Making new members feel welcome?
 

Through this whole fiasco with BigScotty one of the underlying themes was "we don't want to scare off new members with a dogpile when they talk about their boats, etc."

My thoughts on this have been covered in some other posts, but I figured I'd throw it up here & can be discussed by all. Hopefully without too much fighting; lets discuss the issue to help in the future, not argue about the past.

So, we don't want to scare guys off? No problem, I think we're a pretty open bunch, and are glad to welcome new boaters or aspiring boaters to the site. We do plenty of ball-busting as well, and I think that's fine... we're mostly type-A personalities here.

I do think that there is a time when questioning someone is valid. We've all been taken in before by some with outlandish claims, bragging, promises, etc. Bringing discrepancies to light shouldn't be discouraged when some claims are as wild as they have been in the past.

The way I see it, Big Boy Rules apply. If you want to brag about your 800k boat, 1.5 mil jet, 2 mil house, etc. by all means, do it; just don't be shocked if you aren't taken by your "word". Someone might just call you on it; if you've got it & want to maintain your privacy, hey, just keep it to yourself.

Matter of fact, if you've got it, I'm pretty sure you'll appreciate that we'll attempt to verify it... no need to hang with pathological liars. There are several on this board who do have exceptional means, most of them aren't over the top braggarts & just simply enjoy boating.

This is a financially draining sport, I don't expect that any of us are thrilled to know there are scammers in our midst. It's tough enough to do maintenance, pay insurance, etc. without giving our money to liars. Hell, I liked the Bad Business section....

I consider my time very valuable, as I'm sure the rest of you do. I don't have much of it & come here to relax, learn & "meet" other boaters. We don't need to spend our time here worrying about members that don't exist or who are just trolling the boards fishing for someone to take their bait. There will always be some of that, but I think we can agree that it should be kept to a minimum.

I'm sure we will experience this again, let's try to learn from the past.

Andy

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

who asked you anyway... newbie....

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

Blow me... JoeD said you're the best :D

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

that guy loves me...

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

Stecz might be the next guy we read about on here,I see I am not good enough to be on his list of SBRT members,you know I could bring class back to that organization.

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

down Stecz :D... good point andy. As you have seen I am on the not jumping on people wagon.

In your scenario if someone does come on doing this or just coming on a bit to strongmaybe just a worded response such as this...

_______ Welcome to the board and feel free to join in, however many people here are boaters of means, and we all try to leave the egos at the door.We dont particularly care about someones wealth or lot in life. come in and laugh and talk about our hobby, make friends. even in open or a pm, just to calm them down....

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

welcome to oso... now go f yourself...hows that for a warm welcome andy? BTW how are things in the offshore powerboat capital of the world...Ocala fl :evilb:

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

That's kinda what I was thinking; if someone starts getting crazy, let them know that they might expect some backlash.

I like what I posted above:

If you want to brag about your 800k boat, 1.5 mil jet, 2 mil house, etc. by all means, do it; just don't be shocked if you aren't taken by your "word". Someone might just call you on it; if you've got it & want to maintain your privacy, hey, just keep it to yourself. Big Boy Rules apply.

Matter of fact, if you've got it, I'm pretty sure you'll appreciate that we'll attempt to verify it... no need to hang with pathological liars. There are several on this board who do have exceptional means, most of them aren't over the top braggarts & just simply enjoy boating.

If someone is getting called out by a longtime member here, maybe we need to give them a little lieniency. If the "new guy" isn't personally known, we don't need to instantly defend them; ask the "questioner" to tone it down a bit. If needed, jump their ass via PM.

Re: Making new members feel welcome?
 

Haha... perfect.

Things in Ocala are great, an hour or less to either coast, I can't complain. The offshore "scene" is growing here, we've got Tres, one of the few Dragons is here, me :D ...