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Hi all,
As I'm sure you've noticed the forum has changed a lot over the past few years, and not necessarily for the better. The number of members is decreasing and the general atmosphere has become a lot less friendly than earlier Dover Forum days.
This isn't what I planned when I took over - PaulB did a great job and unfortunately I'm not able to cover local events and contribute in the same way, but while I take care of the technical side of things I'd hoped the friendly local forum would continue with healthy discussion between members.
Given that it's not currently working and it doesn't paint Dover in a good light (yes, lots of potential visitors read what you write) I'm hoping we can make some changes - there are some very good members and I appreciate the time and thought you put into your contributions, but a number of others are also posting negative, inaccurate, and sometimes offensive or libellous comments.
I'm adding a few guidelines that should be considered before posting on the forum:
1. Take a look at the topic title - is your post related to this discussion? If not, perhaps it's better to start another thread.
2. Does your post contribute something to the discussion?
3. Have you considered the positives as well as the negatives?
4. This is a community - be respectful of other people's opinions. It's okay to disagree but present your case in a tactful way.
Now for the part where some people will grab their pitchforks and start chanting 'censorship' - I'm going to start deleting posts that don't contribute to discussions in a constructive way. It wont have anything to do with whether I agree with your post, but it may be removed if it doesn't look like you've thought about the points above, especially number 4.
I know some of you are also unhappy about the use of pseudonyms. I don't currently plan to change this - the majority of recent problems have been caused by people using their real (or at least believable) names, and there have been some great posts by people who have chosen to use an alias.
I don't want to pull the plug on the forums, but they need to change back into a healthy and preferably friendly online community, and I'm hoping everyone might be able to help me with that.