TAY Atmosphere

Intersting discussion. This reminds me of another community that I am a part of....though quite different as it is music........the Dead Heads and the Grateful Dead.

I recently made a comment there that I think applies here..........don't take yourself and comments too seriously. Have fun. Relax. It's all about the skiing kids, not about opinions. Ski as much as you can, and be a good soul. Peace.

The problem with the "benevolent dictator as sole business owner" model in a community orientated website is that human nature being human nature, there is always a tendency for the dictator to favor his friends or the people that align with his/her views or increase  his feelings of self-worth.

I don't disagree that there are no inherent problems with the benevolent dictator way of doing things but then ownership by committee is no guarantee of perfection either.  Singapore may jail people for chewing gum, but damn if it don't run like clockwork, has a rip roaring economy and you don't hear too much regarding human rights violations, etc.  So you see, a benevolent dictatorship can work.  

The concepts that you raise regarding rotating the moderator chair or something like that might be attractive.  Perhaps a small group that rotates to share the load and pain.

However, I guess my point was that, in principal, the idea of such a place to go and discuss BC skiing should not be so complex as to require any sort of bureaucracy to run successfully.  Also clearly there are other sites that can satisfy just about anyone's needs and if this site should lose focus or purpose, then another may well take its place.  Ultimately given enough people there could be a site for each group of conies with their honored leader at the helm.  Pretty boring proposition if you ask me.

Alan

 Singapore may jail people for chewing gum, but damn if it don't run like clockwork, has a rip roaring economy and you don't hear too much regarding human rights violations, etc.  So you see, a benevolent dictatorship can work.  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Singapore
At some cost.
Are you promoting caning for transgressors of TAY's civility rules???

Edit to add: I actually compared TAY to the Singapore of BC skiing websites in a post a long time ago( check). I was making the point that the overemphasis on civility due to the extremely fragile egos and underbellies of some would make TAY very orderly, tame, polite and frankly boring when compared to TGR( which the argument was about) which was vibrant, not boring but a bit scary. I don't think TAY should be anything like TGR but some dissent, criticism and "adventure blogging "should be permitted to keep it vibrant and up to date, hence my preference for more looseness BUT with limits. Some anarchy is good IMHO. Singapore sounds like a very boring place, I'd much rather visit Bangkok.

If we cane the Brit, can we bring him back?

This whole thread blows me away. This site is about skiing. Sharing joys and information. There is a loud minority (granted, a very active experienced core minority that I greatly respect) that want to change things. But the majority of users don't come here to piss and shout. The TR's are great. Most of the random tracks are great. The technical information and sense of community is an amazing resource.
The moderator can do what he wants and if it's against the majority's wishes the forum will lose a lot of users. From what I can gather from posts in this thread, users are going away because of the negative tone of other users not because of the moderator's unwillingness to share the duties. Marcus do what you want to keep this a positive place focused on the joys of skiing.

Griff's got it: "Have fun. Relax. It's all about the skiing kids, not about opinions. Ski as much as you can, and be a good soul. Peace."

not in crap in Random tracks or non-backcountry ski related days in the resorts. 

Watch out ddk and CMskier, your days of being able to post in lift skiing section may be numbered. There have been two people calling for the removal of that section in this thread and obviously some have contempt for those that post in the lift ski section. It's a common TAY conceit and one I've argued against frequently and at least those that used to post in that thread about " why don't you go to the BC" when the lift skiers were discussing some point or complaining have been few recently. Those views were never moderated despite being negative against posters in the lift skiing section.
I for one love your posts and the enthusiasm and joy for skiing they show and regularly click onto CMskiers blog to read his full report( Feel free to hate me like the rest, just because I like yours , I don't expect you to like mine)