Conspiracy theorists unite! (just kidding)
I just got home after an 8-1/2 hour drive home from the 2014 AmiWest Show in Sacramento, and I am beat, but I wanted to reassure the members of Amiga.org (as well as those of AmigaWorld.net), that there are no grand designs, or ulterior motives, behind the acquisition of Amiga.org and AmigaWorld.net by Trevor and Matthew. I am really tired of reading the accusations by some members, that both Trevor and Matthew are so involved in and tied to AmigaOS4.x & Hyperion that they will censor information, news articles, or member opinions, which favor any other Amiga, or Amiga inspired platform that is NOT AmigaOS4.x and NG related. Anyone who really knows anything about AmigaKit would remember that most of their sales come from Classic Amiga users, and they are not likely to turn their back on those customers, or anger them by supporting only the (fewer numbers of) AmigaOS4.x users on NG hardware. Trevor has supported much more than ONLY AmigaOS4.x projects, and given his enormous collection of every kind of AmigaOS1.x to 3.x, MorphOS, AROS and AmigaOS4.x systems, I expect him to continue his support for all facets of our community long into the future. It is in Trevor's and A-Eon's best interest to encourage the porting of all Amiga inspired operating systems to their hardware, not just AmigaOS4.x, to gain the largest number of customers and users for the future. It is yet to be seen if any of the other operating systems (besides AmigaOS4.x) will be ported to any A-Eon hardware, but if it is not, it won't be from a lack of trying to convince those other platforms on Trevor's part.
After talking with Trevor and Matthew earlier today about both Amiga.org and AmigaWorld.net, it was clear to me that they want both sites to remain in the hands of their respective members and the community at large. Each site has a slightly different primary focus, due to their history and the makeup of their members preferences, but both sites allow the discussion of all parts of the diverse Amiga community. The only changes I have ever heard or read from Trevor or Matthew, is their desire to increase the sense of "friendliness" at both sites, where all members of our community can feel welcome, and no one will feel bullied, or discriminated against. To achieve that goal, some members who have gotten away with bullying, or rude behavior in the past on either site, will be asked to follow the posted Forum Posting Guidelines, or "Cardinal Rules", here at Amiga.org, with special emphasis toward respecting your fellow members and stopping all personal attacks and insults. Members who fail to follow the site rules will be warned and asked to self moderate themselves. Any member who refuses to follow the rules repeatedly, will be warned again and may have their posts which violate the site rules edited by a moderator, if they refuse to edit out any portion of their own posts which a moderator has informed them violates the site rules. Continued violations may lead to further actions by moderators to encourage compliance with the Posting Guidelines & Cardinal Rules, but we are all adults here and that should not be necessary. Respect each other and don't make forum posts personal. Use your common sense when posting, and everyone will get along fine, because believe me when I say that no one wants to moderate what another has written, unless absolutely necessary.
A few members here at Amiga.org have made outrageous accusations and outright rude remarks toward Trevor, Matthew, AmigaKit, and/or A-Eon during these first few months since the acquisition of Amiga.org was announced. At first the "Venting" was allowed, in hopes that it would die down and forum postings would return to normal on their own, but after repeated attempts by a few members to stir up trouble on the forums, finally one or two of them were given temporary posting restrictions after several warnings were ignored. Claims of censorship, or favoritism in approving news items are untrue and unfounded. The primary behavior that is being moderated lately is rude or hateful attacks by a very small minority of vocal members. No matter what false perceptions 2 or 3 members may have been trying to promote about Amiga.org's new owners and their motivations, I know from personal experience with both Trevor and Matthew, that their intentions are for the good of all community members. They are not aimed at only one part of the Amiga Universe, at the expense of all other parts and members of the community. Anyone using their own common sense should be able to understand and see that for themselves, but a few people appear to have their own agenda and reasons for spreading false rumors and accusations. I hope that most of the community can see through those transparent attempts to stir up trouble, and ignore them for the useless posts that they are.
Trevor and Matthew are good people trying to do what they think is best to support all sides of the remaining Amiga community. You may disagree with their decisions on how to best go about supporting the community (I don't always agree with everything that they decide to do), but if you are truly objective, I would hope you can at least admit that their intentions are to be helpful, even if you yourself might have chosen different methods on how to best support the Amiga community.
I feel that one of the best things about Trevor and Matthew are that they both listen to Amiga users and they are willing to invest their time and money into this community. If you don't agree with what they are doing, write to them and provide your point of view on what things they can do to make this community better, but don't be angry if they make different choices than you would have made. After all, it is their time and money that they are investing. Be thankful that they welcome feedback and suggestions, and that they listen and care about what happens to this niche community and remember that both Trevor and Matthew support all parts of our community, not just AmigaOS4.x and NG hardware, even though they have invested a very large sum of money and time into those two parts.
Forgive the long post, but I felt I had been mostly silent long enough, and needed to clarify a few misconceptions, plus I wanted to reassure members that this is still their site, and we only want to make it better and friendlier.
