Andre and committee, i am posting this as a last resort and hope that we can somehow sort our problems in the right and just manner
Call a meeting as soon as possible and at that meeting lets discuss once and forever everything needed to make this club what it so rightfully deserves, a club for everyone to be proud of.
At this meeting, members who are paid up has voting rights and only decisions made on that basis are form part of wharever decisions. No other club I know of has so may non paying members and easily accessable forum as ours.
Maybe we can have a official forum, where you apply to belong to and then a guest forum where people like 18 can post to.
I know Andre, Gandalph, Julian and all the other guys are businessmen and have much better things to do than waste time on the present situation, but Andre, and maybe I should also rather have discussed this in a private e-mail to you guys, you owe that one last meeting ro yourself, not to anyone else but yourself.
Whoever does not turn up at that meeting has no recourse to bicker or make any contribution whatever is decided at that, hopefully soon meeting

Soory TJ, but our decision was taken at the last Committee meeting and it is final.

I will however help the new committee setting itself up, as long as they don't expect me to do everything.


André

Fair enough Andre, luckily I at least can enjoy your enthusiast site it is a pity though but I also do understand why you have taken the decision.

TJ noting personal but the proposal to have a official forum with applications is loughable. What 2 forums one for the guys that only agree with each other and don't allow any critisizm and the other for the 'unpaid' members and i8 (by the way you only became a paid up member a month or am I wrong....well who am I to judge I haven't paid a cent to the club.....why it is a different topic alltogether.)
Well let me just say that the later forum will be the one frequented by the true Audi enthusiast irrespective of the payment status.....90% of the people here (maybe I am wrong perhaps it is 95%)enjoy the forum which is a window to the club yes but are not prepared to put money in organization that is not clearly defined AGM's that are not held and decision making by the few.
Forum vs Club in the last few weeks it felt like two different entities.
Now the next is going to hurt....The Club is Replacable the Forum isn't.... or is this too radical of a view.
Looking at the unity of the KZN crowd makes one wonder.
Just a thought use it don't

Vesco,

It is posts like yours that offend me and the committee and it is because of people who think like you that we do not want to spend our time and efforts for this club any longer.

How can you possibly say that the club was not runned properly? People, including me, have put hours and hours of work for that club, and now you say you don't want to contribute because we haven't done a good enough job? Furthermore with every club, there is a committe and a chairman and these are the people who take the decisions during the time they serve the club. The committee is elected by the members, and the members can get rid of the committee if they wish.

Until September 2004, which wasn't long ago, the club was run according to the contitution, with regular Committee meetings and AGM's. The only thing we did not do is to hold an AGM in September as we should have and for this I apologise, but circumstances in my life prevented me to organise the AGM, as I had very important things to take care of.

As for the Forum, I totally disagree with you. It is the Forum of the Audi Club, and NOT the other way around. The Forum was created by the club, for its members, not by its members for the club.

Do you seriously think this forum is for free? Of course not, the Audi Club pays for it. So if the club is replaceable so is this forum.
The club goes, so does this Forum.

I agree entirely with TJ, this Forum should be for members only.
This should not be a free for all forum. And once, instead of a contribution, there is a yearly membership, then this forum should be for paid up members only.

And like you said, LOOK AT THE UNITY OF THE KZN CLUB. Why are they so united? Maybe because they don't have a forum where controversy reigns and they see their club as more important than a (the)forum. This is exactly the opposite of what you and some participants to this forum think....Remember that you only represent 5 of 6% of the whole club, but meanwhile you want your own rules to apply.

Maybe some of you guys should visit, audioworld.com, RS6.com, Audifans, RS4.org, bmwm5.com, bimmer.org and compare these forums with ours. At least they don't have the controversies like we have here, and what I see in these forums is frienship between people with the same interest, not only to those who think alike, whereas here, if one does not agree with those who want to rule this forum they own way, then anything but friendship comes out....

André

Andre I take noting away from you please don't take it personaly. Where did I point fingers at the commity for not running to club properly.
Your Quote:
"How can you possibly say that the club was not runned properly?"

Nowhere did I say that the running was inapropriate.....the sentiment is there should be AGM's where members meet and things get voted on....the contributions are silly issue I fully agree and support a flat annual membership fee to cover running expenses (see my post from last week)
Please please do not take things personaly and I am willing to admit that the Forum is Indeed part of the club but at times it is the main association people have with the Audi Club that is my view and lets face it should the forum be strictly regulated and posts are allowed / disallowed based on who and what views that my only view (right or wrong) it that people will find the forum too restrictive and boring hense moving on.
There is a need for it even more so than a Club where no one participates in events.(or very little attendanance at least)
The whole thing is running out of hand and needs to end so I will shut up now.

I tried to get into the MB and BMW sites to post the other day _ funny they want me to join their respective clubs first.
Once again this is an Audi enthusiast site and as Andre and everyone else has stated- no one has a gripe with an occasional posting, comparison test or similar. However no other site allows a total takeover of their forums by other marquis as that could only, as has been happening now result in the situation that has been created. I have gone back through all the postings and at stages this forum read like a bmw forum which was totally unacceptable.
18 achieved his obvious goal, a nice split between the true Audi enthusiast and the identiless on our forum and he and his BMW buddies are having a nice laugh to the expense of our Audi forum.

OK - TJ - have posted on various other brands forums over the years. Its quite possible. Infact I was posting on the USA Porsche BB before I bought the car, just to get information. Helped me with the purchase. Nice bunch of people they are.

Again, your opinion on I8 is now well known, as I think is mine. Perhaps you can bring this up at the AGM where a ruling one way or another can be made. When it was put up to the forum members by Andre, the vote was for I8. I can tell you now that if it was done again the result would be even more conclusive in his favour. So going on and on about the subject in an area where he has support is not really going to get you anywhere positive. You will, infact, damage peoples opinions of yourself.

Too late for that...

PS: came out of retirement cause i couldnt resist one last comment.
Think i will go back now...


JC-S3

I thinks most forums allow posts only with a username / password e-mail registration you don't have to prove what you drive, how long you have driven it and any financial contributions towards an organization.....again I distinguish between this Forum and the Club or I am wrong.
In other works one can post without being a member and one can be a member without ever posting here. Now if I am correct that is the setup that pretty much all forums have register with name and e-mail and fire away.
Maybe to release the pressure me TJ , Andre and all that felt ashamed to be Audi nuts by allowing the threads on rival manuactururs can gang up and start Audi related posts on BM / Merc forums it should alleviate the aggravation some feel and generally improve the mood here.
Lets do it

Vesco, sarcasm does'nt become you and I do not believe that any of us wish to do so. When I visit BM or Merc sites I do it to learn more about those cars. Both those site is very informative as is the BM and Merc official sites and Yes, I do visit those sites as well and enjoy reading there as well. I do not, however see Audi Le-Mans victories, or DTM results posted there as the visitors to those sites are BM and Merc nuts and enjoy their own marquis and do not have the desire to be bombarded with Audi information - for that they can visit our forum.

Hi all,

I have not always agreed with the decisions made by the committee but have to admit that when all is said and done and if looked at completely objectively they have done a absoulutely sterling job. I for one will admit that Andre's value to the club is not quantifiable and am saddened by his resignation. Would you perhaps not reconsider Andre??

Hi guys
Are you preapred to listen to someone from the bush who is far away from the action of the Club?
I have been reading with (saddened) interest over the weeks. I am probably the newest neewbie on the block, added a few comments over the months, but mostly read and learnt. This forum has a wealth of information and a very tight network - believe me when i say the network is tight. Often a request has been ignored my the members/visitors and I feel very out. But then I thought, not to be petty about it, maybe the folk havent got an answer and left the posting alone. So I grew to know the members a bit more and really see what a great bunch mostly that read this Forum. Why havent joined the club yet? - I live in the "bush" far away from Natal and Gauteng here int he Eastern Cape and like the when the GTi club started many years ago, one can part with hard earned cash and be patriotic and get no "benefits" from the club as you are too far away from the tighter group of the active members where meetings build up friendships and the network is tighter.

But as time passes and the members bring in the stray dogs like me, then the attitude of the "visitor" changes and you do join as you feel part of the bigger picture and realise the buddy network and advice you do get from the club & its forum is worth more than the few Rands you have parted with for the year. So for me, thats where I was, even if many postings were ignored, I was planning on depositing and joining in the new year, like a "try before you buy" process as it were. So please guys and ladies out there, lets get back to being Audi fanatics again and support all, regardless of which side of the fence you are and maybe instead of retaliating to folk hwo place bad postings, just ignore them and get on with what we all enjoy!!!!!!!
Roll on the new year and new models (cars I mean) and keep the technical advice flowing, helps us all, especially thos in the "bush"!
John

A4 1999 1.8T Sorantin Blue

Hi John!
You should team up with Stuart Thomson in the EC. He has a S3 which is well sorted, really knows his cars, and all the fellow enthusiasts in the area!

Hi
Thanks for that. Will make contact.
Al the best and thanks.
John

A4 1999 1.8T Sorantin Blue