll take the bull by the horns here, so to speak, and ask you to please apologize to the comments you made directly to Steve. As Martin mentioned in an earlier post, being a forum moderator is indeed a thankless job. Steve has graciously donated his time and enthusiasm to this club in spite of the fact that he has a family to raise and a career to build. I'm sure that he doesn't have time to spend dealing with issues like this, and he most assuredly doesn't need to be sarcastically criticized for his actions. Rest assured, if you were a member of the SOEC forum, you would have already been warned and then banned for your recent comments. You can flame me for offering my opintion if you want to, but I believe that you owe Steve a personal apology, as well as an apology to the forum members in general. And, in the future, please try to keep a friendly and supportive attitude when you post on this forum.
To the members in general, I would urge you all to contact the administrators of the SAOCA and tell them that you would all appreciate a much tougher stance on forum abuse. Let's get this forum back on the track that it was intended to be on, shall we? To any newbies out there reading this thread...please don't hesitate to join in on any discussion. We are all dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of Sunbeams and would appreciate your input and enthusiasm.
Respectfully,