HiFi Wigwam is no more!
It seems the owner (or mod) of The 'Wam has shut it down. Not sure whether it's temporary or permanent.
Great shame, as I enjoyed the views & the humour over there.
Maybe there'll be a few more migrating over to here now?
If the main Wammer (James, is it?) reads here, just to say thanks for your efforts. I'll miss that place!
Matt.
Comments
I can entirely understand why James decided to shut it down though. For all the passionate debate it is only hi-fi....some things are more important.
James
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6330/wamclosed.jpg
I have every sympathy with the guy, as some others appear to. But he seems to be getting a rough ride for his decision from some posters on some forums.
I find it endlessly frustrating that some people seem to find it a challenge to appreciate the cosequential nature of actions. Righteous rudeness is unpleasant and has all sorts of consequences. From james' statement these have taken their toll. I don't know him at all, but wish him all the best with his future happiness.
Hopefully, if James decision is final, we can continue here to protect this forum and the vast majority of our respectful members from the kinds of hassles that have led directly to James decision.
I would urge you to ban anyone who becomes a problem. We can do without the hassles of entrenched rudeness!
B-)
Personally I see parallels to another situation involving such 'principles' and their skewed application, so I too feel for James.
WigWam was a product of the people that posted there - it had an unfortunate tendency towards bullying intolerance but that was balanced by fairly wicked humour. It wasn't always pleasant but often it was informative and vibrant.
I should say that I personally owe an awful lot to the collective wisdom and the personalities (and their disorders) on the 'wam. My choice of kit, what I have learned & been taught all started from there, the first forum I came across.
As regards this place.it is similar to the 'wam in that it is you guys - the membership will make it work or otherwise. We hope for & actively pursue the goal of tolerance & respect so that free speech can remain free, which is the only agenda we have.
So long as keep getting nice members like you lot we won't really be needed.
But whatever happened over at wigwam, it does usefully illustrate the very real point that the forum is in some sense the property of the owner. He is at liberty to do with it as he wishes.
From what I'm reading, some members at Wigwan seem to have forgotten this at their peril.
At the same time, i'm sure many wam members were respectful of James and his house rules. It's a real shame for them that the party's been closed because of the behaviour of a minority.
As one of the 'fools' that wouldn't be suffered gladly I would always hesitate to ask certain questions over there. In the sense that many core posters had found 'the light' and were intolerant of the unenlightened exploring what is and is not reasonable for themselves the 'Wam was sometimes unwelcoming to those not in the right clique. You must understand that to some the place felt adversarial in the extreme.
in case I am misunderstood as a 'Wam basher, I want to say I still posted regularly over there, and as I said I both learned and owed the community there a lot. I sincerely hope it can be restarted, and FWIW I hope that if it does James gets a bit more respect.
Sorry guys can't understand what all the fuss is about - nobody died it's just a forum for big boys and their toys !!!
Personally I used it only for the classifieds and have no time or interest for all the playground politics and schoolboy bullies.
Yes Alan it seems like the headmaster James is having second thoughts and in reality it is too big to disappear totally. I suspect some form of phoenix will arise form the ashes.
This is good news alround, although I may never fit in as a full fledged Wammer (I am too nice) there is a strong community that has amassed a wealth of knowledge.
I don't doubt his utter frustration and genuine intention to shut it down. As a person I feel for him because of the abuse he got recently, and I imagine running a big forum is fairly thankless (unlike a nice little one). But as a forum owner, I don't approve always of what he presides over, but the 'Wan has grown organically and the membership want it to continue. I'm glad they got their way.
I think the whole thing may have be quite embarrassing for James, perhaps cathartic by the end of it.
It's really all about status and prestige. Even people who sell hifi can't care enough about what other people think about hifi to behave in these ways. But people care very much indeed about what others think about them relative to others.
I think this forum is attempting to aspire to taking the personal and the political out of the hifi discussion. We are all equal here brothers.
Leave your egos at the login desk.
Emoticons >:D<