Australia may not be big enough for multiple Mini fora, but the reality is that there's plenty of people who just don't get on in this world. Which is an observation, not a complaint, not an accusation of who started what in the where now!
Having multiple locations for people to discuss matters means an easier life for the mods on all the sites - because things remain less personal. Instead of seeing people throwing mud at each other on a single site, the reader can register different thoughts from different knowledgeable people, without fifty pages about who's a better rivet counter, or a better engine builder, or... The reader can then decide upon their own position - or decide if they even need a position!
At this point, I'll note that we've seen posts such as 'I want to have a voice' on this forum. There is a tendency for all fora to follow leaders. They might have the most posts. They might be the most helpful. Sometimes the most biting and vicious (not round here, thankfully!). These leaders (they're not necessarily the mods) set the tone of the forum, and anyone who might disagree with them can end up being considered almost a heretic. It's a reason I frequent fora, but not local clubs, which can suffer an even worse version of the same problem (worse by being a smaller pool). One Mini forum will have a massively pro-hydro tone, another will advocate for rubber cones, and another (likely a smaller one!) will advocate for coil springs. One will advocate for points dissies, one will advocate for Aldon, another for Pertronix, or a Black Box, or MegaJolt. Some will focus on 5 ports, others 7/8 ports, some twinkies, some transplants. Is anyone genuinely wrong, when it's a subjective position? Let's be honest, many things discussed on fora such as these are subjective, and the things that are objective, the reality is that very few - if any - hold all the data required to be able to prove their position is the only right one.
So having the option to read across multiple locations is a good thing, not a bad thing. Or should we try and shut down TMF, MiniMania, Minifinity, the Mk1 Forum, etc, too..?
Plus, different fora have different options. It's only very recently that Ausmini started being able to host photos (as attachments, not requiring third party hosting), and there are other features that the different hosts of all the Mini fora choose to have, or not to have. Why should we be limited?
And how - or why - would you punish someone for posting elsewhere, when they don't post here, and posting elsewhere means they are causing less conflict here..?
We should celebrate the diversity, and the fact that our little car is still driving endless debate after 57 years! Without that diversity, and the range of fora, I'd never have heard of Vortz. There's one - ONE - mention of that name on this website that predates this post. Yet the bloke was responsible for the Rosepetal wheel (the only other post on here describes the Vortz Rosepetals as being 'faithful to the originals' - the reality is, Nick Vorotsky is the original designer, so his wheels - even today - are the originals), and a huge number of other innovations. But he's not discussed on Ausmini. Which isn't a complaint about Ausmini - just another observation, and another reason to celebrate the fact that not every Mini expert in the world is forced into an online cage fight on a single forum, where, ultimately, only one opinion can be considered correct by the noisy regulars (when, often, there's more than one way to skin a cat, and your situation might mean a 'non-standard' version is more suitable for you).
And while many of us may not be stressed about the colour of a jack, there's a good number of people who clearly are concerned about it. They're concerned about the provenance of the Cooper S they bought (did it race at Bathurst?), they're concerned about whether or not they've got the right extra holes to prove their Cooper S did in fact see active service with the constabulary. Some have even written excellent resources to share their knowledge, and the wise amongst them know that, even with all the time in the world, there'll always be something new to learn and see. Even for such knowledgeable people as Winabbey (and his humility is an excellent example to us all)! And our community is all the richer for them and their knowledge. Even if much of it is inapplicable to me.
