Oh well, that has added a bit of light on the matter ... ta.

I have to say I registered there ages and ages ago but stopped contributing after a time as there were (are) a few contributors who I really took a dislike to (I recall they may have originated here). I regarded them as bullies and know-alls and had no wish to have any association there.

And, as you say, the Brexit discussions were caustic in the extreme. Not nice.

If it keeps going, then that's fine. If it were to fall by the wayside .... I wonder if any of them would return here?

"It got bogged down in unpleasantness over Brexit and one or two individuals want to be the 'Alpha male' and have driven a few contributors out via offensive or over assertive behaviour."

Agree with you there Brompt. It's a far from welcoming place for a newcomer, or indeed yourself, if your views don't fit with the alpha males and pedants.

I was trying to think of a way of introducing our new contributor, The Man, to them.

I doubt it costs much to keep going as it's still using same software as this place was ten years ago.

That old screen format I find personally is one of the easiest ones to read, and this one. I have given up reading some forums because the screen layout has made me want to look away after five minutes, the glare of white behind the text being too much.

I'm not sure what 'The Other Forum' is exactly, but one thing I've noticed over the last 10 years or so is the waning popularity of forums - perhaps because of the increasing polarisation of debate on many subjects, especially politics, but also because newer members don't appear to be actually interested in conversations / genuine discussions over a reasonable time on issues.

Often the one-liner (especially insults) and deliberate lying to shut down debate seems to be the order of the day, perhaps because their attention span and knowledge is lower than longer-term/older members. This sort of thing has crept into newspaper comments sections (even on articles that aren't really that political), even to the extent that I've been moaned at for deigning to write all of a two (not too long) paragraph comment, often because it's a complicated issue worthy of a longer comment.

Seems the young'uns (not all but a good percentage) just want a quick fix of 'spicy trash talk' before moving onto the next subject. In many ways, I'm glad the political crises of the past 3 years in the UK is seemingly well on the way to being resolved (whether we like the result or not) and we can get back to a greater extent to discussing 'normal' everyday issues again with a bit more civility and detail, complete with less trolls.

I must admit it is difficult to navigate the sea of outrage culture and the Thought Police who want to shut down debate because some is 'offended' (often at the littlest thing) or because an issue is deemed 'off-limits' because of people with political agendas, who want dictate the terms of debates to further an agenda, or are scared of being 'deplatformed', sued (by theses 'activists' and friends) or driven out of business/their jobs or careers by lies/intentional bad publicity.

Website/forum owners and staff seem to be very concious of this ongoing threat and sometimes go to far to stop the bad stuff, often stiffling debate and thus making the site unviable. I've seen many go that way over the past few years.

What is a shame is that the longer-term decline in decent discussion (not just on motoring issues or not, here and elsewhere) over the Interweb seems to be still on the decline: many forums I've been a member of for years are now no longer active, and nothing replaces them. Maybe people just want their twitter fix.

A lot of people don't like discussing issues in person, even light-hearted ones or when they are meeting to specifically discuss issues of importance (e.g. for a Residents' Association). I've seen members of my own family just keep their eyes glued to their tablet/mobile phone rather than do things together, even when all together at this time of year.

Sad really - let's hope that 2020 can bring better things.

Bazza said ...."I used to frequent it but haven't for at least a couple of years. It became polarized and dominated by a couple of egotistical individuals who could be downright unpleasant at times. Reading it became a negative experience".

Speaking of which, do I recall correctly that there was a member with the forum-name of Zero who popped up relatively recently here and there was a bit of uncertainty at the time about whether it was the same Zero from the other place: I think Avant confirmed it was a different individual entirely.

My brain is easily addled these days and I can't even rember what the original Zero was called when he was here. Someone else will though.

Conversely, and somewhat off at a tangent, occasionally there's a thread revival from donkey's years ago the best thing about someone dragging up an old, old thread from ten or fifteen years ago is you can catch sight of names from the past.... Growler and Toad of Toad Hall (parp, parp).

And that DOES make you feel old :-(

Did he not own a Mitsubishi Lancer estate though? ... that one seems to be absent in the list. And I think it was mentioned that, following a particular event, became BMW Man, [and wasn't entirely averse to advising others of the change].

Ah, right. (Sadly showing my ignorance of WW2 aircraft there).

(and presumably Hofmeister was another?)

This forum is mostly like Dads Army. I couldn't tell you which character equates to who in here, all I know is that Sgt Wilson is our leader.

Most of the time he is good natured, a model of charm, and keeps the peace, but not shy of putting his foot down when needed. Didn't he knock Hodges out in one episode?

I found the other forum unpleasant. You do need moderation, of the Goldilocks variety.

Could you elaborate about Goldilocks, please? I had to look up the story (appears there are 3 versions), but I'm still no clearer about that variety of moderation..

Having read a few threads, I suspect the contributors are gradually dying from age related illnesses.

We know that Armel Coussine died (he was regular in here before the break under another name). Possibly L'Escargot too but quite a few have drifted off in last 12 months including Movilogo and Mapmaker neither of whom were as ancient as I am!!

^^^ What delightful note, Avant.

Insightful and even a tiny bit poignant.

Top Man!

Godfrey - 'I never seemed to get round to learning to drive. My sister Dolly drives me around in her little Morris. It's very powerful - it has the power of eight horses'.

I liked Godfrey's character. My favourite episode is the one where he is shunned by the platoon after they found out that he was a conscientious objector in WW1.

He then goes on to save Capt. Manwaring and on his sickbed they see a photo of Godfrey getting a medal for bravery. He may have been a conscientious objector but that didn't stop him rescuing wounded under fire as a medic.

A quiet hero.

My favourite moment from Dad's was i think from the film, when the Germans were holding the congregation and the platoon dressed as a saintly choir strolled through the church, it's a superb moment and Cpl Jones' solo is the icing on the cake, wonder what the rhyming word would have been :-)

enjoy www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSQmJq95QnA