What is the end goal for you?
 

I am just curious what the end goal for some of you may be. I really do not have an opinion one way or the other. Some bad things were done, some mistakes made, maybe some lies even?. The CM company has responded and here we are a week later. What should have, could have, would have, to me does not mater much at this point, what is done is done. Good bad or indifferent what you see around you here now is what were are left with here at HT. We either decide to stay or we decide we leave. That is an individual choice we all have to make and I do not blame anyone for deciding either way, nor will I think any less of anyone based on their decision.

My question is what is your end goal. If you are planning to leave or have stated you are going to leave but are still here posting what is it you are attempting to accomplish?

If you have decided to stay, but are still posting about the issue what is you end goal, or unresolved issue?

I am not forming an opinion of anyone here, just trying to understand where everyone is coming from in this. I personally do not feel I have any ownership of this forum, I just come here and visit and ask and answer questions. Maybe that is a simplistic view of things, but I am not very complicated I guess? There are many of you on both sides of this issue I have visited with before and regardless of how we got to where we are now it has been a regrettable loss to me to know some will not be here any more to visit with. But that is just how life is, people come and go in our lives all the time for various reasons. Anyway, I sure wish everyone the best, regardless of what you decide to do.

For me.

I am watching and waiting to see how the owners move forward. I tend to give second chances but I don't step forward quickly. The discussion is all about working through what happened, dealing with it and trying to decide how and why I feel about something.

I think the owner has made some missteps in how he responded. He trusted his employees to tell him the truth. I don't think they did. I think they covered up their blunders and are still doing that. They obviously told him that this was all about people out to get HT and them. I think it is far from that. We are dealing with unethical behaviour compounded with lies and then more lies from his employees not him. His mistake was not getting to the bottom of the problems before he backed his employees.

My end goal is to provide a living for myself and my family and ensure an opportunity for one or more of my kids to continue a 250 year plus farming legacy, or give them the tools to succeed at doing something equally productive with their lives, as they choose. The drama here is frustrating but not something I consider worthy of thinking about setting goals

So very true Ideas shared back and forth by all of us makes this board work. There are far worse things in this world to be worried about then a few mistakes that have taken place by the owners and now apologized have been made reviewing and redoing the TOS has been written.

I don't plan on leaving. There aren't any other forums that I know of that have this much information on such a wide range of subjects. This forum has been extremely instrumental in influencing me on my journey in becoming more self sufficient and I do searches quite often for information from back threads. I've had my head butting sessions with some people but I respect and like pretty much everybody here. Some have wildly different opinions than I do on some subjects but that's cool. If everyone thought the same it would be a boring old world, wouldn't it?

I understand those who have been personally hurt and I respect their decision to leave if they do so. It has been good to see those who have stood up to management against what was wrong and caused changes to be made. That illustrates to me the homesteading, self sufficiency and fighting for what's right that this forum is about in the first place. If someone wanted to take advantage of a forum, this sure was the wrong one to pick.

I haven't been personally hurt as some here have been so this is just my two cents worth.

I came here for friendship and advice from neighbors. That is what this place has become for me. If I ever gave advice I gave it freely, I don't want it back. If it went somewhere else, I hope it helped. It has made me more wary. It has made me sick to my stomach, what was done and how it affected friends here. I also feel the loss, just like the loss of my M-I-L and good friend, this past year. It hurts. I want to move on but there are people here who won't let go, won't let others grieve in their own way. It is time to kennel the dogs, both sides. Let the wounds heal, set the rules, enforce them and move on.

I haven't made up my mind yet, this process will determine the outcome for me. I will set back and watch. It hurts too much to get very involved right now....James

I worked in a major manufacturing corporation (the one that went bankrupt) for 32 years. Instances of what happened here, happened there, almost every week, and sometimes in much more creative ways than here..... I think that's the human condition, no matter where you go. I hope I will be comfortable and welcome as geo in mi in all the forums I visit--but I haven't registered in Melissa and Wendy's forum yet..

I took a mini-break from replying, but I didn't quit lurking....And I did express my opinion to the CEO where it mattered, I hope. I'm moving forward.

geo

My first end goal was to disassociate myself from what I view as unethical practices by resigning as a moderator. We know what we've been told but that's not necessarily what happened. I'm not concerned enough to spend time digging around. At the end of the day, as simply a visitor, it's no longer my responsibility or reputation.

I'll post and participate where I'm comfortable. At the moment I'm less comfortable here than at some other places because of how things have played out. Maybe that changes over time, maybe it doesn't. To a certain extent posting and participating involves opening up our lives. There are people that I have known online and in person in part through Lusenet/HT for 17+ years. A number have chosen to leave and some have chosen to stay - many are like myself and watching.

The ads are increasingly annoying. Maybe I'll start using an adblocker or maybe they'll drive me off. HT is currently kind of like a restaurant where the new owners have changed the decor, menu and prices.

It's Spring so I'd be spending less time here anyways. There's things to plant and clean up.

Just a few thoughts.

Mike

End goal, same as it always was, learn a little, help a little if I can, and have some fun. Some people are all troubled about what happened, well manure happens. This is the internet, and manure happens. Any post can be copied and pasted by anyone on the internet, they should give credit, some don't. If a post is so valuable that it isn't supposed to be copied, then it shouldn't be posted on a public forum. As far as Carbon Media goes, we could have been bought by someone else and be far worse off, at least they are willing to listen. As far as unethical behavior, I worked for Radio Shack, and although the company had rules about behavior, that didn't stop employees, managers, or upper management from doing bad things in the pursuit of the dollar. That included right up to the CEO. I remember a time when a message came from the CEO saying not to worry and don't sell our stock if the price dipped. They never told us, ever before, what to do with our stock, so I wrote in hand on the memo, "don't sell because we want to." Sure enough, the upper management sold a ton of stock all at once, got a high price, it drove the price down, then they re-bought it at the cheaper price. They were charged with insider trading but the regulators were unable to prove it. Unethical in my book but what are you going to do? That is the business world, unfortunately we have to live with it. Why should I let them ruin my life? Or let Carbon Media screw-ups ruin my experience here? Maybe I can be so blase' about it because I was messed over at work so many times, I got used to it.

Learning stuff....there are a few areas that I can help others.
Nothing is changed for me. I am glad that it is calm now I would rather that.

My end goal is after a life enjoyed peaceful on my property to die broke peacefully at home after whispering to someone in the room " I hid my savings by burying the mason jars under the...." and then curling my toes. :)

I have no end goal. I live my life day to day. Really.

It's sad to see so many good people wander off, but I've got to respect their choices, I hope they respect mine.

For me, I'll continue to aggravate, help, question, and try to give a chuckle every now and then. If I had a friend who moved to a lousy neighborhood, I wouldn't hesitate to drop by for a visit. It's the friend who's important, not the neighborhood.

You know the TV Program about life after people? I want to be the last person. :) I will be cursing the TV commercial--"You don't have to be lonely...," I will be yelling, "YES I DO!" :)

Seems like CMG stirred up a lot of bad blood with this one. Whatever started this up could have probably been averted if they asked, "Hey, can we post your thing on our other thing? What you said was great/well written/whatever." People here seem nice. I bet they would say sure thing.

But to just do it behind somebodies' back is plain rude. Legal by the terms of service, but just not neighborly. Poor judgement.

It costs money to run these sites. How much, I have no idea. I don't expect them to do it out of the goodness of their heart. Got to make some profit. And while it's free for me to access this cool, diverse community of internet people from all over the place that like soil and goats and chickens and canning et. al. someone is paying for administration and bandwidth and stuff I don't know about.

As others have said AdBlocker Plus is your friend. And it's free.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out.

Pretty much what "TruckinGuy" said. No point in me attempting to 2 finger type the same response.
As far as copying others posts and putting them on another forum was really bad taste. And copying Willows? Wow,, that was just dumb. And to think he actually got paid to come up with that idea is even dumber.

The mistakes that I made in the past do not scare me as much as the ones that I will make in the future. That has made me a very forgiving person. If I think for a second about what people think, I get busy with something. Often the violin. It's light weight, fast, front and center. Makes people back off...accept people who get me.

End goal? It has taken a read thru this thread to understand what that was actually referring to....

This site has been a wonderful, kind and generous place to visit with people who are loving and willing to help in all manner of subjects. I will never discount this!

The new CEO? I know nothing personal about the people who own and/or operate this place except what I've been hearing; and I am always cautious about interpreting what I read because of the diverse perspectives involved. All have reasoning that means a great deal to them and each is just as important as the other. (Unless something directly affects me, I do not have a tendancy to step in and take sides, except where it becomes obvious I need to in order to save a life.)

I have reconciled the divisions going on here for myself by being a member of many forums. I do not need to CONTROL any of them. I do my thing and let others do theirs as that is their God-given right. And whether another's action is right or wrong has always been an argument I like to stay out of if at all possible.

This all means I do not have an "end goal" for this forum. It isn't mine to decide what the end goal is.

No plans of leaving but I no longer have my eggs all in one basket. I have joined some other boards, re-kindled accounts I already had at other boards, etc. Years ago I was active on about 3-4 boards.....then as time got tighter I just focused on HT. I have come to realized over the past 2 years I have been pulling away from here, too. The "living room" feeling has been gone - felt corporate. Never know why, never really paid attention to who owned or managed the board. Makes me wonder when the changes started taking place..... I did find the "living room" on other boards. I may be a hermit by nature.....but I'm stubborn, too. So I'm going to keep on stopping in each day - out of habit, if nothing else. But it might not be my first stop anymore.

I have always bounced around from board to board to board. Never stayed on one. I have several I visit and post on daily basis, and I will continue to do so, including this one. I am on one board that is called Free Speech Wisconsin. And I will tell you what the title says it IS what it means. ANYTHING goes and I mean anything and word or words.
I have to at times remember just what board I am on when posting say like on this one at times. LOL

End Goal?

To finish life well.
To move to S. Florida and become a home and business owner.
To dance at my children's weddings.
To hold grandbabies.
To Glorify God
To be self-sufficient and be a burden to no one.
To love, deeply and truly.
To be loved, deeply and truly.
To train my JRT's not to bark at everything that moves so my demon possessed neighbor quits calling the front office and complaining.

Oh, for HST?
Maintain and build relationships with amazing people.
To share my knowledge and experience(s) and to gain knowledge from those who have more than I (which is most folks here).
To give as much as I take.

I visit two on a regular basis...HT and Bayou Gardener. Bayou Gardener's "focus" so to speak, is more about vegetable gardening in the south (mostly, anyway) whereas HTs focus is much broader...I get good info from both.

well i guess i missed all of that. HT used to be a great place several years ago but I got tired back then and it wasn't necessarily anyone doing anything but just the phenomenal growth the site underwent. A site with this many members is bound to have alls sorts of problems. moderators should be compensated cause it ain't no fun keeping track of it all.

The end goal for me is to number one please my lord and savior then try to enjoy whatever we get and have a good time.