Now I'm annoyed...

I'm sorry bart, but I will not be taking part in any more discussions regarding the website. There was no need to lock the thread. I think your motives are quite clear to all. Are you going to lock every thread just because you feel frustrated? It is an insult to my intelligence. If you don't like what I'm saying you don't have to respond, especially if you cannot do so in a civilized fashion.

IFAS can consider this a formal protest. I'll be sticking with astronomy posts from now on.

I'm exceptionally dissapoitned that you, a), think so lowly of me, and b) will refuse to help on anything just because we are not doing everything the way you think it should be done.

I genuinely hope you will re-consider because IFAS and it's users stand to gain a lot from your help. You asked for ways you could help and I have provided you with two specific avenues to do that, both of which are ideally suited to your skill set.

Bart.

b) will refuse to help on anything just because we are not doing everything the way you think it should be done.

make no mistake- the reason I will not participate is because you locked the thread. Despite the disagreements on that thread I had no problem helping with the site/logo etc. I can fully accept a decision and move on, because I disagree with it is irrelevant. It happens all the time and it is a natural part of any process. I still have the right to air my opinions. It was not personal. Locking the thread made a clear statement.

b) will refuse to help on anything just because we are not doing everything the way you think it should be done.

make no mistake- the reason I will not participate is because you locked the thread. Despite the disagreements on that thread I had no problem helping with the site/logo etc. I can fully accept a decision and move on, because I disagree with it is irrelevant. It happens all the time and it is a natural part of any process. I still have the right to air my opinions. It was not personal. Locking the thread made a clear statement.

I agree that it made a statement but I don't thin kwe agree on waht statement it made.

In my opinion it made the satement "a decision has been made on this matter so lets move on and not waste more time going round in circles". If you took something more negative out of it then you can rest assured that was not the intended message.

I am prepared to re-open the thread if you feel that will send another clear but positive message but my two design decisions still stand.

It's your call whether or not I re-open the thread.

Bart,

I'm sorry, but quite frankly I don't believe you. You could have asked me to agree to disagree. Again, I feel I raised valid points that were worthy of discussion- this was the cyber equivalent of 'shut up'. I don't see that it can be taken any other way.
Unlocking the thread is just going to result in the continuation of the original debate, but it's somewhat lost it's relevance in light of the new threads.

At very least it raises the question of board policies. As far as I was concerned, a thread could only be locked for offensive language or personal insults. I don't feel this thread bore any of those characteristics.

David

Lads --

As a transplanted American, I see it as my personal duty to be brash (and sometimes even rude). So, with no further ado:

Bart --

Unlock the thread.

David --

Contribute to the new threads.

Thanks,
-- Jeff.

OK, only catching up now on all these posts. If I may make a few points:

* Obviously, one person must take overall responsibility for the running of the website and for it's final implementation.

* However, if I were to ask "could this whole situation have been handled a bit better by everyone?" then I think most people here would answer with a resounding "YES"! (especially the running commentary! )

* The website has grown significantly since it started off. Although I have disagreed with Bart on one or two little things lately, he has dedicated alot of his own personal time to the creation of this environment and should be warmly thanked for that.

* However, as we all know, Bart is snowed-under with work for his post-graduate studies at the mo, let alone trying to pay the bills to let him complete his education. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to me to call in support from members here who have skills in this area. One thing which IFAS should really consider developing is a skills database. As IFAS expands, more projects will need to be done and IFAS sure as hell ain't got no money to pay for this. A skills database of it's members would help here, whether it be websites or whatever.

* The discussion to me has a very simply solution - use the people we have here to get maximum result. Bart would seem to know alot about coding and has openly admitted to feeling less confident on presentation. (I hope I got that correct Bart - some of those other posts made me fall asleep so I may have missed something! ) Dave on the other hand would appear to know a thing or two on form & function and presentation. Lets combine the two ideas together. Bart is the webmaster as per IFAS committee vote and so takes responsility for this current year. If Dave is offering help and has the skills & resources to do so, then I see nothing wrong with it. Personally, I think it's a perfect team who just started off on a bad footing. These two people need to meet up and discuss. However, this is not the place for such detailed conversations considering all the posts to date.

* In future, if we have these sort of discussions, can people try to be a bit more open-minded? When I say people, I mean everyone here. If we disagree on something, lets provide reasons for our disagreement in a more coherent and structured manner. Let's try not to fly off the handel(as easy as that can sometimes be) or do the "I'm running home to Mommy" stunt either. That last one really does look childish and amateurish.

* Finally, can we talk about astronomy for a change!