OK, so some of you want to throw your toys out of the pram. Go ahead.
As for the rest of you, if you are not happy with the decision I have made about what I do and do not allow on PPRuNe then feel free to find another website that will accommodate you.
PPRuNe is PRIMARILY a professional pilots website. I have nurtured it and watched it grow over ten years and not charged anyone a penny to access or use the site. As it has grown the demands on processing power have increased exponentially and I have to watch the costs very closely now as it all has to be funded somehow. In my case, I charge for advertising and if anyone wants to help out with a personal title then thanks. However, a single, plain word personal title will cover exactly
0.1% of the monthly running cost of this privately owned website. Thank you to those of you who have helped in a small way but it is not going to keep PPRuNe afloat.
The problem I have with the Campfire forum is that it is, apparently, just a version of Jet Blast in Afrikaans. Now, whilst I appreciate the offer from some of you to moderate the forum as you are fluent in Afrikaans, the point is that this is primarily an ENGLISH language website. The Jet Blast forum is the ONLY place where I will allow banter that is not directly related to anything that isn't connected to Professional Aviation. Even in JB, ENGLISH is the only language I will allow.
Now I hear some of you yelling "what about the other foreign language forums?". THose forums were set up as a trial to see if they could be supported and the condition was that they were used SOLELY for discussion of PROFESSIONAL AVIATION topics and as far as I am aware, they have not strayed from their remit. Those forums also cater for a few of the other majority languages in use. If I EVER get a complaint about the content of any of those forums and because I can't understand those languages then they will go too.
For a forum to be productive then it needs a minimum number of readers and the typical ratio of readers to posters is 1:20. Even for a private airline forum to work I make sure that there are a minimum of 100 users/readers which only gives about 5 posters. For a non-private free forum I would expect at least 5 times as many readers. Now, if I thought there were 500 regular readers of the Campfire forum who were conversant in Afrikaans then I might consider a specialist forum for PROFESSIONAL AVIATION discussion in Afrikaans. Judging by the numbers I see that have been involved in that forum over the last few months, I doubt you'd have anything near the numbers required. However, I will set up a simple poll in this forum over the next 10 days and the number of Afrikaans speakers who want a dedicated forum devoted to discussion of Professional Aviation issues can make their mark. I will monitor the number of people who bother to register so that they can vote and I will be able to see if someone is deliberately registering from the same location to try and falsely boost the figures.
If I think there is a need for a dedicated Afrikaans forum for professional pilots then I'll consider setting one up. If there isn't, I suggest those of you who are not happy with the situation go and PM each other and set up your own website or just swap MSN or Skype names and for your own group.
P!ssing of me or any of my moderators is not going to do anyone any favours and I suggest that those of you who may wish to reconsider your statements on this thread make use of the Edit and delete features.
So, a reminder... PPRuNe was originally set up to cater for the needs of AIRLINE PILOTS. As it grew and demand increased I included various ancillary professions that were associated with our jobs as airline pilots and it encompassed all legitimate professional pilot and associated trades and professions and jobs. I also catered for the enthusiasts and the passengers and I even included the Jet Blast forum where users could hopefully relax and banter. What I never agreed to was providing some kind of safe haven for refugees and strays who, whilst maybe connected to aviation in some way or another, only wanted the comfort of having a moderated forum for their own small group. It isn't going to happen unless the numbers are there and it is cost effective for PPRuNe as a whole.
PS. And why on earth should anyone think that I'm going to allow anyone to use my website to advertise their own website for free? I have sweated and toiled to get this website to where it is today and anyone... and I really mean anyone, tries to use this forums or any other forum on PPRuNe to advertise their own website without my permission or helping to cover some of the costs of running this website will find it a very cold palce out there if I have to ban them from here.