Forum Moderator positions

[Steve Ashton]

It is now one week before we have one of our Forum Moderators retire. I posted the original notice so our members would have plenty of time to consider if they would like to put their name forward to fill this position. We had heard from a few of you.

X Marks is a unique place on the web today. With a new kilt related page showing up on facebook almost every day there is certainly an interest in kilts.

However, this forum is different from most social media. It is a hold-over if you will, of a day when people engaged in conversation. Each of our threads is read in a linear conversational style. Each thread is its own topic. Threads are read as continuing ideas on that one topic, and the information we discussed last year is still there, easily accessible.

X Marks does have a facebook page and most of our advertisers use social media. I would take a guess that just about every member of this forum are also on other social media sites.

To many of us older guys social media appears less continuous. Threads on sites like facebook scroll off the bottom of the page of the most popular topics and people can easily forget about them until someone else posts on the exact same topic again.

Facebook and other social media are very trend driven. because you get updates on the newest topics every time you log on, the most current trend appears more important or immediate.

On X Marks however there are far fewer times when the same question is asked over and over only to be forgotten after a day or week. New members often tell me that they will spend a day or two lurking and reading our old conversations before registering. They seem to appreciate that all this information is always available.

Today, X Marks is the oldest, largest and perhaps, based on the number of new members, the most active on-line community dedicated to the kilt. Most facebook pages have 50 to a couple hundred members. X Marks has very close to 20,000 members.

Notice that I use the word community in my last sentence. Many of our members feel that they have come to know their fellow members. Some have even become friends in person. We have truly built a community here.

Yes, over the years, X Marks has been called stodgy or overly traditional. But, to be fair, it is you, the members of this forum, who set the tone and the mood. Another way to look at the negative claims about this forum is that we are the way we are because you have chosen to make it so.

I can state for a fact that X Marks is not going away. The idea of a place that can build a community of such calibre, with so many different views and ideas must continue. I have, and will continue to keep X Marks on-line. I feel I owe it to you, the members, to keep our community active, vibrant, and current.

I also feel that it is important in today's world to keep X Marks free of the drive-by advertising posts that seems to plague other sites. It is our staff who keep our community free from the flashing pop-up viagra ads.

If you would like to join our other staff members in keeping X Marks the pre-imminent voice in the kilt world I would encourage you to speak up and take a shot at joining our staff. To make X Marks the voice you would want it to be.