Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

Thank you for the kind words. I wasn't trying to take control of the site by dictating to the moderators. I am truly a believer in a person's rights to speak freely. I expect a certain amount of friction in any group. It's impossible to avoid without trampling on free speech. There are things that are beyond the ability of the moderators control.

Like all other chat sites, the members of FABO direct the personality of this website. I know the moderators have stepped in at times to try to keep things from getting out of whack. But, there's only so much they can do without giving the impression that people cannot express themselves here. That perception would harm the opinion folks have of the site's hierarchy and no one wants to feel that 'big brother' is constantly looking over their shoulder.

I'm not expecting everyone to agree with me. They shouldn't. I'm wrong more often than I'm right. Not only can I handle the disagreements, but I believe they are the grounds for intelligent debate.

This site seems huge to me. I could never come close to reading all of the posts. But over time I've seen an increase in negative comments. I pity the new guys that pose questions without realizing they've given incomplete information. There are guys here that seem more determined to make the newbies feel stupid than to help them out. I've been hesitant to post some questions myself for that reason. And to make matters worse, there seems to be a pack mentality that is growing. Once the first negative comment is made, others often will 'pile on'.

I've seen some members respond to negative comments made and they become enraged and leave the site or get themselves kicked off when things escalate. I don't want to become one of them. I want to belong to a fun site that I look forward to visiting and being able to swap stories with others. 95% of FABO meets that criteria. I think it used to be 99%. Somewhere there's a tipping point. I'm not sure where it is. I guess the percentage of negativity a person sees depends on which threads he happens to read.

I haven't decided to leave FABO at this time but I have decided to limit the amount that I'm on here and the number of threads I read.

If you've followed my Barracuda/Duster/Challenger/Charger/Roadrunner/'Lil Red Express thread you know that I've tried to joke about my day to day experiences. The guys that have razzed me back are great. There's nothing better than goofing around with friends. But it's harder to keep your sense of humor when you feel yourself becoming disillusioned after reading some of the other threads out there.

I've avoided using the ignore list. As the saying goes, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". I don't consider any members of FABO to be my enemy, but I don't like the way some treat others. I've kept an eye on some just so that I know who I might be dealing with and because some of the worst offenders here still possess a lot of valuable knowledge.

Sorry for the long rant.