Where to start........
I saw Pete's post the other day and I can understand where he is coming from, and have noticed a decline in posting from some of the well liked knowledgeable posters (Gav, Mike, Nino, Nick and many more) - which personally I miss as many of the posts are of high quality.
Like a few of the guys have said AP is a great site and provides alot of information for all walks of life who are into pinballs - whether it be restoration, general, new, sales, modifications etc which I think it is a great thing. I think if it reverted to a restoration site only I think the member numbers would plummet and maybe the lurkers would rise (as a percentage of poster's to members).
I do have to take some responsibility for the site's change - good in some people's eyes and bad in other people's eyes - SORRY. I say this because I pushed for the Mods section to start up as with a few other sections. I say SORRY because possibly making these sections more noticeable possibly changed the traffic through the site on a daily basic. Sorry to the guys that hate modifications and live for restorations.
On the flipside having a site that is quite varied grabs the newbies whether they are in it for the new Sterns or in it to restore a old classic but you can only hope the guys into the new style of pins say to themselves - I want one of those old classic pins one day. But for example for me in my particular time of life I have 2 young kids and so restoring is out of the question (time wise) but have 2 that I want to do a full restore so this site serves as a great source of information and the people are very happy to help and one day will frequent that section.
As for posts, many people have told me when crap has hit the fan to hang in there and they appreciate my style of posting - informative and helpful where I can with most posts being interesting. I was one of those kids that got bullied and bashed so I try never to dish it out to others and try to show respect at all times. There are always others that want to stir crap up or are frustrated with some and some obvious to how they say things could upset others. But if a thread name or the category does not interest me I just don't open it so I avoid the crap or the threads of non interest to me.
Ok one suggestion, and historically people don't like my suggestions for what ever reason but feel this may aid everyone so here goes and don't know if it is possible.
When you login to AP you choose a section to be diverted to, either
Old School - has the restorations, repairs, Nostalgic and the like in this section
New School - has the modifications, pin shows, general pinball chit chat, sales, trades, reviews, sited, new pins, custom pins etc
I believe most people will create a shortcut straight to the devision they like most and then there is less likely cross over of guys stirring others up with mindless crap in particular people's eyes. But say myself might visit New School 6 out of 7 days so the Old School guys don't have to see me post 10 posts of Metallica videos
like I did today - Sorry, but when I have a problem or am curious of pin repairs or restorations I log into the Old School section. Also maybe for the old school section have a strict rule of no crap talk so the threads there are strictly informative and the mods have the right to keep it just informative. Also when you log in to which ever section you can only see say the 15 most recent posts of New School and likewise in the Old School section, but when in say Old School you don't see the recent post activity of the New School Section.
Also I believe if you have not logged in or not a member you should not be able to open threads maybe just see the index to sweeten a new member in that might want to contribute. Other sites don't allow you to see beyond the index and does not allow a thread to be viewed.
This is just an idea and maybe a way to have the best of both worlds. I don't know if it is possible or too much hassle but in the end Nino and Nick setup up this site with a goal / direction and we need to respect that if it is their wish to change it so be it.
Good luck with the new direction of the site and happy for what ever direction you choose.
Kind Regards
Jady
