Loosing a valuable resource on Xweb

I am relatively new here, so I may not understand all of the politics...

There are many people with good information here at Xweb, but I suspect that with time there will be fewer and fewer "old school" knowledgeable individuals that will stay active.

That said, it seems the politics here, may have forced one of the "good ones" off of this site. And I for one, think that is a shame.

The individual I talk of is Chris Obert. I just ordered some parts from him, (C Obert & co -FiatPlus) and during the conversation, he said he was now"done" with Xweb - (as his posts keep getting "removed" ????? by the admins.)

I know he owns a parts house - and yes, therein lies a potential conflict of interest... But That Said, the technical and parts information that he has in his ole noggin is exactly the type of professional resource that IS NEEDED here - else it risks eventually becoming "amateur hour" with people like me that barely know what were doing, trying to give advice to others that we shouldn't. (no offense to all of you "good guys" still out there..) He is one of the few of us that has likely "seen it all" when it comes to Fiats.

I personally don't care if he chimes in and provides technical advice or to say that some Chinese knock off parts are not recommended for XX reasons etc.. I AS A CONSUMER can choose to take his advice or not. I also know that he is trying to sell parts, and that is something that I can take into consideration, in understanding any bias he may have.

I went back and read many of his postings and I truly do not see a lot of sales bias.. what I do see is a lot of good information. It appears to me that he tries hard to separate his business from his contributions to Xweb.

I hope that my conversation with Chris was just a "period on the end of a bad week" and that all will be normal by next week, but it did sound like he was "done" with even reading or contributing here ever again.

...and that bums me out



Cheers Eric...

Eric,
Chris does have great advise and I hope he doesn't write us all off because of a few individuals and some misunderstandings.
Chris is also a very unique individual with tons of experience.
Also, I would need more information as to why his posts were deleted before coming to any conclusions.
I hope Chris comes back soon. I still need to purchase a part from him as well. Life has a way of changing your course for you when you least expect it.
Come back soon Chris.
V/r, Mike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chris brought this to our attention

Chris brought his concerns to our attention a few months back.

Chris provided us an example of a post that had been deleted, but I was able to locate it in the WF. Perhaps it was originally in DF and we moved to WF, but it was still alive and well on Xweb.

He was also having trouble logging in. He said he was eventually able to log in again, but we could find no reason why that would be happening to him.

Chris also sent in a proposed post for the mods to review prior to him posting it. The mods discussed the proposed content and recommended that Chris not post it.

In short, the issues and our responses to Chris' concerns were:

1. Chris was having account troubles, we could not determine why
2. Chris felt his posts were being deleted, none of us were deleting his posts. (We may have moved that one he was looking for though.)
3. Chris asked us to review a proposed post, we did so, but did not feel his proposed post was a good idea and asked him not to post it.

Gregory provided this feedback to Chris on behalf of the mod team and I never heard anything more about it. I don't know what else to say about this set of events. We do our best to keep everyone happy, but it isn't always possible.

I never got any follow up from Chris about that issue, so I assumed it was ok. People can have different views of online interactions, even emails, so we never really know what folks are thinking.

If Chris decided to leave Xweb for good it's his decision for his own reasons and, as with most peoples' situations, it likely has little to do with us or this forum but with other things going on in that person's life.

I know I take long breaks from car forums once in a while, to do other things (Boba Fett costume for instance), but usually come back. Participating online takes a lot of time and energy, and can seem like a waste of time if the topic is your profession. Why spend time online helping people for free when you can go outside and get paid to do it. This is how I often feel when I try to help folks with design/build questions. I can't say that's Chris's situation but, if it is, I can completely relate.

I think...

Just a case of misunderstanding.

Chris is a pretty unique dude and I mean that in a VERY positive way. He regularly attends FA club meetings and will always help and support a fellow Fiat enthusiast in need. he is very active in the club actually. I have known him for jeez, maybe 28 years? That is mainly through Fiat events and purchasing parts from him. Always happy to talk shop.

I hope he hasn't written us off. Don't think so...

Just my 2 cents.

Chris is operating (and living) in the most expensive part (San Francisco Bay Area) of the United States. Competitors operate in a significantly lower cost of commercial rental space and cost of living.

I sympathize. I had family try and operate a commercial business in one of the wealthiest areas on the East Coast. It is challenging with rental rates and everything else constantly increasing and it is hard to stay in business. A solution is to relate to a lower cost area of the U.S. However, when family and such are involved and you have set down roots in a certain area it is very hard to do.