Responses to negative posts.

[Admin]

So the new rules are (I am asking the site membership, not directly you John.)

Its OK to bash the following:
-anyone in the For Sale forum
-anyone looking for someone else
-Marty
-Me

Its not OK to bash
-Fred
-Squids and or Bars
-Contenders(any really anyone else boat, whether its jig built or whatever)

Above was questions asked by SeaDraggon in another thread and instead of jackin his thread I figured I start a thread for you all to see my answers.



QuestionIts OK to bash the following:
-anyone in the For Sale forum
Answer Fact! The For Sale Forum to me is just that, a for sale forum. I have heard so many people ***** over time about how other sites run their for sale forum. Fact! We have made it very easy for poeple to post items for sale. Matter of fact, I think we have made things around here very easy on people to be able to enjoy the site. I do know one thread I got involed in, and saw this.

A man put cloths for sale. A member made a simple suggestion that he should try Craigs List and to be honest when attempting to move articles of clothing, craigs list would be a great place to try. The man who put up the cloths for sale bashed the person for putting that up there and should have just simply said thanks I will take that into consideration. But sadly this set the tone for the whole thread and the people came out in full force to make things worse.

Question -anyone looking for someone else
Answer I remember this thread as being so odd that I gave it a shot on the forum. But once this comment was made ""SORRY......BUT THIS ONE GOES WAY TO FAR IN LEFT FIELD FOR ME.........IN FACT...THIS IS WAY OUT OF LINE IN MY OPINION.
NEXT PEOPLE WILL WANT A MISSING PERSONS FORUM...
IF YOU HAD BEEN A LONG TIME MEMBER HERE ON SFC WITH SEVERAL MEMBERS ON HERE TO BACK YOU UP ....I WOUILD POSSIBLY HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW HERE
I VOTE EL ZAPPO THIS THREAD NOW! "'"

I do not have a problem with the post above as it was just a mans thoughts. He did not want to see another chesney thread I am sure. I do not know that for a fact, but did have a good feeling his intentions were good. Sadly thats all it took to set the tone in the thread and from there it went to hell. Do I know if the thread was honest? Heck no! This is the net, but again you the members, have asked that I do not run around here with a iron fist. So many people have bitched to me in the past that they want a forum they can share thoughts without someone constantly deleting content. I have tried my best to make good judgment calls.

Question -Marty,

Answer I really do not know the answer to this as all people have opinions. As you said in the post above you just stated what your thoughts were about Archer. I find a lot of this with Marty as well, people post up things that do not sit well with Marty, and he fires back. To be honest I do not know the answer on why Marty gets mad at someone in fact, I think alot of it was things that happened in the past. I would bet that atleast 90% of the site has no clue about raymond and marty since it was so long ago. I guess my point is, new readers do not see why someone fights back. Not to many people know the past about someones relationship online, and They just see and argument and jump in. I try to give marty what he has always asked for and that is the ability to be himself. Unless I know alot of the issue at hand I can not correct them or help. So answer would be, no I do not think it is ok to bash Marty or anyone for that matter. One thing that comes to mind when users are reading these fourums is, do you want to ruin this topic or just bite your lip and move on.

Marty has a very large presence on this site, fact is, when your at the top of the ladder, people are always gonna try to pull you back down. Its up to you to either crumble to the pressure or stand up and let it bounce off and not be phased. For me, I give the most politically correct answer I can and move on, if I did not do this, the site would crumble.

Question -Me,

Oh man, I have to admit you can come off rather abrasive. The truth of the matter is I personally have always felt you dislike me per some of your comments toward me in years past. But fact of the matter is, I never let it bother me as I really do not know if you are having fun with me, riding my ass to see if you can piss me off , as a web master I have tried to learn how to run a successful site. One thing that I have learned is to be neutral. So when I meet you at barta last year I shook your hand and introduced myself. You seemed like a very nice guy and if I were to judge you on your posts, I must say I expected you to not shake my hand and walk away. But that is why I try to never jump to conclusions on line. Text is text and it does not convey emotion. Heck I see people say all the time that smilies show emotion. Fact is I post on some boards and when i say something I may really truly mean rude things but I try to end it with a smiley to confuse people. Do I think you deserve to be bashed NO, on line when you speak out you have to expect people to come back. When people come back at you, maybe you should have stayed away from the subject at hand. If you can not hold back then you have to expect an action from others.

Its not OK to bash
question -Fred ,,

answer I have spent hours on the phone with Fred and he is a really nice man. He has helped me with alot of behind the scene things over the last 2 years. He has taken a ton of his own time to help me with some really crazy things that have happened that none of you see. I like him and also get a ton of emails from people saying that they really like to read freds posts. Even though yes, they have sales pitches in them he does try. We could take this back to anyone on this site. Why does canyon runner post reports and say he used a canyon runner bar. Do people think adams crew is posting reports for his health? No he is posting them to keep a presence for his company. Some are better at this kind of markiting then others, but hey that is life.
Everyone of you posts for a reason, Even you Sea Dragon. You use your sig to promote things and I have never asked anything of you. Its your way of paying for your time or just plan old keeping your name out there. The Internet world is full of opportunity and we all do what we do for our own reasons. Fred is a good man that has a style that some do not agree with but tons of people do like him. In my book if the man is taking time to write things weather you like it or not he is still taking the time to educate, and that is what I have always asked for. We can even look at marty where he posts about the box set or the riggin schools or the thumb dinger or offshore innovations or the sniper rod or stalker or the barta club. We all have reasons.


Question -Squids and or Bars ,,,

Answer Everyone is going to have a different opinion on this. Who and what is good, as it shows us all sides of fishing. If everyone agreed no one would learn and that is boring. I learn alot sometimes when you all go at it and I read between the lines.

Question -Contenders( really anyones boat or Manufacturer.)

Answer Wow this one is interesting. BOATS ,,, First I would like to say this.
The recent thread in the inshore forum makes me sad. I have asked Mary and others to help make the inshore forum move. I have asked her, and others, to put good content in this forum, she did what I asked. What do you know? she gets slammed! I guess I should have put up a newsletter letting everyone know I asked her to help out. Mary spent alot time with us last year helping grow this site and bringing in a new crowd. She has covered events for the site to bring more action and build her name. Yes at one point mary ran with the ball and got very aggresive in all of the forums to which I didnt see. I was busy, marty hit me up about one in the offshore forum and I think I moved it right away when it came to my attention. Mary is a really nice girl who is working very hard to prove herself in a really tough industry. Sad part is once the first couple negative comments were made, the war started. Now, all we got is another drama thread in the fishing forum.

This site is all about content and people. Good content makes a better site. This website is a very content rich site and I will continue to work very hard on making it better.

The day the boat manufactures and the marine industry realize that their consumers are online and are starving for info, then maybe they will get off their asses and listen to me. I can only preach so much to them that providing us with good solid info would be a great thing. But they continue to fight the net and spend massive amounts on print and tv when the fact is, the consumers are right here online.

We as a company have decided this year to "86" alot of things and invest more into the site. We are goint to bring more people to keep the content and articles flowing. Its a work In progress and I'm sure we will have bumps in the road. We can only try, and every time we fall on our faces we will get back up and try something else.
You may all see contenders or cape horns and jersey capes around here as they are the only companies who seem to believe in all of you. Most companies have even stated that message board users are just a bunch of key board warriors. The only companies you see flying banners around here are the ones that want to see this place grow and yes I do respect them for believing in us as a community of fishermen not warriors with keyboards in our holsters.

Do they get away with some stuff? Yes! they may, but they also do here from me and say you need to step up with some content or info as well. Wayne from Jersey Cape was one of the first to get behind us and see that we are working hard to make this site the best damn place on the net for the saltwater enthusiast. Most of the marine industry is lacking with an strong online presence, we at sportfishermen hope to change that. As you can see we are starting to bring in some great sponsors that make this site work. Websites are not free.

We ran around for 4 years from tournament to tournament, took video, spent hours editing, well before there was any sponsors on this site. This was reconized buy a few great sponsors and relized that their add dollars went back into the site to improve and expand. Marty spent endless hours developing videos and writing, do you think this just happened? Marty and I wished the industry would have moved a lot quicker realizing that the consumers were on the web thirsting for knowledge and help us grow this adventure. For Marty, I feel bad that years later the industry is starting to turn the corner and I can not make them go any faster then they do.
Maybe if Marty hangs in there he will find that a smart company will back that forum and help him educate new and old readers every day. Sadly though as of late its hard to convince a company to get behind things when a lot of people are acting like animals.


All I can say is, our staff is working everyday to make this a better place to read and watch videos, but if a few bad apples continue to keep a negative attitude I do not see us being able to make that change.

I really must say I have made a ton of new friends from this site I hope everyone understand that we are here to make this the best site for all, novice to pro. For this to happen, we need your help to maintain the best site on the net.

Capt John Eppehimer

[hubris 1]

i didnt even make the top five! i was sick all last week but, i cant believe i didnt get an honorable mention. well i did just write a smart a... letter to a lawyer. maybe that will get him going........

[gottaflylee]

John, I don't know how you keep it together with all the drama that goes on here. I tip my riggers to ya, you got a nasty job sometimes, and baby sitting should not be one of them. I know that if a few/ ALL of the "Pot" stirers would ease off some this site could grow faster and better cause you could concentrate on doing the job you set out to do. Sorry for all the trouble you have to put up with but I thank you for all you do for us and giving us a wonderful playground to play in...
Lee

[Wild Life Management]

John, I don't know how you keep it together with all the drama that goes on here. I tip my riggers to ya, you got a nasty job sometimes, and baby sitting should not be one of them.

I'm with Lee. Thanks for putting up with all the crap, at least you can't smell it through the internet.

Definitely buying you a cold one next time I see you.

-Ken

[FinRazr]

This is for you John




U DA MAN!!!

[ejstenger]

I agree with YA on the best site on the Net. Keep it up it is expanding every day THANKS

[Proheat]

John, I don't know how you keep it together with all the drama that goes on here. I tip my riggers to ya, you got a nasty job sometimes, and baby sitting should not be one of them. I know that if a few/ ALL of the "Pot" stirers would ease off some this site could grow faster and better cause you could concentrate on doing the job you set out to do. Sorry for all the trouble you have to put up with but I thank you for all you do for us and giving us a wonderful playground to play in...
Lee

I'm with Lee. Thanks for putting up with all the crap, at least you can't smell it through the internet.

Definitely buying you a cold one next time I see you.

-Ken

John- I agree with the above posts.
Keep up the good work!

The negativity seems everywhere..........I think that it is a sign of the times!

I have been refraining from posting all because of the BS that is going on. Hopefully it will warm up soon and everyone will get back out on the water and calm down again and act better!

Your doing a good job and nobody can take that away from you dude!!

[marlineer]

There is alot to digest Here on SFC right now. I will say this, You wax the car.....it rains, You lay cement.....someone steps in it, You build a top-notch forum site.......someone will bash on it. Keep up the good work John, Still an awesome place to share experience and knowledge. You should give Me a call

[flatbottom]

John about the shirts for sale thread. I was part of that for a reason. I also read on this site today that Marty reads that forum. I was also pm'ed about the remarks I made in that thread. Well it did go down like this. In the top of that forum there is a sticky. Member tunaman as all of us, can read. That sticky is there for a reason. A long time member and friend of many on this site noticed tunaman join and proceed to sell. I personally do not read that forum as I was working on videos in the boating forum at the time. Then The long time member watched tunaman Sell some more, and then some more. I did look like at the dates of the posts. It was brought to tunaman's attention by the long time member " the rules of the forum". IN return a remark was made back the the long time member. The Tone was set that day. I talked to the long time member/friend about it. Hey everyone deserves a chance Right? The next thread his reply to another long time member, about the craigs list reply. I will change gears here and say. I could care less what is for sale in that forum. Rubber bands for all I care. The forum works as designed and I appreciate it being available. Now back to the topic. With the smart crack reply from tunaman the doors opened in on him. Now if all the members that visit this site read that sticky you have in that forum...there would be 19,000+ in that post as views. The long time members that do read your posts, respect the chance to use the forum as the rules are laid out. We as members do not know any different, if rules have changed. I see the sticky there now, so I assume it has not. Did the thread go south...you betcha it did. Did tunaman get the drift. Now that I do not know. He read the sticky and paid no mind, so that answer is up in the air. The point was served. So if it offended others...maybe they should have stepped back and read what unfolded, unless the members that were rudely replied to by tunaman are not worthy to stand up for in their eyes. The long time members were Proheat and Captain Brian .....both whom I respect for a 1000 reasons or another...you know small chit in life. It is not my decision to change the rules or other members...but we all respect them. They are there for a reason.

[Wasabi]

For what it's worth, I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

For whatever reason, this last couple of weeks or so, it seems like the negativity has reached new heights.

It really tears me up to see Capt. Archer and Mary attacked for the mere act of posting data that I'm sure a lot of members find entertaining and informative. I apologize for letting myself get caught up in it. Reacting negatively to negativity doesn't seem to be the answer. I honestly don't know what is.