An Open Letter to YarisBueller and VitzBoy

[tk-421]

Hello YarisBueller and VitzBoy,

First of all, I want to thank you for bringing such a great site to the internet. I log on every day, and I don't really do that with any other site (besides GMail I guess). I have enjoyed spending time on this site for a few years now.

That said, I have been concerned with how the forums have been riddled with spam lately, as well as how some new members have been treated. This kind of negativity got even worse after the hack a few months ago.

I know first-hand how hard it is to maintain a site of this size, especially when one has little extra free time to do it. On the other hand, I have witnessed how sites that are much larger than YW end up being taken down because the people in charge are just... not there. Of course, I don't mean any disrespect. I'm sure you guys have very valid reasons for this, and I don't even want to speculate as to why this is the case.

What I do want to say is that some very valuable members have decided to leave YW because of this, and that has lead to lower-quality material being posted on the forums. And things don't seem to be improving either: I already know of at least 2 new Yaris-related forums that have been created by current and ex-YW members that are just fed up with how these forums have been handled. This kind of fragmentation can be detrimental to the survival of any site.

I have been thinking long and hard as to what could be the best way to deal with these issues once and for all, and after communicating with many fellow members off-site, I have reached a decision to write this letter as a genuine effort to bring YW back to what it originally was 3 years ago: A site with many friendly and knowledgeable members that are always there to lend a hand to anybody that needs it. A site where Yaris fans can be themselves without other members stomping on their every thread. A site that is constantly being updated with fresh, valuable, Yaris-focused content.

We all wish for YW to retain its leadership. But actions speak louder than words. YW truly needs care and attention, not just from its members and moderators (who by the way are awesome for the most part), but especially from their admins, who are really the people behind the wheel, so to speak.

I think YW would benefit greatly by just making a few modifications here and there, such as:

1. Adding moderators from more varied geographical locations
This would help on many fronts: For one, some mods can take over while the others are sleeping (or working, or having a life). Secondly, it would really help in making this site a YarisWORLD by encouraging members from other countries (and languages) to join in. Lastly, it is a lot easier to deal with spam at different times.

2. A way to reward members that offer valuable, original information
This is SORELY needed IMO. Post numbers are inaccurate and overrated. A way to tell who actually knows something by looking at their "rep level" would be both helpful to noobs and encouraging to those members to continue delivering helpful advice.

3. Build a WIKI
This is something that I proposed a looong time ago, and it apparently fell on deaf ears. We've all seen how asking people to "do a search" is not always enough for them to actually find something of value. Why? Because there's just too much information buried between lots and lots of useless (and often duplicate) babble. A wiki solves this problem by providing a centralized page with nothing but useful information. This could be even better if wiki contributors got "rep points" for their efforts as well (see point 2 above).

These are only a few examples that would surely benefit everyone with minimal intervention from the admins' part. I am sure other members have great ideas that could be implemented just as easily by you guys. And of course if you don't have the time, there's a few web designers roaming around the forums that would surely do it for you (myself included).

Thank you for giving me the time to voice my concerns. I really hope you don't take this letter as anything other than an open hand from myself to improve the site. Let's make YW all it can possibly be, while at the same time maintaining its status as the #1 Yaris-related site on the internet.