CivilAirPortal.com no more???

Started by Lancer, October 31, 2006, 02:09:44 AM

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Lancer


fyrfitrmedic

MAJ Tony Rowley CAP
Lansdowne PA USA
"The passion of rescue reveals the highest dynamic of the human soul." -- Kurt Hahn

Lancer


Major Carrales

Why it is no more is only specuation to me at this point...

...but to be brutally honest, most CAP disucssion forums suffer from the constant bickering over Uniform items, ID Cards, Agendistic specuations, unfounded inuendo and people venting about personnal issues instead of the bigger picture of improving CAP. 

There are, interwide, countless posts that were attracting negative publicity to CAP.  Vitriolic rants, incredulous cadets lecturing CAP Officers, e-hazing, dogpiling on uniform violations in photos instead of addressing them positively, nitpicking about uniform items and plenty of ammunition for the enemies of CAP.

What adds to the mix is the number of High Level CAP and USAF officials that read these rants et al and forumlate theories and guage TOTAL CAP based on that mess.

Only Civilian Airman can truely address and answer these questions.  But I will say one thing...we must police ourselves better as e-CAPers.

I am saddened...I will miss Civil Air Portal :'( 

And so will all of us...
"We have been given the power to change CAP, let's keep the momentum going!"

Major Joe Ely "Sparky" Carrales, CAP
Commander
Coastal Bend Cadet Squadron
SWR-TX-454

Lancer

#4
Quote from: Major Carrales on October 31, 2006, 02:31:02 AM
Why it is no more is only specuation to me at this point...

...but to be brutally honest, most CAP disucssion forums suffer from the constant bickering over Uniform items, ID Cards, Agendistic specuations, unfounded inuendo and people venting about personnal issues instead of the bigger picture of improving CAP. 

There are, interwide, countless posts that were attracting negative publicity to CAP.  Vitriolic rants, incredulous cadets lecturing CAP Officers, e-hazing, dogpiling on uniform violations in photos instead of addressing them positively, nitpicking about uniform items and plenty of ammunition for the enemies of CAP.

What adds to the mix is the number of High Level CAP and USAF officials that read these rants et al and forumlate theories and guage TOTAL CAP based on that mess.

Only Civilian Airman can truely address and answer these questions.  But I will say one thing...we must police ourselves better as e-CAPers.

I am saddened...I will miss Civil Air Portal :'( 

And so will all of us...

Your right on that Maj. Carrales, regarding these types of discussions.  But I think you'll find that in an organization such as this. Personally, these discussions do serve a purpose of keeping ideas flowing and getting a feel, a litmus for what's going on. BUT, and it's a big one, these discussions should be kept from the general public so our so-called 'enemies' will not have fuel for their negative comments. How we can accomplish this, would be an interesting feat, but a worthy one at that.

Let's hope we can keep this from happening here.

DNall

MajC, I wouldn't venture to speak for CA. He's got his reasons and at some point will make them public in his own way.

The issues you mentioned are equally true of real military members online discussing the Army uniform & all the same sorts of things we talk about. CAP has an identity crisis, we all know that, and much of the discussion is us as members trying to work thru that. The only thing AF should read from that is that we don't have our crap together yet - that's just reality reflected. On the other hand, CAP leadership should take it as a kick in the pants to get the job done. All of this is plenty reason to disagree & discuss issues, we become better for working thru those problems than we do by ignoring them.

I don't know about enemies, if you're talking about NOTF, that guy is a joke to everyone & has no credibility, so screw him. Otherwise I'm not sure who you're referring to.

I hope this move by CA is temporary. I hope he realizes the value & synergy that comes from such a forum for open discussion of issues. I hope he sees people connecting across distances & recharging in CAP rather than feeling frustrated by local problems & politics. There's a certain truth to the "knowledge will set you free" saying, and the portal helped serve that purpose very well. So, I hope he'll come back or pass the reigns for a while, but not let it die.

JAFO78

I was sadden to see that CA had closed the portal. He and it will be missed.

CA if you are out there....Thanks for all your time and energy you put into the portal.
JAFO

Pylon

Wow...  I've always liked CA's work.  It is always top notch, very well done, and professional in every respect.  It's sad to see Civil Air Portal leave the compliment of online CAP websites, as I thought it was doing extremely well.    The Portal had a great interface and setup, and was doing better in terms of traffic than CAPTalk.

Whatever the reasons, Civil Air Portal will be sorely missed.  Sorry to see your site go, CA!
Michael F. Kieloch, Maj, CAP

Slim

Hmmm....Definitely bad news there.

I'm sure CA will let us know in his own time/way, but I'd be willing to bet that the portal's sudden departure might have something to do with NotF's recent trend of cutting/pasting info from the portal, and citing it as a source several times lately.

I really hope this isn't the case, but I plan on letting my subscription do the talking if it is...


Slim

Sarge

I for one will miss the unique stylings of CivilAirPortal. I wonder just what put him "over the edge"??? Could it be all the political foolry being created at NHQ by a select few that take themselves a bit too serious? Food for thought...

ZigZag911

I too am sorry to see Civil Air Portal cease operations, it was informative, and a class act!

alexalvarez

I am going to miss Civil Air Portal.
Ch, Lt. Col., Alex Alvarez
Alamo Composite Squadron, Bexar County Squadron, San Antonio, Texas
Group V Chaplain
Mitchell 1967, Earhart 1967, C/ Lt. Col. 1969
Fifty Year Member 2014

Becks

Yup, CA Portal was a great resource, it will be sorely missed.

BBATW

SarDragon

#13
Well, from my seat in the bleachers, I'd say that it's broke, not dead. Parts of the content remain; just the forums aren't working right now.

YMMV.
Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

Al Sayre

Let's hope this is some kind of Halloween horror.  The portal and portal master will both be sorely missed.  Thanks CA for all you do.
Lt Col Al Sayre
MS Wing Staff Dude
Admiral, Great Navy of the State of Nebraska
GRW #2787

NIN

I had a conversation with CA about this last night (before I fell asleep face-down on my keyboard..Ouch..). Yep, the portal is dark. Reason?  Well, there are a few, not the least of which is that CA is ramping up his USCG Aux duties alongside his CAP duties.

But part of it (and I don't want to speak out of turn for him, really, but I don't think he'll mind) is that he's not thrilled with the tenor and tone that many of the so-called "member participation" CAP sites have taken on.  Instead of being burgeoning pots of gold-plated information nuggets for new & old members alike, they've become festering sores of dissent, acrimony and scuttlebutt.    And CA just doesn't want to contribute to the rumor and innuendo mills.

And I don't blame him.

Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
I have no responsibilities whatsoever
I like to have Difficult Adult Conversations™
The contents of this post are Copyright © 2007-2024 by NIN. All rights are reserved. Specific permission is given to quote this post here on CAP-Talk only.

fyrfitrmedic

Quote from: NIN on October 31, 2006, 12:23:33 PM
I had a conversation with CA about this last night (before I fell asleep face-down on my keyboard..Ouch..). Yep, the portal is dark. Reason?  Well, there are a few, not the least of which is that CA is ramping up his USCG Aux duties alongside his CAP duties.

Good on 'im re: his new Aux duties.

Not so good on the constructive portal participants though.

Quote from: NIN on October 31, 2006, 12:23:33 PM
But part of it (and I don't want to speak out of turn for him, really, but I don't think he'll mind) is that he's not thrilled with the tenor and tone that many of the so-called "member participation" CAP sites have taken on.  Instead of being burgeoning pots of gold-plated information nuggets for new & old members alike, they've become festering sores of dissent, acrimony and scuttlebutt.    And CA just doesn't want to contribute to the rumor and innuendo mills.

And I don't blame him.

I don't blame him, but I don't necessarily agree with his choice of actions either. In my opinion, it was a bloody waste and a shame to pull the plug while the signal-to-noise ration was still half-decent and while constructive discussions were in progress. If pulling the plug was the only answer, a deadline would have been far more appropriate in order to transition threads elsewhere or else terminate said threads in an orderly manner. Yeah, it's his playground but some consideration for the constructive, functional users would have been nice.

A set of attentive and clueful forum moderators that serve mostly as facilitators and a little bit like traffic cops from time to time would be just what Civil Air Portal needs to 'clean house' a bit and remain viable. I've seen this approach work elsewhere and in venues where much greater acrimony and volatility are common.

There was no reason for Civil Air Portal to become one of 'those other sites', and for Civil Airman to assume this as a foregone conclusion is a bit of a disservice to those who made an effort to pass on useful information and participate in constructive discussions. Thanks for bunching us in with the likes of Blansett and Munger, really.

MAJ Tony Rowley CAP
Lansdowne PA USA
"The passion of rescue reveals the highest dynamic of the human soul." -- Kurt Hahn

CadetProgramGuy

Citizen Airman,

Thank you for your hard work and you will be missed.  Semper Gumby!!

Cadet Program Guy

Johnny Yuma

Quote from: DNall on October 31, 2006, 03:01:17 AM
MajC, I wouldn't venture to speak for CA. He's got his reasons and at some point will make them public in his own way.

The issues you mentioned are equally true of real military members online discussing the Army uniform & all the same sorts of things we talk about. CAP has an identity crisis, we all know that, and much of the discussion is us as members trying to work thru that. The only thing AF should read from that is that we don't have our crap together yet - that's just reality reflected. On the other hand, CAP leadership should take it as a kick in the pants to get the job done. All of this is plenty reason to disagree & discuss issues, we become better for working thru those problems than we do by ignoring them.

I don't know about enemies, if you're talking about NOTF, that guy is a joke to everyone & has no credibility, so screw him. Otherwise I'm not sure who you're referring to.

I hope this move by CA is temporary. I hope he realizes the value & synergy that comes from such a forum for open discussion of issues. I hope he sees people connecting across distances & recharging in CAP rather than feeling frustrated by local problems & politics. There's a certain truth to the "knowledge will set you free" saying, and the portal helped serve that purpose very well. So, I hope he'll come back or pass the reigns for a while, but not let it die.

I'm a former lurker over at civil air portal and decided to join the new board. I also read NOTF and while I will agree that many folks who write him seem to have an axe to grind with CAP much of the information he posts is spot on. It's also a 50/50 mix good and bad about CAP and one of the better sources for media information regarding missions.

CAP holds a lot of dedicated people who volunteer a lot of time money and effort to the cause. Sometimes when their efforts aren't understood or appreciated they need a place to ventilate. That's where these boards come into play. One can express their frustrations to their peers who will either understand, set them straight or tell them to grow up. That's what these boards do.

These boards are a support group and should be looked on as such.

"And Saint Attila raised the Holy Hand Grenade up on high saying, "Oh Lord, Bless us this Holy Hand Grenade, and with it smash our enemies to tiny bits. And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs, and stoats, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and lima bean-"

" Skip a bit, brother."

"And then the Lord spake, saying: "First, shalt thou take out the holy pin. Then shalt thou count to three. No more, no less. "Three" shall be the number of the counting, and the number of the counting shall be three. "Four" shalt thou not count, and neither count thou two, execpting that thou then goest on to three. Five is RIGHT OUT. Once the number three, being the third number be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade to-wards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuffit. Amen."

Armaments Chapter One, verses nine through twenty-seven:

DNall

I have to chime in here also... I do think this is all a little rash. It would have been better to step up the mods & oull the thing down for 24hrs w/ a story posted & notice emailed to explain his frustrations & ask for a new direction. People would have respected that.

As to the tone, it was FAR FAR away from the mil.com at each other's throat BS. There were heated moments, but they came considering serious issues from complex angles. That process caused people to think long deep & hard about some pretty hefty items, and to do some self-examination along the way. IT bought together real experts from most any civilian, military, or CAP field you could think of, where most of us don't even have some of our critical staff positions filled w/ even new SMs, & certainly not an old hand to run an idea up the flag pole with or even a group of experts from across the country. When could you ever have such a resource at yout fingertips?

On NOTF, they are a joke!!! They do tend to have SOME details right, but lose all credibility when tey mix fiction w/ fat & no one can tell the difference. Even if he was 100% accurate, you wouldn't put that information out. There's some legal & risk mgmt aspects out org needs to take more seriously. One of those is when you have a legal situation, you talk to CAP's lawyers, not the world, and you keep your mouth shut outside the family. This guy has been exploiting CAP's openness for years to try & take the organization down. Now more recently  he's been grabbing bits of information that are perfectly legit by law & reg, and he's been exploiting any little differnce in opinion to drive wedges & destroy what we have. So screw him. Anybody reading anything he has to say & giving it more credit than "Nun has alien baby after vaction to Mars" is badly misinformed.

Anyway, I hope CA will take a break & reconsider. Officers needa place to interact w/ other officers to become better officers, and we don't get that at our Sqs. That same saying I've used before, "leadership is not taught, it's caught." That means you need to have conversations w/ good officers about anything & just talking to them, being around them, watching them talk to others is how you learn to be a leader. There is a lot of good in the portal, and it went well beyond a silly announcement or resource site, and I hope we haven't seen the last of it.