But first I think we need to work out who "the Amiga community" is.
Not really. To put limits on it is to restrict what we're trying to accomplish.
I have my own personal reasons which preclude me from accepting MorphOS as "Amiga related", but again, that's personal, and your entire post -- while helpful -- is all about digging up all the old crap from the red vs blue days, which is counterproductive.
I'm not asking to change the basic tenet of this site. We exist to support the Classic Amiga platform *and* whatever else comes along, but until that something else comes front and center, this site pretty much stays focused on "what is", not "what will be"..
Unfortunately, as other sites are discovering, the official "what will be" is taking its sweet time to hatch.
We've always assumed that "The Amiga Community" was people using anything from an A1000 to an A4000T, and in the past that was the case. But now things are different. Many MorphOS users considers themselves the Amiga Community too, but they don't even use anything to do with Amiga itself any more.
I'm not trying to exclude anyone here. I just think that AMIGA.org loses focus and doesn't do nearly as good a job if we split our attention to alternative platforms. That's my opinion, but -- aside from supporting anything involving Bill Buck -- I'm amazingly open to other ideas if that's what the members of this site demand.
Unfortunately, based on my personal and professional history with that one person, the only thing that will change my mind is a certified money order for the monies I am owed from 2003. Again, bringing up old crap but I apologize as I'm still angry over it.
Hence I think we need to work out what direction we want the "community" to move in. Are we looking to get the most out of our old CBM machines? Or are we embracing the Hyperion AmigaOS and striving for a well-supported Amiga-compatible OS which has little to do with the original hardware.
This site is, and will always "embrace" whatever its members want to embrace. I have always been open to adding new forums for anything that is wanted by group populace. Their use of it however has traditionally fallen short of needing more (take the AROS forum for example).
Hence I think we need to define exactly who "The Amiga Community" are before we can think about moving said community in one unified direction.
In this case, you're asking for the impossible. In 2009, this community (as a generality) has been so splintered by angry and rabid members that we have at least 5 sites, where one would suffice. "We" will never agree as to what "the community" is.
I can only deal with what the community is *on this site* and hope to strike a chord which resonates with the most people. I forget where I read it, but I agree with whomever said it that "
running an Amiga site is not about getting everyone to agree, but about pissing off the fewest people"
