1. Truth is more important than usefulness or relevancy here. Do you not care about truth? I don't think you have the soul of a truth seeker. A truth seeker places the love of knowledge above all else, including money and materialism. You admitted yourself that you focus on money matters because money buys your happiness. That's fine, but don't expect everyone to be the same. You don't have a philosophers soul so you don't understand the soul and drive of one. Just like you don't feel the desire to climb Mt. Everest coursing through your veins, so you can't understand those who do.Rock wrote:You are the one who needs to lead by example. Everyone looks to you to set the tone and shape things. Frankly, you don't give this forum enough time or attention. You let trolls do days or weeks of damage and then often just slap them on the wrist if you're not in the banning mood.Winston wrote:You guys need to start taking responsibility here. Together we all make this forum either a great place or a very negative place. You guys should defend this forum if you want it to be defended. Don't depend on me for everything. A forum is a group discussion. Each one of us is a factor. Not just me. So start taking up responsibility guys.
You've also contributed to the fragmentation of the tiny poster base by putting so much time and energy in alternative channels. I'm convinced that the FB group, wechat group, and private spinoff groups have created a lot more damage than synergy.
These days, I get my best HA inspiration from chats to certain members offline, by viewing their photos, or participating in certain groups. For example, I have to go to FB to read about Steve Neese's most recent trip reports and updates in Russia and Ukraine.
The forum itself has become overtaken more off the wall type of threads and discussions. It's no longer a one-stop shop for core HA types of posting - trip reports, experiences abroad, socializing, dating, studying, working and making money, or learning languages in countries or areas which rate highly on HA scale.
It's clear that you ignore a lot of the posts and don't really seem to care much. I've seen it happen a few times where a generally well known poster of many months or years were unknown or almost unknown to you.
You are the leader of the movement and owner and chief admin of the site so if you set that sort of example, it will ultimately drive the whole tone and feel of the place. Many higher value prolific or productive posters have moved on. The quality of your more current content has dropped off IMO and the opinion of many others.
If you would make more serious effort here, I think it would attract a lot more where that came from. If you don't give a damn, why should any of us?
2. Just because I have more diverse interests than you doesn't mean I'm doing something wrong. There is no rule here that says that posts have to be all about expat issues or even useful. There are many topic categories for many different subjects. Free speech does not mean you can only talk about expat issues or keep to a narrow topic focus.
3. I am not a real leader here. No one follows my orders. Everyone here is an independent free thinker. They treat me like some TV guy to judge and mock. No one follows my pattern in posting. Just because I post about something, doesn't mean others start the same topics. There's no connection there. I see no pattern. People post what they want, and usually it has nothing to do with what I post.
4. I have started both relevant threads and irrelevant threads. There are thousands of threads. You can't generalize them all as irrelevant, because some are.
5. Life is not all about one thing. Man does not live on bread alone. Men need spiritual development too. Focusing on that brings balance to life, not distraction. Same with health, discussing current events, conspiracies that affect our lives and this world, etc. It's all relevant in a way because as you know, everything is INTERCONNECTED. There's no true separation. We are all connected at some level, as is everything else in the universe. So again, you are missing the big picture Rock and only focusing narrowly.