Wow. Okay its really cool that you guys are even considering taking our opinions into considerataion. I have a few points Id like to bring up...

Point 1: I dont feel Im alone in this, but you really need to evaluate your moderating staff. Now Im sure there are a quite a few mods on here that are close friends, etc, but here lies the problem. Im not pointing out anybody in particular, but there are some moderators that either A: Arent doing their jobs, B: Showing serious favoritism in how they choose to moderate, C: Pick and choose what rules they want to enforce. No I dont have a written list of when these things have happened, but it does happen. Dont get me wrong, there are some good moderators, Ruiner/shagwagon/Atif/etc, but these guys have their heads on straight, and have no personal affiliation to site sponsors that can affect their judgements on how they moderate. And if the members have rules that they need to follow, then the moderating staff needs to follow them as well. For example, if we have sig rules then the moderators dont need to have "stacked" sigs of images either.

Point 2: The Red Light District: Hell Im all about ass and titties sometimes, but this is an automotive forum, not a porn site. If people complain about it, then they obviously are idiots that dont know where to obtain it anywhere else, or they are lazy. If your argument is that it brings more traffic? Personally if I owned the site, Id rather be well known for having a site that brought traffic because of the quality of its members and overall forum. There are some REALLY successful forums that bring in 10's of thousands of users a day that do not have Porn Forums.


Point 3: The Whoreslounge. Change the name to Off-Topic. Remove the "call-outs" connatation that it carries. This forum is great, but like many would agree, there are a lot of things that go on in here that just sholdnt be in an "automotive" centered forum. I think there should be a list of clean cut rules stickied up top to cover what should not be posted in here. When people have perceived free reign over a forum section, then they feel like they can post anything they want. But that gives the moderators of the section more **** to handle, and it causes people to get pissed off more when they dont realize why their threads were deleted.

Point 4: Rules for Moderators. Just because you are a moderator of a web forum doesnt mean you are a God amongts men. Moderators need a set of rules and they need to follow them, and it should be the job of admins to make sure they are following them. If they arent then find someone that can fit the bill for the job. Here are some examples:

-Enforce the rules stated in the stickied rules thread in the main forum. If there are special occasions where the rule isnt documented then ammend it and place it in there for future occurance.
-If a thread is deleted, PM the user why. Im sure some will probably think, why? Im the moderator I do what I want. Yeah, that may be the case now, but you also need to think Im sure there was a time someone had deleted or moved your thread and you probably just werent sure why. Be an adult and give them some courtesy, and maybe there wouldnt be so many I hate you QD/FS mod thread threads.
-Im not sure how you all run the moderator forums (the hidden section), but if you guys dont have something in place already, maybe have the set of guidelines in that section. Have someone like Ruiner or another Senior Moderator keep an eye on the moderators that arent performing their duties. They arent being paid to moderate on here, but it still is a priveldge to do so since this is a free site for them, and along with that comes responsibility. Something that I think that a lot of the staff on here lack in, that and maturity. You cant deny that some of the most highly traffic'ed sites have a great staff of mods/admins.


Point 4:
Remove the profanity filter. We're all adults here, or we should be at least. Profanity is everywhere, explicit or not. And if I recall correctly even one of our "OG" moderators has an avatar that says "I say **** **** **** a lot".



So Ive mentioned a few things that some might disagree with and thats fine. Julio mentioned yesterday that I hate IA. That isnt the case, I wouldnt have wasted my time typing this if it was. There is also nothing wrong with the admin team. You , Julio, and Brett are awesome. But your minions leave a little to be desired. Im sure there will be some pissed off at changes along the way, but you cant please everyone, and it is YOUR site to do what you want with it. Hell Im sure there will be a few mad at me at making a post like this, what's new huh? But I can say I havent been on IA since 2000, but I have been around "the scene" since then and have seen the same changes you all have. However, in that time before I joined IA, I heard of the site and even still to this day I know of many awesome people that dont come on here because the site is handled in the way that it is. A more professional and mature IA will bring out the better site sponsors. Even though it might lose a few people along the way, they probably werent significant in any shape or fashion either to the advancement to this website.