Who was Arnisador?

[Flying Crane]

To Michael, I totally understand your frustration and but can I ask please if you were so inclined, how would you like the site to be? Exclusively MA? I would envisage an initial drop off in visitors then and I wonder how the arts areas could be ramped up to compensate for the lost traffic? In the Aikido area there are tumbleweeds that would need to be taken out first! haha.. And but then that is up to the posters. If I were that bothered I would surely post more stuff there and kickstart it, no?

I don't know, exactly. In some ways, the cat is out of the bag and I don't know if it can be undone.

Personally, I think the martial discussions can sustain themselves. Yes, the site will be smaller, especially initially after a change were made. But I think it would be possible to have a viable site focused on martial talk, when that is in fact the name of the site.

Drac mentioned that you can't please everyone. This is true. But maybe having all these other discussion areas is an attempt to do so. I think the site is losing it's focus and gaining a new one. Maybe people are happy with that. For me, I find it disappointing.

It doesn't feel so much like a place for martial arts discussion anymore because it's laden with distractions, and that is what makes me less likely to come around. It feels like nobody wants it to be that anymore.

OK, if that's how people feel, then that's how people feel.

 

[Flying Crane]

Of course if Bob is unable to financially keep the site going, then it will all come to an end. I understand that.

I'm reminded of a Tae kwon Do school in my neighborhood. They are offering a half hour piano lesson with each TKD lesson. Everyone's looking for a way to get creative and keep financially solvent. It's a problem, I know.

 

[Sukerkin]

Good comments with clear reflection and thought behind them, Michael. It is a truth of the Net that sites become what their posters rather than their owners (or staff) want them to be.

The nature of a site is determined by those that post at then end of the day, just as a beach is shaped by the inexorable flux of the tides.

I actually cleave to your stance closely myself but our Cap'n is not an independantly wealthy fellow and if the site is to help in paying for it's own existence I am afraid that the 'side order' of the Study is the price to be paid to keep the bandwidth flowing for the other areas (at present at least).

 

[jks9199]

On the financial issue... A supporting membership ain't all that much. You don't get special treatment from the mods -- but you do get access to some areas that aren't open for free. And you're kind of putting your money where your mouth is. (This semi-annual pledge drive is not aimed at any one member... but if it's striking home -- think about it.) Times are tight for everybody, but the supporting membership is less than a buck a week.

 

[shesulsa]

MartialTalk.com has a quality other boards don't. Those boards are message boards or chat boards and some are even little gangs.

MartialTalk.com is a community. There's a lot of things that go into a community, all of which contribute to the color and flavor of the place. Mom & Pop shops, big chain grocery stores, a music shop here and there, a salon, a Starbucks AND a Timmy's ... you get the idea.

I've had my own opinions on certain happenings on MT and as long as you have real people running a board, you will always have waves of varying decor about. When there's trouble in Little China, then stay out of that district.

Like Xue, I had study access shut off for a while and have since returned, and even then, only lightly. Like Bob, I have several injuries and had some serious real-life occurrences that have kept me off of training for about four years, so it's nice to have a one-stop community module instead of having to log on to many different communities for different purposes.

I'll miss Arnisador here and am glad to have befriended him on Facebook. Hopefully, after a rest, he'll return again. If not ... feel free to cultivate your particular Martial Arts garden right here in town.

Cheers!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I personally love looking at the martial sections on MartialTalk. I rarely wander over to the study and certainly I hardly ever post there. One of the reasons I stepped down as an administrator was being tired of moderating in certain areas. Still those areas are interesting to some people who practice martial arts. (just not me) So if they fill a need for some then personally I think that is great!

 

[grydth]

This is an eerie thread, so many old members with "Account Closed"..... It is a cyber cemetery. One can only wish each and every one of them well.

 

[Rich Parsons]

As I'm just spending most of my time in The Study arguing and not posting on martial arts much at all, and just raising my own blood pressure, I think it's a sign that my time has come (again?). So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Make sure you let us know when there is anything posted for an intergalactic by-way.

 

[Archangel M]

My opinion. People go to forums to TALK. Martial arts is predominantly a DO proposition. Discussions about physical techniques are going to stall out fast and get repetitive quickly. After all there really are only so many ways to punch, kick, throw etc.

What do people like to talk about? We all see that everyday here. Politics, drama, religion, pop-culture, and "concepts".

Is there REALLY anything wrong with that?

 

[Archangel M]

Look at how much traffic a thread just talking about controversy gets.

 

[jks9199]

MartialTalk.com has a quality other boards don't. Those boards are message boards or chat boards and some are even little gangs.

MartialTalk.com is a community. There's a lot of things that go into a community, all of which contribute to the color and flavor of the place. Mom & Pop shops, big chain grocery stores, a music shop here and there, a salon, a Starbucks AND a Timmy's ... you get the idea.

I've had my own opinions on certain happenings on MT and as long as you have real people running a board, you will always have waves of varying decor about. When there's trouble in Little China, then stay out of that district.

Like Xue, I had study access shut off for a while and have since returned, and even then, only lightly. Like Bob, I have several injuries and had some serious real-life occurrences that have kept me off of training for about four years, so it's nice to have a one-stop community module instead of having to log on to many different communities for different purposes.

I'll miss Arnisador here and am glad to have befriended him on Facebook. Hopefully, after a rest, he'll return again. If not ... feel free to cultivate your particular Martial Arts garden right here in town.

Cheers!

Fantastic post, Shesulsa.

 

[Hollywood1340]

Why does it seem that I'm longing for a "back in the day" when it comes to this site? Call me jaded but I remember the big names back then. It felt like...a clubhouse. Like I was here to hang out with my friends and talk about what brought me here in the first place, martial arts. We'd rib each other, share inside jokes, be post whores about the dumbest things. I go and look up those old threads and there is a lot of fun there. Sure there were a lot of non-art posts but it was to bring us together, not pull us apart. So I do come here everyday, laugh for cry at the new politic posts, debate if I'm going to vote for Kaith in 2012 and go back to where my friends are. Facebook.

 

[Ceicei]

This is an eerie thread, so many old members with "Account Closed"..... It is a cyber cemetery. One can only wish each and every one of them well.

That is what struck me too when I saw this thread and started looking through... wow... Seeing all those names of those who came through... and wondering what their varied stories are and how they're doing now. A cyber cemetery, indeed.

- Ceicei

 

[Bob Hubbard]

James, please don't take the following personally. I'm venting, it's not aimed at anyone in particular.


So, I guess the question is then, since everyones on FaceSpace...why am I wasting $500 a month here....why did I just drop a $160 to upgrade the software....

I can't compete with Facebook. They have 300 million people posting about their farmvilles, and their picture of the days and their vampires and joining all these groups that never ever seem to update, and posting about what they had for lunch or their last bowel movement.... it's a 300 million person LPT.

Ya know....I'm sorry our rules require people to act like adults. I'm sorry that alot of these "Masters" can't handle it when someone tells them 'no'. I'm sorry that X won't post because we won't ban Y, or that Z keeps posting "incorrect" information and X is boycotting us until we allow them to hurl insults. I'm sorry that I can't provide constant entertainment, millions of dollars of programming, and immediate response on a site that's mostly comprised of unpaying members.

I can implement a monthly membership fee, $29.95, supercharge the site and actually pay the staff. Oh wait, $20 a year is too much, the sites not worth it, and all internet should be free. Not to mention 95% of the members would just leave. Hell, some of those old timers left because I added an optional paid level. Some left when I started accepting sponsors.

You know, there are actually people here who think I should spend $6,000 a year so they can call me an ******* for suggesting they calm down in a thread that's a hair short of getting physical?

I had people quit when I reset the rep system, they quit when I locked the study, they quit when I reopened it, they quit when I added the fracking thing. A whole group quit when I banned someone for posting his account info on USENET, another group quit when I wouldn't let them post 4,000 demands for paperwork on every thread, hell, 1 guy quit because we moved his thread, and I can think of 40 who quit because we got tired of them only popping in to post seminars and not tossing a bone our way.

Seeing a trend here?

I got quit notices because I added a paid arcade, I got quit notices because I insulted George Bush, because I insulted Hillary Clinton, because I wouldn't let someone post racist and gay bash crap. I had people quit because my former instructor took a rank promotion for petes sake.

In the midst of this crap, every certified fraud in the universe seems to scream legal threats when their names come up, the big fraud buster site trolls us every 6-8 months, and god help us if someone questions Soke 'lotta paper'.

Add in the occasional software/server/browser/network glitch, the idiots who think it's ok to use "notgunnatellu" as their name when they sign up then spend 3 days arguing the posted policy and then signup a dozen obvious fake accounts just to waste our time.....

And my doctor says I need to cut back on my stress.

I spend 2-3 hrs a day on here, 7 days a week, every day. Activating accounts, checking on tickets, making sure things are working. I try to seed new topics to generate conversation (over 80 this past month), bump active ones to keep them going, add some controversy to mix things up, handle member questions by email and PM (I've got 150 unread pms right now....i'm backlogged majorly)....and do it on 2 other forums (I shut the Dead Parrot down weeks ago as it was dead).


And my thanks is, I get called crazy by a friend, get told I can't succeed by another, have a few others tell me they are quitting because I running a platform for crackpot politics, and wonder how many others just left without even saying goodbye.


And I wonder why I bother, why I don't just pull the plug, and walk away.


Because we have people on here who make all that fracking ******** worth it. I met some great people in Atlanta on my August trip. Got to hang out with Flea and MA Caver too. I've got people all across the continent and over in England and Sweden and Germany and the PI who have extended invitations to visit, sent me thanks for running a site where they can come and feel welcome, where they can relax and not get into the "dick measuring" you find on so many other sites. I've gotten dozens of thanks from people who found schools, or training partners, and in at least 1 case a life partner.



Heres the deal.
If I am out of line, I expect to be called on it. The long timers should know by now I'm man enough to apologize when I go too far, and man enough to accept correction when I'm wrong. You folks are going to have to build the art sections. There's not much I can do there right now, other than post a few videos as I find them, or add some opinion as I can. You want meat, seed it, nurture it, grow it and help us, help you get it. You want less politics...well, I can't kill a popular section.....add more non-politics and make it a smaller % of the site. I've long said I'd love to see history, articles, videos, bios, technique break downs, interviews, event reports, etc. Hell, just posting some short review of your last seminar and a couple of pics can get things moving. Work with us, we're here to work with you. I'm keeping the lights on and the door open. It's up to you where it goes from here.

That's the best I can do folks.

 

[Carol]

MartialTalk.com has a quality other boards don't. Those boards are message boards or chat boards and some are even little gangs.

MartialTalk.com is a community. There's a lot of things that go into a community, all of which contribute to the color and flavor of the place. Mom & Pop shops, big chain grocery stores, a music shop here and there, a salon, a Starbucks AND a Timmy's ... you get the idea.

I've had my own opinions on certain happenings on MT and as long as you have real people running a board, you will always have waves of varying decor about. When there's trouble in Little China, then stay out of that district.

Like Xue, I had study access shut off for a while and have since returned, and even then, only lightly. Like Bob, I have several injuries and had some serious real-life occurrences that have kept me off of training for about four years, so it's nice to have a one-stop community module instead of having to log on to many different communities for different purposes.

I'll miss Arnisador here and am glad to have befriended him on Facebook. Hopefully, after a rest, he'll return again. If not ... feel free to cultivate your particular Martial Arts garden right here in town.

Cheers!

Will you be my MartialTalkVille neighbor?

 

[James Kovacich]

Theres no need to fix what aint broke. All big forums have a diversification and no-one is bound to visit all that a forum has to offer. Bob deserves his do credit. It takes a lot to do what he's done here, made it a place worth coming back to.
:asian:

There are times when I just can't be on the net and I doubt that I am the only one. Then theres times of the year that forums have slower posts counts. Combine all that with limiting the access ...

 

[Bruno@MT]

I know where you're coming from Bob, being in an admin seat myself.
As soon as you get more than 5 members, there will always be people who are upset with something or other.

Sometimes there is a major upheaval, senior people leave, there is wailing and the gnashing of teeth, and then things eventually get back to normal. I've learned not to care. It is the way of the world. It's as predicatable as the tides of the ocean. Sometimes people are depressingly easy to understand. As long as the behavior baseline of the majority is fine, the community won't suffer. Senior people are far less important than they themselves sometimes think.

I've seen many seniors leave, and have been asked by their fans to roll over in public and beg them to come back. I always refuse. The community is bigger than any one person. And what usually happens is that the gaps they leave are often filled fairly quickly. Because they are gone, others get a chance to shine and sometimes the entire community is better off. And sometimes people swallow their pride and come back. that is fine too.

I would like to close with the following vids:

[yT]sPHMnREkLiY[/yT]

And if that doesn't help, then think of the following:

[yT]ZBR2G-iI3-I[/yT]

For as long as you know how to love, you'll survive. Corny, I know. sorry for that
As long as you realize that the majority here loves this place, and appreciates what you do, the trouble makers will not be able to get under your skin.

 

[Gordon Nore]

That's the best I can do folks.

That may be the crux of the matter. MT has a face, Bob, and it's yours, and those of the forum staff. Facebook, MySpace, etc, have faq pages and email forms. You can't tell Facebook to go get stuffed because Facebook doesn't care -- every account is money in the bank, and when someone leaves, someone else joins.

I know that there have been troubles on the forum. I recall about a year ago the mods started a thread about the endless complaints, PMs, emails, long-distance calls regarding problems in the politics forum. Even just reading it, one could discern the toll it was taking.

Ditching the politics forum means invariably that politics will ooze out elsewhere. If you take the honourary black belt for President Obama as an example -- in a regular MA discussion that would probably blow up. I understand why the Study is there, and its political stepchild.

 

[shesulsa]

Bob, the testament that is all your effort lies right here. You have folks telling you what they like and what they don't like - you have something here for everyone. You can't keep from rubbing people the wrong way because they put their owies on their sleeve. It's that 100% - 100% (can't please all of the people all of the time) thing.

I know it's frustrating and really, if it didn't bother you to some extent then you should give the place over. You care and it shows and it matters to people. This means, of course, that you can never not take "it" personally.

Keep hanging, Bob. You have better content than one of the other big three and better values than the other one. Hang tight.

Will you be my MartialTalkVille neighbor?

Let me get my Keds and zip-up cardy and we'll have some make-believe!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Like Xue, I had study access shut off for a while and have since returned, and even then, only lightly. Like Bob, I have several injuries and had some serious real-life occurrences that have kept me off of training for about four years, so it's nice to have a one-stop community module instead of having to log on to many different communities for different purposes.

Ahhh another one with no "self control" just like me

To give credit where credit is due
I had the Study ERASED from my view per shesulsa's suggestion and I am very happy she suggested it to me... thanks :asian:

But I AIN'T GOIN' BACK!!!!