Banned Camp Growing in Numbers. Should I be afraid?

Are we looking at the same "ruffle" or is that a roll of quarters I see?

(lmao as everyone scrolls back up to take a closer look at the pic)

WF has gained probably a couple of hundred thousand new members since the change in mgmnt. While doing so, they have changed the culture of the forum completely and reduced traffic drastically.

When Freelancer took over
April 12 2014 Global Rank 250
July 17, 2014 Global Rank 268

Now

11/10/2014
Global Rank 368
Rank India 298
Rank in US 1,096
Visitors by Country
India 19.9%
US 16.7%

10/29/2015
Global rank 1,333
Rank India 584
Rank in US 2,819
Visitors by Country
India 21.4%
US 10.3%

WF now consists mostly members who speak very little English who wouldn't pay a dime to access this forum. I'll bet you that the majority of them have not invested in the War Room and not purchased an image signature. They consist of spammers, link droppers and those who drop ridiculous one liners for the purpose of signature exposure.

The ones without signatures ask questions like how to make x amount of dollars with no skills and no money. NO MONEY. They aren't here to spend. They're here to make money online with no investment and no skills.

The members who would were often big spenders on advertising and made a lot of money here have dwindled to a small number. They have abandoned ship, never to return. They were the ones that would be most likely to pay an entry fee.

When Freelancer changed the WSO payments to their own, they eliminated a ton of traffic from WSO + and JVZoo affiliates that were being driven here to buy day after day. The place has become a ghost of itself.

I am sure that the last one is a trick question?

I've been watching this thread since Jill posted it and holding off commenting seriously, but with that last bit I quoted, you made me realize it's "Blaze of Glory" time.

If that's what it boils down to, if members, especially the folks like yourself and Jill are going to have to modify their behavior, then what's point of being here? I like you for who you are - not who the WF wants you to be.

Here's a newsflash - this is a forum, a place for discussion and while we might not always like what's discussed, locking or deleting threads related to the quality of the forum is just pure bullshit and absolutely flies in the face of question number 7 on the survey. What, they'll only accept negative comments when no one else can see them?

Question #7 pisses me off because it's been asked and answered countless times since the forum was acquired by FL (and relatively very little has been done). Yes, I can understand that a lot of suggestions are driven by those with personal agendas, but for the most part, the new management seems to completely ignore one of their best assets: the old timers who helped make the WF such a success in the first place.

When a long-time member expresses worry about being banned, especially someone who's the epitome of "Good Person", it makes me realize just how much this place is beginning to suck. I absolutely cannot envision Jill or Karen being banned, but more importantly, it's not a thought that should have ever crossed their minds.

Question #2 just amuses the shit out of me - they obviously don't realize that, for most of us, the WF isn't usable anymore, at least in the way we used to. That was a hard lesson I learned this past summer (BTW, thanks a lot for that...NOT!).

I've spent more than ten years participating in what once was a terrific community and it saddens me to see how much it's deteriorated. it reminds me of a local village, a few minutes from where I live - there used to be around 800 or so people living there, now there's something like 10 or 12. There a little cafe that's still open, but sitting there having coffee, it's depressing to see all the abandoned houses falling apart, the overgrown gardens, and the sense of failure and emptiness that seems to inundate the place.

Here's the thing FL, if you're serious about wanting to fix the problems, then you need to grasp a very basic concept - running a forum is far different than running other online businesses. You need community involvement, not only establishing the rules, but in determining it's future direction. You need flexibility, because communities evolve or die.

That said, the only real solution I can think of, is to create a private subforum and invite the long-term members to participate in open, honest discussions to identify and find solutions to problems, solutions that mesh well with your corporate goals (which, if were explained to the group, would be very helpful). Honestly, I don't understand why FL wouldn't want to take advantage of some of the very creative and successful people hiding out here.

Then of course, you need to diligently act on the results of those discussions .

I'm not against becoming an active member again, at some point in the future, but not under the present conditions that I see all over the forum. But I promise you this - start making an effort to restore the community and I'll be in here damn near every day posting again.

I'm also done keeping quiet, so yeah, if you don't like my tone or what I have to say, then ban me - I dare you. I double dog dare you, no, **** that, I TRIPLE dog dare you