Originally Posted by
jamawani
Gee - - I thought this was a "Why I Like CGOAB" thread.
Seems people with a bone to pick just can't let it go.
Yes, unfortunately this has been my experience here on bikeforums. It seems that many ex-users of my site end up here, and inevitably whenever crazyguyonabike comes up as a discussion, guess who pops up. It's why I don't come here much any more. It always just ends up turning into a parade of anonymous sniping and dredging up old grievances from years ago. Honestly, it's just not worth the hassle.
I think what this demonstrates, to me at least, is the pros and cons of running a forum where you evict people who are obnoxious. On the plus side, you get to have a better experience on your own site, minus the dicks. But on the minus side, they don't just disappear - they go to places like bikeforums instead, and just wait for a chance to **** all over conversations about your site. It's very predictable, and I shouldn't be surprised, really.
Also, fame and success always comes with a price. I have a website that I designed to run a certain way, and when it was small and new, the feedback was universally positive. But after more than a decade, and becoming the largest repository of bicycle tour journals in the world, the baggage is going to build up. People who don't like the design, don't like me, got kicked off etc, of course there are going to be detractors. And often the detractors are the ones who seem to be more motivated to post their negative opinions. Sad but true.
When things go right, you don't tend to hear from people, because there is no imbalance in their head. Nothing is wrong, things are right, no motivation to tell the world about that. It just worked. The hundreds of people who write to me asking for help, and I reply within three minutes, and they reply saying "Wow I can't believe you are so responsive, thanks!", but that's the last you hear of it. They have their fix, and they move on. Sometimes you get kudos down the line on the forums, but often people go to crazyguyonabike, post their journal, and move on with their lives (for a lot of people, a bicycle tour is a once in a lifetime bucket list type of event).
Crazyguyonabike has going on for 12,000 journals and articles, over two million pics (with often a thousand new pics being uploaded daily during the busy summer months), a community that appears happy enough with what I am doing to support me and the site with completely voluntary donations to the tune of more than $40k per year, I guess I must be doing something right.
Neil