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mikefocke · 10-14-2010, 03:45 AM

that occurs when you try and run a public forum with thousands of users each wanting it their way. In this case "run" means everything from maintaining the hardware to providing the ISP to configuring the software to doing backups to answering users requests/emails/demands... And the fact that you are running it at a 90% loss so your family is funding it factors in. Where do you start and stop your commitment?

Anyone who operates in the public with competing demands on their time and fortune faces the same pressures. (As one who got 14 calls from his constituents the other day in addition to putting in 8 hours on the job site ...and I'm retired and a volunteer.) And probably has to face the family requests to share less of yourself with the hobby and more with them. (I'm so busy attending to other people's long neglected issues, I hadn't had the Boxster out in 2 weeks, for example.) So you ask yourself why you continue to do this. And when someone seems to challenge you...it is so easy to say "take this job and shove it...I don't need to take this".

Sometimes you rethink that emotional outburst but sometimes, on reflection, you feel that you feel better for stopping the pain.

While I much preferred the highly moderated politics free environment that existed when Chuck ran the board, I grew to tolerate Rob and Cecil's occasional forays into political opinion as a small price to pay for maintaining the active forum that it was...perhaps 5 to 10 times more active than any other I've found.

10-14-2010, 03:45 AM	#15
mikefocke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sanford NC Posts: 2,537	I don't think you can underestimate the burnout that occurs when you try and run a public forum with thousands of users each wanting it their way. In this case "run" means everything from maintaining the hardware to providing the ISP to configuring the software to doing backups to answering users requests/emails/demands... And the fact that you are running it at a 90% loss so your family is funding it factors in. Where do you start and stop your commitment? Anyone who operates in the public with competing demands on their time and fortune faces the same pressures. (As one who got 14 calls from his constituents the other day in addition to putting in 8 hours on the job site ...and I'm retired and a volunteer.) And probably has to face the family requests to share less of yourself with the hobby and more with them. (I'm so busy attending to other people's long neglected issues, I hadn't had the Boxster out in 2 weeks, for example.) So you ask yourself why you continue to do this. And when someone seems to challenge you...it is so easy to say "take this job and shove it...I don't need to take this". Sometimes you rethink that emotional outburst but sometimes, on reflection, you feel that you feel better for stopping the pain. While I much preferred the highly moderated politics free environment that existed when Chuck ran the board, I grew to tolerate Rob and Cecil's occasional forays into political opinion as a small price to pay for maintaining the active forum that it was...perhaps 5 to 10 times more active than any other I've found.