LondonDragon
Member
.... but some things need to be cleared up here!
Putting all the blame on Tim is not the right move here (he did f'up things here this week but cut some slack), ever since I made Tim admin he always asked to see the accounts and was not shown them, that has been brewing for a while and I did point this out to the Founders that it will be an issue going forward if no transparency. To be honest I am the tech guy and always wanted to be just the tech guy with minimal moderation, also I did not care for the accounts ( I do have a degree in Accouting and Finance, I did offer to help but was told it was under control, so I don't care), I trusted the person doing them, but I was blind to them and no idea if what I was being told was facts or not, we will soon find out anyway! BTW Dan was instrumental is getting the initial funding for UKAPS, and funding for every event we did over the last 15 years! in the UK and abroad!
Over the last two years we had an influx of troublesome members that have pushed the boundaries of what UKAPS is all about, this has taken a toll on all of us here moderating the forum, specially Tim and Geoff that have been more at the forefront of it, it is mentally draining at times dealing with this s*it, I didn't always agree with all of it, but for a consensus I went with most of it and a lot of the time I ended up cleaning a lot of the mess on UKAPS, some you guys didn't even realise.
I did point out to Tim various times that he is taking stuff too personally at times and becoming emotional with it all, I am busy and the work behind the scenes takes a lot of time on a monthly basis, to keep the server always patched, running the latest operating system, software packages, forum scripts, forum addons, so UKAPS doesn't get security exposures and prone to hacks, ensure backups are taken daily, restoring backups once a quarter on my private server to ensure in the event of a disaster I can recover UKAPS and minimal data is lost. I do not have time to read most posts on UKAPS these days and let alone perform heavy moderation, its not what I signed up for.
It is very easy to critise the Team when things go wrong, or when we have to act and take actions and ban people or warn people! But all you have to do is log in ask questions, reply to questions, have a banter (even if at our expense at times) and go on your way! We here have to endure it on a daily basis, trust me it is F'ing mentally draining on all of us at times! Don't just blame us, you guys also have a responsibility to keep UKAPS peaceful and safe, and some of you have been a-holes this week! Can you imagine some of those people in charge of anything? God save us all.
I warned the Founders and Admins, and lately the team that I was going to call it quits at some stage, due to the toxic behaviour of members and the way some things were being moderated, I had even discussed this with some members (Darrel one of them). Tim has been doing the Admin of the forum side and is well capable of doing it, so I created a separate admin account and said when I step down I will keep helping out where is needed until you are happy with it all, also doing the server side, I did give Tim access to all of it recently, he might have got a little overwhelmed with it all.
When Tim became officially the sole Admin, he started to press for the finances and Dan didn't budge, like I said before a clash of two personalities! Tim told me he would go public and I did say "you will kill UKAPS", but people have to know, resolve it with the Founders, but the founders have been where? nowhere also! So they are to blame in this also. He published it and I said "you killed UKAPS" .
What happened after that was a s*it show! Members pushing the buttons because they can, and feel that they are entitled to it. Accusing people of all sorts of stuff regardless of any truths on anything. It's easy to say stuff when you are seating behind a computer! But when I asked for people to step up and taking charge of our social media, or look after the plant database, did anyone step up? Yeah always the same people that are already doing other jobs! I spent hours and hours on that plant database, no one even offered to help when I asked for it, community you say, right? I put in 13 and a half years of work here, did I ask for a penny in return? Some mods have been here just as long, some more active than others. yes the members make the content but some of us have to keep the lights on!
A lot of this stuff has been brewing up here, and the toxicity from some members towards the team is f'ing unbelievable! So you have yourselves to blame here too! I am pretty sure out of all of those that criticised this week, very few or none actually offered to do anything about it, for some it's a F'ing joke all of this!
Anyway I am sick and tired of opinionated people without any context! If you have nothing better to say just shut the F up!
A lot of this happened so quickly, and to be honest I am worried about Tim's mental state, I worked with him for so long, he did go on a bender yesterday for some reason, I still don't understand that, was it the power? was it emotion? some very erratic decisions were being made and touching things that he didn't need to touch, if he is unstable he needs help not bashing. I did not expect things to escalate this quickly, it was a rollercoster ride!
The Team are dealing with this, I am not part of the Team any longer and I am trying to keep out of it as much as I can, I have been asked to step in and help, but I need to see a plan, I need to see the finances, and I need to know what is wanted of me! At the moment I am happily retired and watching from the sidelines, but this has upset me greatly! Just chill out, give the team some time, let things cool down, check up on Tim make sure he is OK, at the end of the day we just need a couple of treasurers, legalise the accounts and someone to look after the tech side of things! F'hell is that simple! Oh yeah and you guys to behave too! that helps! It's just a forum here we all have lives to live too!
UKAPS was a very friendly place, the dynamic has changed as forums are closing and everyone is ending up here! Its not fair some of you do not respect US the TEAM! I try to keep a cool head most of the time but this also has been very upsetting for me! This should be a safe haven for people from any age, gender, background, whatever! (BTW I was called an immigrant scum lately too by a member!)
At the end of the day we have a responsibility for the safety of the members and look after our Sponsors. The Sponsors don't even make the most out of the forum at times, I bet most just trust and want to help the Team.
Anyway my rant is over, I want what is the best for UKAPS, I have worked hard on this and so have the rest of the Team, inc Tim, regardless of what has unfolded here over the last week. So respect people first of all, no one is getting rich out of this forum, only the members through its content!
Have a good night! my football team did well today and I am looking to more drama on the pitch not on UKAPS, and I am going on holiday next week too! Just in time!
Putting all the blame on Tim is not the right move here (he did f'up things here this week but cut some slack), ever since I made Tim admin he always asked to see the accounts and was not shown them, that has been brewing for a while and I did point this out to the Founders that it will be an issue going forward if no transparency. To be honest I am the tech guy and always wanted to be just the tech guy with minimal moderation, also I did not care for the accounts ( I do have a degree in Accouting and Finance, I did offer to help but was told it was under control, so I don't care), I trusted the person doing them, but I was blind to them and no idea if what I was being told was facts or not, we will soon find out anyway! BTW Dan was instrumental is getting the initial funding for UKAPS, and funding for every event we did over the last 15 years! in the UK and abroad!
Over the last two years we had an influx of troublesome members that have pushed the boundaries of what UKAPS is all about, this has taken a toll on all of us here moderating the forum, specially Tim and Geoff that have been more at the forefront of it, it is mentally draining at times dealing with this s*it, I didn't always agree with all of it, but for a consensus I went with most of it and a lot of the time I ended up cleaning a lot of the mess on UKAPS, some you guys didn't even realise.
I did point out to Tim various times that he is taking stuff too personally at times and becoming emotional with it all, I am busy and the work behind the scenes takes a lot of time on a monthly basis, to keep the server always patched, running the latest operating system, software packages, forum scripts, forum addons, so UKAPS doesn't get security exposures and prone to hacks, ensure backups are taken daily, restoring backups once a quarter on my private server to ensure in the event of a disaster I can recover UKAPS and minimal data is lost. I do not have time to read most posts on UKAPS these days and let alone perform heavy moderation, its not what I signed up for.
It is very easy to critise the Team when things go wrong, or when we have to act and take actions and ban people or warn people! But all you have to do is log in ask questions, reply to questions, have a banter (even if at our expense at times) and go on your way! We here have to endure it on a daily basis, trust me it is F'ing mentally draining on all of us at times! Don't just blame us, you guys also have a responsibility to keep UKAPS peaceful and safe, and some of you have been a-holes this week! Can you imagine some of those people in charge of anything? God save us all.
I warned the Founders and Admins, and lately the team that I was going to call it quits at some stage, due to the toxic behaviour of members and the way some things were being moderated, I had even discussed this with some members (Darrel one of them). Tim has been doing the Admin of the forum side and is well capable of doing it, so I created a separate admin account and said when I step down I will keep helping out where is needed until you are happy with it all, also doing the server side, I did give Tim access to all of it recently, he might have got a little overwhelmed with it all.
When Tim became officially the sole Admin, he started to press for the finances and Dan didn't budge, like I said before a clash of two personalities! Tim told me he would go public and I did say "you will kill UKAPS", but people have to know, resolve it with the Founders, but the founders have been where? nowhere also! So they are to blame in this also. He published it and I said "you killed UKAPS" .
What happened after that was a s*it show! Members pushing the buttons because they can, and feel that they are entitled to it. Accusing people of all sorts of stuff regardless of any truths on anything. It's easy to say stuff when you are seating behind a computer! But when I asked for people to step up and taking charge of our social media, or look after the plant database, did anyone step up? Yeah always the same people that are already doing other jobs! I spent hours and hours on that plant database, no one even offered to help when I asked for it, community you say, right? I put in 13 and a half years of work here, did I ask for a penny in return? Some mods have been here just as long, some more active than others. yes the members make the content but some of us have to keep the lights on!
A lot of this stuff has been brewing up here, and the toxicity from some members towards the team is f'ing unbelievable! So you have yourselves to blame here too! I am pretty sure out of all of those that criticised this week, very few or none actually offered to do anything about it, for some it's a F'ing joke all of this!
Anyway I am sick and tired of opinionated people without any context! If you have nothing better to say just shut the F up!
A lot of this happened so quickly, and to be honest I am worried about Tim's mental state, I worked with him for so long, he did go on a bender yesterday for some reason, I still don't understand that, was it the power? was it emotion? some very erratic decisions were being made and touching things that he didn't need to touch, if he is unstable he needs help not bashing. I did not expect things to escalate this quickly, it was a rollercoster ride!
The Team are dealing with this, I am not part of the Team any longer and I am trying to keep out of it as much as I can, I have been asked to step in and help, but I need to see a plan, I need to see the finances, and I need to know what is wanted of me! At the moment I am happily retired and watching from the sidelines, but this has upset me greatly! Just chill out, give the team some time, let things cool down, check up on Tim make sure he is OK, at the end of the day we just need a couple of treasurers, legalise the accounts and someone to look after the tech side of things! F'hell is that simple! Oh yeah and you guys to behave too! that helps! It's just a forum here we all have lives to live too!
UKAPS was a very friendly place, the dynamic has changed as forums are closing and everyone is ending up here! Its not fair some of you do not respect US the TEAM! I try to keep a cool head most of the time but this also has been very upsetting for me! This should be a safe haven for people from any age, gender, background, whatever! (BTW I was called an immigrant scum lately too by a member!)
At the end of the day we have a responsibility for the safety of the members and look after our Sponsors. The Sponsors don't even make the most out of the forum at times, I bet most just trust and want to help the Team.
Anyway my rant is over, I want what is the best for UKAPS, I have worked hard on this and so have the rest of the Team, inc Tim, regardless of what has unfolded here over the last week. So respect people first of all, no one is getting rich out of this forum, only the members through its content!
Have a good night! my football team did well today and I am looking to more drama on the pitch not on UKAPS, and I am going on holiday next week too! Just in time!
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