dczoner

iTrader: (1)

Hi folks,

For many of the veteran members I am what you would consider and absolute enthusiast. I am passionate about this car and I enjoy getting to meet anyone else passionate about their cars. As of a few months ago you could regularly find me in the Socal section - organizing meets, going to meets other people organized, making parts and shop rec's, etc.

Nowadays I have absolutely no interest in this section of the site. I am not going to name off "new" faces that have been responsible for some of the attitude that gets thrown around this section, but one way or another the dynamic has definitely changed amongst the SoCal threads.

Additionally whoever is responsible for the "stickying" notes is cluttering up the front page with crap. If a topic is not interesting to anyone, it will die. If it does gather interest, it will live. Its a democracy here and by deeming some threads noteworthy it completely screws up the actual value of the regional boards.

I am tired of all the freakin bickering, I'm tired of this perpetual "cliquing" thats been going on for months. Please knock it off. Please stop "stickying" every little po-dunk event - if its cool the thread will live on its own. If its not cool then it doesn't need to take up page 1 space.

If you're a lurker I invite you to come out to some meets. They are a great place to, well, meet people and learn about the cars, as well as to appreciate the cars in ways you wouldn't normally have the opportunity to - around a bunch of other car nuts. If you're a veteran (of which we're much harder to find any more) I encourage you to take the better road and try to steer this region back to how it used to be - FUN. If you're a noob then please take your time reading the forum and getting an idea of how you should and should not conduct yourself. There are bound to be some trolls but there are also bound to be some diamonds in the rough.

Look, I've been a member on this site before the 350z even existed. I took delivery 8/20/03 - RELEASE DAY. I was involved in the first few 350z meets EVER. Please, if you use My350z.com regional, consider yourself a member of the largest 350z club in the world. There are no dues. There are no requirements for attendance. You can be 18 years old, you can be 78 years old. Hell for the most part we don't even really care if you have a Z! I hope everyone in the region will take a little time to read this and I welcome your comments and feedback. Perhaps I am way off base here.

Fundamentally I would like to see the my350z socal region continue its previous record of being the best resource on the internet for community meets, regional events, mountain/canyon runs, restaurant, club, and other entertainment meet & greets, as well as any esoteric regional commentary.

Thanks for your time and take care.

Mr B

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I remember the old days. Unforutnately, I've not had any free time to come out to the local meets. Some have decided that I'm now an "elitest" but I hope they were joking when they said that. I think the problem with the lack of socal events being successful is the fact that there seem to be so many mini-meets. They end up pretty uneventful and then sours your interest to go to another one. Big meets are cool, but it's hard to get to know people there. Socal is just too big and have too many Z owners now. It was cool back then when there were only a few of us and it was a close knit, intimate group. We just started all getting busy and it's even hard to find each other now. Just remember the good old days Dave.

BoostTed

Dczoner I completely agree with you. I always considered the regional forums to be a place where I can escape from all the flames that goes on in the other sections. That was until now. I've had my Z since 10/1/04 but been lurking pretty much most of the time because of all the bickering that goes on the other sections, I don't even feel like participating. I usually just lurk here to see if there is a meet or a run coming up, Ive made it out to a few and met some really good people.

Jeff@Performance

Personally... I love these events that go on and try to make as many as I can from San Diego to Central Calif. But, it's race season for our road race cars (shameless plug: www.PerformanceNissanRacing.com ) so getting out of the shop this time of year is tough. Also there seems to be so much going on anymore it's hard to figure out which event to go to when I am free. I've made alot of new friends thanks to this Forum and I find I need to decide if I want to meet new people or stick with the group. Not as easy as it sounds as they're both great choices. Overall... I love my car and just wish I hade more hours in my spare time to enjoy it.

Mr Twisted

Lately I've been the subject of much criticism and chatter, but I love the 350Z so much that I bought another and are heavily modding both, so I can't be that bad? Can I! The guys I've met at meets and get togethers are tops in my book. I've got a certian way of doing things, some like it and some don't and that's OK. Everybody has there choice of who they hang with, because there is so much happening in So Cal. It's 350 Heaven to live in Parts central........

callmeaflirt

Well, IM a new member, but Kash received his Z the 4th day it was released. It was his bday present to himself. I learned to love the Z the first time I saw it....I guess you cant consider us as "old" members since we weren't on this forum back then. But we DID have the Z back then..guess that doesnt count does it?

Anyhow, I know alot of you are tired of the bickering..Honestly, I am too..I am sorry to anyone that I have offended in any way. This was not my intention. I think Luv Mtrl mentioned staying away from this stuff until it dies down...And honestly, I think that will be the way I will go now too...

Those that have become my friends along the way, we will still hang out....We might attend some meets and events, but for now, I think I will just lay low...Alot of drama has been out here for the last 2 weeks....Its becoming tiring....

Maybe I'll see you guys later...we'll see what happens.

Lysa

bobowah

iTrader: (5)

HAHAHA I knew you would take that the wrong way.
Any hoot. I know you are busy. All your buddies in LA and SD want to hang out but I know you have your priorities as do I.

Any hoot.
Drama aren't internet boards all about drama. Dczoner may I remind you about the drama I caused back in the day.

But yes the forum is for people to meet up, have some fun and talk about stuff we all have common interests in the 350z.

I still say we have a party at a strip club hahaha.

Any ways... Shift_NoDrama ..... Shift_Enjoy and Shift_Drive

BigBadBlackTrack

I've read everything and just kept quiet. It got pretty bad in a quick fashion. In fact my shortcut immediately goes to the socal section of the forums. Its the 1st one I check regarding everything. But theres nothing interesting happening for the past weeks. If I wanted to watch a fight I'd watch a boxing match and not read the SoCal forums.

It used to be funny reading the SoCal Section. From the parties in Vegas to the little bbqs, even the magic mountain trip and the sushi eating contest. People here used to to pick on each other for fun and not because they meant it.

The old times were truly great but since the Z is one great car it should be expected that this board will have more and more members as time passes. Cliques cant be avoided after all we all have different age groups. We have the teenagers, the clubbing 20 something, the well established 30 something and the settled 40+ something groups. We cant expect the 40 something people to go to magic mountain nor can the teengers go clubbing in a 21 and over club.

We are too big and there are divisions. Thats fine because theres no way to keep track of all the new members anyways. But in what ever we do lets just all make sure that we dont step on anyones toes.

With that said I hope that everyone respects each others opinion and we should all enjoy the car and leave all of the attitude problem out of this.

nimnix

This section is still one of my first stops when looking for meets, events, etc. I just try and ignore the drama.. (being a veteran board junkie, I recognize the signs).

There is nothing wrong with So Cal's scene, it's just massive. More people=more variety=more potential problems.

EL Diablo

The SoCal Scene is Great!

A few people have disagreed on the boards but for the most part it's all good. Some things did go further than maybe they should have but thats how it goes sometimes.

I've been to quite a few Meets and they have all been a lot of Fun. I expect meets in the future will be too!


It looks like everyone is putting the BS behind and moving forward with the Good Times.

Looking forward to Seeing EVERYONE in the future

hfm

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure how it happened but, I see myself being in the middle of a lot of the drama. I don't think I started anything but, I pretty sure I became involved with a lot of the bickering. I'm not a new face but I did throw around attitude and now, I wish I hadn't on several matters.

Things were so much easier last year when it was maybe 15 or 20 of us. Now it's easily 30-50 and Nimnix was entirely right, personality conflicts become more pronouced in a larger group. Eventually, I think people will just start to hang out with the people they like.

I can't help but think that the whole club thing is just a bad idea because in my opinion, that more than anything else has been the cause of conflict. Is it just me or is anyone else seeing that recent problems are rooted in "the club?"

zxsaint

Good points! I think we all agree that personal arguments that can be taken offline into the PM's probably should. Disagreements and debating is part of any community, and as long as we're all respectful -- we should always be able to arrive at a compramise. So bring it on!

Summer is almost here, time to move on to more fun. I invite all the lurkers out there to show up, join in, and help organize these future events. Like Mr. B, I've been pretty busy too -- but I plan to make more of an effort to meet up.

Dave, thanks for the post. I think this thread will provide for a good closure to the recent sourness.

BoostTed

There's always someone flaming or bickering in one of the other sections on my350z.com and I think some of that mentality carried on over to here. Everyone is so quick to flame and feel the need to be so defensive. I'm on a few other forums as well(from my previous car) and its like a family over there. A few disagreements goes on but nothing like here. I've met people that I consider now a close friend, even after I sold the car I still hang out with these people on a regular basis. They even threw me a surprise b-day party for me last weekend. I go on the forums to learn more about the car, and for the people here. But with all the bickering here its hard to meet new people who share a common interest. I've been here for a while but never post because ever since day 1 its been nothing but flames, a lot of people have turned away because of that. I consider myself "new" or a lurker, and as for someone new its a real turn-off to go to the meets or events if there is going to be tension there. Pretty much as of today I'll only post on the regional forums or the classifieds if i need to buy or sell anything, don't need the attitude that goes on in the other sections and won't be part of it.

350Now

Thanks for posting this dczoner. I think this is a good thing and hopefully will get SoCal back on track. I've had my Z since Nov 03 and didn't do much with the regional forums. But as time progressed, I started paying close attention to this section to see what people have been doing locally. Until recently, this was a great place to see if anything is going on likes meets, runs, and etc. I've attended a couple of meets and have meet a lot of great people and will hopefully meet more enthusiast down the road. By having this sour mood in the SoCal Region, it became very tiring reading all the bickering. I say we all leave what's past as the past, live in the present, and look towards the future.

BullishZ

Dave, good post. Those were the good 'ol days.

You all know that I've been in the thick of the drama. Why? Because I saw so many people going quietly and not saying anything when wrong was done. As an oldtimer from DAY 1, I felt compelled to stand up,since nobody (except Lysa) would.

In my opinion, all this drama and division was caused by one person's erratic behaviors, including the dictatorship, labeling others, being stand-off-ish, and then threatening people. To sum it up, no class.

However, bad seeds will always be present in any environment. Remember all the drama BRONXWARRIOR presented in the beginning? It's just a part of life. I still love to hang out with the oldtimers like at Dave's bday party and Dustin's bday lunch. Plus, most of the new people I've met were all cool by my book. I still enjoy this group.

Aloharacing

iTrader: (1)

Sup Jeff..long time no talk!

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

Mr B doest come out anymore cuz he's afriad of my beaver.

speaking of which.. where is it.

Mr B

iTrader: (2)

Where's the cartoon beaver you wanted? You're supposed to send it to me!!!

z33saru

personally, i cant wait till i get my z, and am able to go on drives and meets with all u guys.
.....car is on order for june/july, thanks jeff/ken@performance nissan! .....
i know mr.b cant wait till i meet u guys so i can stop bothering him and start bothering other people with all my pesky little car-related questions. haha!
btw, thanks for all your help and your patience with me.

this is an awesome forum and i personally have gained so much knowledge off of it. everyone here for the most part is so helpful and nice.

hopefully after i get my car i will be able to meet u guys.

dczoner

iTrader: (1)

I appreciate all your feedback from this thread. I was worried posting it that it would simply become a flamed thread but I'm glad to see a couple of the old-school regulars have spoken up to the same comments I made. I'm hoping this might be a turning point to the thread and make this summer's meets the biggest and best ever.

Additionally thank you nbdy for de-stickying the threads. I know some people like them but quite frankly they're a nuisance to those that make the regional section a regular stomping ground.

z33saru, Looking forward to meeting you and checking out your z. Its an awesome car and a great ownership experience, especially when you add the value of the my350z meets and events.

Dan, I agree with you regarding the "club" factor. Thats why I placed in my post about the fact that everyone that uses this regional section is in effect a member of the biggest club around. I would hate to see potential friends lost because of a pissing contest over who's got what rights to do what etc. Small cliques are inevitable and don't really hurt anyone, but by creating clubs based off this one all it will do is alienate those that aren't included and create a divide in an otherwise happy and self-organized group. I know many people here want to be part of a more unique group that has more of an identity and a regularity. Personally I will not join any club other than the fact that I am a regular on this site and have sincerely enjoyed meeting so many of the people here that I don't see a need to have it any other way. If you're a "leader" persona, please organize events and create an inviting atmosphere for meets within this context. Otherwise I'll be sad to see you leave and disassociate with the organization that brought you together in the first place. Just my $0.02.

Thanks for listening. Have a good one!