[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by Richard

Now, how can you write a set of rules to allow for every variation etc etc, you can't, so you adapt as you go.

Not too difficult. Here is a case where less is more. If you try to legislate in detail for every case you will tie yourself in knots. If you have one basic rule that's roughly: "We expect everyone to behave in a sensible and reasonable way" that allows for flexibility and can be used to meet almost any situation. It allows the vast majority of decent folk to get on with things, unworried by rules, it allows the moderators to concentrate on what really important, the book can still be thrown at the tiny number of real offenders. Treat people as responsible adults (with apologies to those members who are still legal minors but give us real hope for the rising generation) and they will nearly always behave like responsible adults. Fence them in with prescriptive rules and they will show their displeasure, as this and other recent threads have shown.

OK, you need a bit more in the rulebook than I have suggested but not a lot.

Peter the organ wrote:

However it is the property and creation of one person, Paul Stenning, and as far as I can see it he is free to do absolutely what he likes.

This is technically true at the moment. Let's say he decided to call it a day, dumped the whole lot and closed the forum. He would be acting within the rules. Please take me metaphorically here as I am not advocating violence, but there will be a mob armed with hot soldering irons and high voltage probes descending on Bournemouth. Since he has on occasion threatened to do just that this demonstrates why the existing arrangements are no longer fit for purpose.

Many people, perhaps a large majority, are happy to go along with the rules for most of the time and not ask awkward questions. This is true in all walks of life. I'll even put myself in that category for a lot of the time. You get a few hotheads who stir for the sake of it and a very few brave souls who stand up against genuine tyrrany. Then you get the "concerned citizen". Quite a few of us in this thread fall into that category which is why we are having this debate at all.

In our own small corner of the real and virtual worlds this forum has grown to be bigger than any of us. I don't mean just physically bigger though that is true. I'm talking about the sum total of contributions, great, small and trivial taken together as representing the accumulated effort and wisdom of a community. I'm getting perilously close to Godwin's Law (google it if you haven't come across it before) when I make the plea: "Don't burn books".

We have proved beyond reasonable doubt that funding and hosting are entirely solvable problems. There are details to be worked out but nothing beyond the capability of a few sensible folk. The hard part is working out a structure with the right balace of powers, rights and responsibilities to safeguard and build on what we have already achieved.

After around 300 posts, I'd like to look back at my post #11, where I picked up on my "manifesto" thread which was effectively amalgamated into this one. I shall quote my original manifesto post verbatim:

I'm not very good at writing constitutions and similar stuff but recent events here at UKVRR have led me to wonder on its place in the grand scheme of things. It may only be an internet forum but it clearly has significant value to a significant number of people. Perhaps I'm being a pompous twit to even try to say this but here goes. You're welcome to throw the internet version of rotten fruit at me if you wish but I'm the only target for such personal criticism here. Please don't criticise others in this thread.

1. The worth of UKVRR lies with all its members. Those who own, those who moderate, those who write, those who read. Loss of any of these substantially reduces the worth of UKVRR
2. Such worth is not proportional to the quantity of contributions. A newcomer with just a few posts can contribute as much worth as somebody with many.
3. The UKVRR is probably the world's largest repository of knowledge about vintage wireless and allied subjects. Certainly the UK's largest. Its loss would be a substantial loss to the world community of those interested in these subjects.

My final plea in this post is "Stop the abuse." I probably should have used the actual anglo-saxon word here in blatant contravention of the rules just to get folk to sit up and take notice. There have been several posts in open forum that have been the wrong side of the line. If it could be taken as personal abuse, but not intended that way, then don't post it. Or if you already have, then apologise and withdraw the remark. Hate mail, by PM or otherwise is equally unacceptable. It is unfortuante that Sean and I are on opposite sides in this debate but I wouldn't dream of insulting him in a PM or email.