Am I wrong about this?

[MustangGuy23]

I feel the same way. Rarely do I notice something wrong on here if think of a good idea that they haven't, but if I do I don't say anything. More than likely they are doing far better than I could do so who am I to criticize?

[Tom Geiger]

I know about most of the fake names. But the thing is, I can't prove it... so I can't do anything about it. We rely on people being honest and playing fair... but there's always that certain group...

I should have kept all the PMs I have regarding full names and made them into a book. Nobody would believe them!

Put it all in a book and put it out on Magcloud... I'd buy a copy! And I'd believe it. I've been running a show for 25 years, I've about had it with the general public myself. Most folks understand, and really appreciate, that we are a club running a show for the good of the hobby. But every year there's one to several guys who just unload a rash of garbage on me, for perceived issues, whose fault usually lies in themselves.

The guy who shows up at eleven and goes nuts on me because he couldn't find a parking space. He's parked against a hydrant and tells me if he gets a ticket he will insert it into me.

The guy who shows up at noon with a huge diorama and wants us to empty a full table of models.

The guy who makes a left hand turn on the highway and gets a ticket. I don't care if you can do that in your numbskull state, but in NJ we have jug handles marked "ALL TURNS" and where you turned was plainly marked "NO TURNS". Even your GPS knows that!

The guy who corners me that his bag of purchases was STOLEN at our show and he wants ME to reemburse him. Turns out he left it on a vendor table and good honest vendor turned it in.

The two guys who called after the show (one at 7am on Sunday morning) that their stuff was stolen... one a bag of purchases, the other two models on display... yea, we had them. You left them behind. We mailed them back at our cost, nobody even said thank you.

This one from a few years ago. A guy went through one vendor room, then seeked me out cursing and demanding his money be refunded since we charged so much for such a small show. I pointed out that there was the equivalent of three more gymnasiums worth of stuff (1 gym of vendors, double gym of display models). He just squeeled like a little girl and ran in that direction...

The guy who called me up early Sunday morning after the show complaining that his wife disappeared at the show and never went home. I rolled over, woke her up and told her to go home. (not really, just checking to see who was still awake!)

Edited July 17, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[Art Anderson]

Am I wrong to "constructively" criticize someone's work when I myself am a rookie builder? I mean, some things are just visually way out of scale and some paints are just not done correctly. Anyone else think like me here?

Back to the original question/premise: "Constructive" can be, and often is, a very subjective thing. If it's outright "You should have known to do it "such and so", that's as offensive to a great many people. The best way, I've found, is to either not criticise gratuitously, or at least take it to PM, and that I do very rarely.

Art

[Harry P.]

The vast majority of our forum members don't have any idea of what goes on behind the scenes here, or the krap the mods put up with from some people, or the time spent policing this place. Seriously, if I posted some of the PMs I've received over the years, you would think I was making them up!

[clovis]

The vast majority of our forum members don't have any idea of what goes on behind the scenes here, or the krap the mods put up with from some people, or the time spent policing this place. Seriously, if I posted some of the PMs I've received over the years, you would think I was making them up!

Really? Are people that bad??

[Harry P.]

Really? Are people that bad??

Not many, just a very small minority. Many of them have already been banned. Some keep trying to come back using a different login name and we have to ban them again. There seems to be that small group of guys who for some reason just want to push our buttons and make trouble. Those are the worst... the ones that actively and intentionally give us a hard time. I have to wonder about a person who feels the need to cause trouble on a model car forum. I mean, really? That's how you spend your time?

[clovis]

I've seen some of that stuff on other forums, Harry, so I guess that it is par for the course here.

My guess is that many of these people don't fit in with society well. They've probably been banned from every hobby store, hobby club, and everywhere else too....so they bring their problems here.

The bad thing about the internet is that anyone can use it for free, and if they want to make trouble for others, or be a you-know-what, there is nothing stopping them until a mod catches it.

At any rate, thank you for your hard work in keeping this an AWESOME forum for us.

[unclescott58]

As Mr. Jackson stated above. Thanks for your hard work Harry. I love this forum. It works for me, and I'm enjoying it. So, I'd say your doing a good job with it.

Scott

[Harry P.]

I've seen some of that stuff on other forums, Harry, so I guess that it is par for the course here.

My guess is that many of these people don't fit in with society well. They've probably been banned from every hobby store, hobby club, and everywhere else too....so they bring their problems here.

The bad thing about the internet is that anyone can use it for free, and if they want to make trouble for others, or be a you-know-what, there is nothing stopping them until a mod catches it.

At any rate, thank you for your hard work in keeping this an AWESOME forum for us.

Not just me. Casey also has quite a collection of "love letters!"

[blunc]

can you create a thread named "Luv Letters" and post them with names and references blanked or changed to the word "Squashy"?

[southpier]

I think the presentation has something to do with overall impression. if someone is working with challenges, obviously the end product is viewed with much softer criticism than some bull coming off the line with an I know it all for 50 years demeanor. if someone posts with a caption next year i'll be entering ninth grade, we're not looking at the model as if he won the Revell-Pactra '62 trophy.

personally, I look hardest at models that offer research behind the build. I may not favor that particular genre, but if the original was painted with vampire-blood red maroon #42 and had Dagmars - and the builder took the trouble to research this, I can certainly overlook a glue fingerprint on the windshield.

good grief; it's hobby and should be fun.

and as supplemental information: if you're not banned from at least one internet forum per year, you're not trying hard enough!