I agree Dirk, however I'm going to throw a spanner in the works regarding the "small group" idea. All I'm trying to do by saying this to put out an opinion that may not have been thought of previously so please guys I am definitively not knocking anyones ideas or inputs ....
Generally speaking there is a HUGE Gauteng and nearby Provinces involvement with regards to outings planned and lately ( which makes me very happy ) there seems to be quite a surge in the Cape guys becoming more involved with trip plannings etc, which it growing the Patrol Forum immensely country wide, as can be seen by the number of articles written by Wegry etc and the increase in new members that join, almost on a daily basis. (said tongue in cheek)JohnBoy has his priorities all wrong because he unfortunately works far too hard and doesn't do enough Patrolling....
.... but that keeps him in a very neutral position when overseeing the running of the Forum and has always accommodated any new input and ideas that were brought forward. Where Am I going with this? Well sometimes too many cooks spoil the broth. All Johnboy does ( after years of hard work, with Gerrit in the beginning years, to get the camaraderie of this forum to where it is now) really is maintain a decorum that it acceptable to us all. I am concerned that too much change may cause a change that drifts this Forum into the realm of where many many other forums have landed up.
At a stage Johnboy asked Ian and I to assist in an admin role for the forum, as well as incorporate extra Moderators to ensure that the wheel keeps turning. There are 7 hugely important Moderators on the forum keeping an eye on things in the various posts and topics, where anyone can make contact at any stage if there is a problem with anyone being disrespectful (the last time that happened was about 3 or 4 years back if I can recall - he was permanently banned). Other than this the forum runs as smoothly as a baby Patrols bottom.
I have a suggestion that I would like to put forward....
1) Ian, takes ownership of the Patrol forum as he has the infrastructure to accommodate the patrol Forum. If this position opens up to many there are too many issues that can creep up with the mechanical side of the Forum. Currently, if there are any glitches either JohnBoy or myself discuss the issue with Ian who then does his voodoo and problem is solved as he has intimate knowledge of how this forum is set up, ( Ian basically rebuilt the current Patrol 4x4 website after the old one had a few gremlins ).There are still 2 other Admin guys namely Gerrit Loubser, and myself. I would like to suggest that JohnBoy remains as Admin even if it is from a "back seat" or Honourary position, making a total of 4 Administrators.
2) There are 7 Moderators namely Micheal, Dirk, Peter, Tinus, Stefan, Kobus and Saltman (who sadly hasn't been on the forum in a while - but this can be looked at in the future once this has been sorted out), who actually do a more active role than what the Admin guys do.
3) if there are changes or things added that one would like to see on the forum, then send a Pm to either the Mods or Admin. If it is possible generally it will get done. For example I question was raised the other day "is there a Y62 section yet?".... No not yet, but lets get this sorted quickly and then we can look into it.... even though there isn't a Y60 or a Y61 section ( cause we are all equal here....haha), but it is an idea that we can look into.
So in a nutshell, it currently isn't one person running the Patrol 4x4 forum, and suggest we let it run as it is currently running. If anyone feels, that a Moderator is making nonsense, PM the Admin guys. If anyone feels the Admin guys are making nonsense, Pm the Moderators.
