Doc - thanks. I do believe from helping on another small forum there is a natural evolution of the forums. A group comes in together and it's all new, they learn, hang out and bond if they stay long enough. Not consciously but you just get used to seeing the same faces and a lot of the material is new. As time goes on the same material comes up over and over again and people move on. We were once called bankroll busters, LOL. Each year we get tons of new faces in the pick forums and the next year start all over again. Some find off-shore, technical forum or another area and stay around but many will move on. We get loads of new faces but when the old one's move on chances are everyone knows the older guys but nobody knows the new ones. The guys who have been around realize one day it seems like all the "good posters" they are most familar with have moved on. It's just the way it is. We all know Uncle, Peep, Butch, Cecil when they leave but no one knows the new guys yet. The hope is there are a couple of Docs, Jazz and WildBills in the new groups as they come. There usually is. When they leave in 2 years some will think again "all the good posters have left", LOL. The cycle never really ends. If we're here in 50 years you will hear the good posters are all leaving now....
I have found in life when someone has made their mind up to quit you it is best to let them go. Don't get defensive, don't get nasty, just allow them to leave gracefully. I ran a private poker room and remember trying to keep certain players. This one woman in particular stood out because she was a horrible player and the others were earning off her, pressure was high to keep her. She would complain about the color of the cards, I'd buy new set ups. She wanted a special chair, I got my ass out to Office Depot and got her a private chair. No one else could sit in it. She'd complain about the coffee, I'd get her brand. She hated the dealers so I hired new dealers. The day she told me I'll play there but I hate the color of the carpet is when I knew it was fruitless. I shook her hand and wished her well, I knew she'd never be back. "Sorry we couldn't meet your needs but you're always welcome back here". I got rid of the chair, went back to the brown/green decks and served the Maxwell House again. In 3 months she was back as a regular player. Sometimes they did come back, sometimes they didn't. However you have to stay the course if you are doing what you believe is right.
Now that is not to say you have a unilateral excuse when you fail to keep older posters, we still should try and keep every poster we have. It's weak to say well he's been here a while and its time to move on. That's nothing more than an excuse to fail. I don't want to dismiss complaints, especially yours. Unlike some I do believe you say stuff because you are unhappy and to that end I wanted to say all this as a sort of feedback I suppose. I can't tell you enough how much it bothers us when we lose someone good, all of us. We're human, when we fail it's not a good feeling. Maybe I am looking for an excuse and justifying it so we don't have to face it when we lose quality here. Believe me when I say we know we don't have all the answers. Peep and Uncle were very big parts of this and no matter what they write about us today or how much we disagree at times they deserve props for what they have done here. No two ways around it. Peep personally brought in guys like Dante, General and RPM, he has left his footprint here and I appreciate it. Not easy to replace both of them, not easy at all. However all we can do is stay focused on what we can do here and give an honest effort. If we fall short we fall short but we will try and save any poster we can that gives us a chance. If they have made up their mind to leave then I know from experience it's hard to suddenly "win them over". We are doing very well according to the numbers but have a long way to go. Anything you or anyone else has we will always listen and see what we can do other than changing the carpet.
Thanks Doc for the exchange, I knew there was a reason we all respect you here. 'Nuff said.