Announcement

[russellw]

We have taken the step of registering the the E-series Owners Club of Australia as an incorporated body, effective from July 23, 2007.

Fiirstly, let me say that it is not our intention to in any way takeover what has been achieved by those dedicated individuals who helped to form the club as it stands at present. We have listened to the comments made over the last few weeks (both positive and negative) and we felt that in order to progress the issues needed to be addressed in a timely manner and this process is one step to achieve that.

This Incorporation of the Club has long been overdue and we felt that given our previous offers of assistance we should be proactive in doing this as it did not appear that this was going to be actioned in the near future.

As discussed in recent posts it is our intention to restructure the forum along the lines that have been indicated below as a means of improving the environment for all members. Along with those changes we will be looking at the structure of the club and have best to blend the existing structure with this new direction. To this end we have opened a dialogue with the existing board to establish their response to these changes. It is perhaps unfortunate that we have had to do this in the order we have but it was apparent to us that there were differing views within the board in terms of where their future lay. We were hopeful that these may have been resolved at their meeting last week but as this did not appear to be the case and we have been unable to establish meaningful communication with them as a group we took the action that we deemed appropriate.

The proposed a new layout would see the club forum being divided as follows:

Newbie Discussions (publicly visible)

E-Series General (publicly visible)

Help needed (only visible to registered users)

Workshop Builds (only visible to registered users)

E-Series Technical (only visible to registered users)

Events & Meets (only visible to registered users)

E-Series Private Room (an opt in area)

E-Series Board Room

The private area is where I believe it would be possible for us to allow more relaxed posting rules. This might include the use of SMS style language or mild swearing and somewhat more relaxed rules about acceptable posting although it would not compromise the requirements within the general terms and conditions about no pornography, courtesy towards fellow members or abusive posts. It is our view, at this stage, that this area should be available to most, if not all, club members but with clear guidelines about what is and what is not to be posted there.

We are also considering the addition of a fourth moderator to the area in general but this will be subject to nomination.

It is our hope, and mine personally, that we can leave behind the personality clashes, the little cliques and some of the past difficulties and worked together to make both the club and these forums something that everybody with a passion for the e-series vehicles can be proud of.


Regards

Board of Directors

Australian Ford Forums