This was an internal email that was sent to the QRZ staff:
Folks,
QRZ was built by hams, for hams. We've hosted discussion groups for over 20 years and presently there are more than 40+ forums containing more than 2 million postings. Of those 40+ groups, just one of them is NOT about ham radio. The single off-topic area has been known as Rag Chew Central. The subject line, "qrz.com must be a member to comment anymore" isn't worthy of criticism, because doing so misses the point. It is false and misleading. Nevertheless, the author was successful in starting and propagating a false narrative about QRZ, and now, 5 pages later, it's clear that many people simply took his word for it and chimed in.
So, if you don't read anything else in this email, please know this:
EVERY FORUM ON QRZ THAT IS ABOUT HAM RADIO IS COMPLETELY FREE TO ALL USERS.
The new Just Talking forum, which replaced the RCC series, isn't about ham radio. It's about nothing, nothing at all. It is by definition a complete waste of time that some people frequently enjoy (see Facebook for example). Even though that by being hams the participants have a common interest, this comradeship is disregarded in order to bring you such gripping headlines as "Joke of the Day", "Turkey barn burns killing 7000 young birds", and "The Original Lois Lane has Passed".
Some posters have correctly pointed out that the RCC series has been overhauled a few times. Each overhaul was done for the same reason: to try and find a way to quell the epidemic of trashy, argumentative and disrespectful speech. So far we've been batting a score of 0.00%, largely because those who play there have been having fun. We've tried to aggressively moderate it on numerous occasions however the exercise often seems useless given the nature of its content. Sadly, we've had to ban users to satisfy the complaints of other users who complain about content that is commonly seen on other sites (like FB). Few people want this moderating job, and those who do, can't be trusted with it.
From an organizational standpoint, we really don't see the need for hosting non-amateur related topics. The obvious solution to this is to not host the material at all. This would be our most desirable solution, however, we've found from past experience that if you don't provide the children with a playground that their antics will inevitably spill over into the legitimate discussion forums, which leads to a metastasis of ill will throughout the site.
So, after having tried the removal of RCC, then tried flushing and restarting it (RCCII), then tried splitting it into multiple groups (Political Junkies/RCC), we were left with just one option - to "go nuclear" and kill the whole thing. Why? There are several reasons. Here are a few:
- The expense and difficulty of monitoring what is said, removing objectionable comments and pictures, and arguing with users who have been censored
- Handling complaints that we receive on a daily basis from people who report that they didn't like what they saw / read.
- Handling complaints from tattle-tales who make it their mission to bring everybody into compliance with the rules.
- Being asked to explain why some things are removed while others are not. It takes long enough to read and make an editing decision, only to have that effort expanded and multiplied by having to defend it.
- Maintaining vigilance for compliance with Google's Advertiser Content Guidelines because bad behavior by a single user can get us suspended, resulting in substantial financial losses. All in the name of good fun.
Rather than going nuclear and ripping out the entire forum (and thereby causing the cancer to spread), we thought that we'd give the Subscriber option a try. The issue here wasn't to profit from the members but rather to recover some the costs that we've incurred in managing the area. Then, at least when we have to divert our attention to the latest upset in Just Talking, we can do so while having the costs of such attention offset by the users themselves. You may have also noticed that all advertising has been removed from the Just Talking section, which protects us from Google policy violations. This means that the entire Just Talking area is supported by those who use it and as such, they are entitled to a bit more self-determination than in the other forums. This is why the discussion of previously off-limits topics (i.e. politics, religion, and mild profanity) is now permitted in this area. It's their playground, and they are responsible for getting along with each other. Passer's by are encouraged to keep moving, "nothing to see here", unless you're interested, of course. It's not a no-holes-barred situation as we will always prohibit and/or censor hate speech, violence, and pornography. Also note that QRZ's population consists of the same people you meet at hamfests and on the air every day. The average age of a QRZ user is 50+, with 90% of our user base being over the age of 40. QRZ may not be strictly kid friendly, but then neither is the hobby as whole. If it was, the average age would be a couple of decades lower.
Some have pointed out that a lot of the bad actors in the RCC area have themselves been subscribers and thus moving to a subscriber supported forum will have no effect. Well, as I just explained above, it does have an effect. The effect is that we can concentrate on providing better services to the rest of the site and spend less time presiding over ridiculous matters over in the "RCC" area which, incidentally, account for no more than 10% of QRZ forums traffic, and just 2% of our overall traffic. So, if you're disheartened by the new Subscriber-Only forum, then you're simply not trying hard enough to find pleasure in this hobby.
Also, we'd like to mention that QRZ has sponsored eHam's callsign lookup data for more than 10 years. eHam is in fact, the #1 QRZ XML data user. We wish to congratulate them for their hard work and the excellence that they've provided to the ham community.