I've got a bit of a gripe. I admit it's relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things and ultimately the issue was resolved to my satisfaction. But what good are forums if we can't speak our mind and voice an opinion?

I recently posted about a problem that was subsequently resolved. What bothers me is the way some of the admins have reacted. The first attempt was to blame PayPal for the problem. When I pointed out that it was likely their problem they closed the thread even though there was an ensuing discussion. I opened it again. They closed it again. This went on three times. The third time included a rebuke about how when admins close a thread it stays closed. However, subsequent to this another admin reopens the thread just to put in his two cents before closing it again.

Not one to shy from a good debate, particularly one that is fair mined, I reopened the thread again with a comment of my own pointing out their hypocracy. Now I find the thread deleted. I find that quite humorous. The admins ought to be able to handle a little good natured ribbing from paying members from time to time.

Now, how's that search fix coming? Let's see if this thread stays open until that issue is resolved.

 

I don't see your post, so I guess it's been deleted.

PS. You should let sleeping dogs lie. This is a privately owned forum. The owners can do as they wish. That's their prerogative.

 

I realize that it's privately owned, but what good would this place be without the paying members and the community at large?

 

This may be true, but as a "gold member" myself, I understand and accept the need to censor certain types of posts and certain types of individuals, including me, should I step "out of bounds". Freedom of speech is all fine and good, but not if it involves lobbing grenades at those who run the show. I don't know what specifically you are referring to so I can't comment on it, but I have to side with the site owners that they did what they deemed as their right to do.

 

No grenades launched, just some constructive criticism in pointing out falacies in their arguments about why the services on this site are subpar.

For the record, I'm a happy site user and pay for gold membership not because I get more than a guest, but because I want to support their efforts financially. I know that it takes a lot of work to keep things going, but I don't believe in excuses or hypocracy. I'd also like to see a few things get better here as well, like search. It is the most valuable aspect of the site.

 

Your argument sounds reasonable to me, but I think you'll have to get a response from those in charge if this is to get resolved.

 

The paypal thing is not an excuse, it is a FACT.

I think the admin would rather spend their time running the place than answering accusatory questions and statements that falsley claim to their answers.

Have a nice day

 

There is a huge difference between a problem with PayPal and a problem with this site's implementation of a PayPal interface. It's very easy to point the finger at PayPal and say its their fault. However, given the number of problems with memberships posted in this forum and the ever failing search capability, I'm betting it's not a PayPal issue. Granted that's just my opinion, but forums are all about opinions.

You never mentioned why you deleted the thread. Was there something inflammatory about it or did it just annoy you for me to call ? I don't mean any disrespect. I just call it the way I see it. No hard feelings and I really do hope that search gets fixed soon.

 

Look, here's the problem and the solution. You pay with PayPal and when you do PayPal connects to a web page and submits a message telling us you paid. It's like posting a message except it's a special kind of message. It's called IPN and you can read all about it on PayPal's site. It is that message from PayPal which automatically updates your membership.

If for some reason we don't get that message (which seems to happen 1 in 50 times or so) then we never find out about your payment. There is no record of it.

The point is that it works some of the time but not all of the time and when it doesn't we have to deal with it manually. Since about 2% of all memberships don't get notifications it's not the first time it has been answered. It's not a topic for discussion, it's a fact and there is nothing to discuss. You send the email, we update your account, end of story.

Why does it work like that? You need to ask the guy who write the software which wasn't me. It was like that when I bought it. While you're asking you can ask why it doesn't let people renew their subscriptions or even send them emails to let them know it's going to expire. It is what it is. The consensus is that it sucks, nothing to discuss right? It's not easy to fix because it's connected to so many other things that will break unless I fix them too. The whole forums software package is like that and making significant changes without breaking the site in 50 other ways is very difficult, time consuming and needs to be planned out in advance.

We lock and delete threads which are asking a specific question that has been answered. Nobody else but you and us cares about your membership. If it might be useful to someone else we lock it. If it's a topic that would benefit from discussion then it's left open.

 

Reefwalker... I think the Nazis deleted your thread...