Obviously you have never seen German bandwidth bills for a forum this size

Florin's reasoning to me behind the lack of off topic section the times I asked was that he felt it would distract from the focus of the site.

Any more than that I can't really tell you. I don't own the site, and I don't have the power to open forums even if I wanted to.

I didn't lock the 1st thread and would have let it go.

I locked the 2nd as the thread starter had not looked 3 posts below their's at the one that was already there.



I don't know the exact relationship between Starbike and Florian, but the loss of the Starbike link at the top right of every page suggests to me its not what it once was, and so the bills are more likely to be falling on Florian's lap than Starbikes.



I was not a moderator at the times lawnmowers and accoutancy where discussed, so I can't answer for those who where at the time.



That is true, but I didn't lock the 1st thread, I'll leave that for Frankie-B to answer, I locked a duplicate of one that was already locked.

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This is a interested thread with some valid questions raised.

It does not have to be a problem of 'principle' to add another section besides MTB, Road, Cyclocross/Touring and Training for other topics. This is especially the case considering the double standards applied depending who posts what from time to time, and considering all the unrelated topics that have been widespread before.

The communitiy we have at WW's is pretty good and I am sure a lot of us are willing to support it if needed. After all, it's not as if thousands of topics are created here on a daily basis.

I'd rather see tight moderator action on the way people treat eachother here over simply locking topics on the basis of principle.

Somehow I do not understand why this topic is ever-closed:
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hp?t=33106

If you close this one you can also close the Tour de France, Giro de Italia, Vuelta topics.

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www.KuiperTrading.com

having said all the above and just to balance the argument I think it might be worth a word in the mods favour, while I equally find an element of inconsistency in moderation, being a mod is not an easy job. Being forced to interpret what are probably very loose guidelines and make a judgement cannot be easy, furthermore clearly different folk will interpret guidelines differently - that's being human, and it's impossible for one to watch all threads all the time. They are trying just to do a job.
The critiscm is useful, maybe this forum needs a small 'community' area - nothing off the cycling topic but we clearly have a strong community and it would be a shame to inhibit that.

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None of these are WW related - maybe the mods just don't like to be the centre of attention, seeing the focus on someone else apart from them or their interests?

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hp?t=33414

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hp?t=33420

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... hp?t=33347

Cyco,

With all due respect your comment about bandwidth has to be the worst defense I have ever heard from a site like this, especially one that offers picture hosting.

First of all, if you don't want to use a lot of bandwidth, the site wouldn't be hosting any pictures. I was an avid member of timezone.com and every user there found the instructions on posting photos and a place to host their own photos.

Secondly, internet packets don't travel on bikes, so you don't need to pedal your code to the USA to host your site with a service that uses the same forum software and probably charges less than $30.00 per month for unlimited bandwidth. I'd be happy to pay for one year of hosting up front.

Unfortunately as much as I don't want to say it, based on my experiences with this forum and light-bikes.com I have to agree that it seems the online bike community lacks a lot of the, well, community.

After waiting for over four months to have a bike posted on light-bikes.com before just giving up and deleting it makes me agree with BW, it seems like some sites are purely for promoting a select group of individuals or their ideals, or that is what they have become.

Unfortunately, as I had to explain to far to many companies jumping on the web bandwagon when I was an IT consultant, "rumor is the product of uncertainty". Maintaining a vague web presence will never be productive. If Florian, or Fabian, or whomever is in charge is listening, if you let the site go dormant as light-bikes.com has or allow moderators to interpret vague rules on what is appropriate, users will continue to question the validity of the site, the motive of the owners and moderators, and the "rumors" will continue until the "uncertainty" is gone.

Locking a thread about a member of the cycling community's death, WW member or not, is in horribly poor taste. If it was a duplicate thread locking it with a link to the original would be appropriate.

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Wouldn't it be nice if people actually read what you wrote before responding?

I heard a rumor that they'll be an Off Topic cycling related discussion forum added in the very near future

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Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated

There indeed is something comming up. Stay tuned!

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