Don't tread on me!

Great post Loko and I share your sentiments. What I'm finding is that there are some people who have only been on eons a relatively short time and they can't appreciate what the "older timers" have done to improve this site for eons.

I want to say that my gripe isn't with eons staff but rather with the owners of the site. They care so much about the almighty dollar that they would risk their site going belly up which very well may happen. I've been in business on the internet for more than 15 years and I've seen many businesses fold their tents over the years and in most cases it was a matter of poor business decisions. It's important to know that today's big internet site isn't even remembered tomorrow!!

The owners of eons have betrayed each and every person who signed up for this site based on it being a 50+ site. When they posted their letter to the members I have to tell you I for one didn't feel one ounce of remorse for what has transpired and I know many who share my feelings on this. It was nothing more than empty words and left many running to the nearest exit. You're right Loko, none of us are sheep or doormats unless we want to be!!!!!!!!

Could we all at least agree to stop calling each other names? The majority of Eons members felt offended, betrayed, hurt and angered by Eons’ decision to change the rules so we’re all in the same boat. You are, in essence, preaching to the choir. I can’t see where calling other members “sheep and doormats” and declaring that they are “the same people who never appeal their property tax ... never look for another store when the prices go up ... and take any screwing in
stride” is going to foster a spirit of fellowship among us. And to imply some of us are too senile to care will only ruffle more feathers among us members. What would you have us do? The change has happened. We are dealing with a corporation here and they have made it clear that they, not us, make the decisions. Don’t assume that just because the management of Eons is staffed with people it logically follows that the corporation which runs Eons has a heart, a sense
of duty to do what their members want them to do or any sense of loyalty at all to each of us as individuals. These are human attributes and corporations don’t have feelings. I don’t like the changes any more than anybody else does but I refuse to make myself sick over it or raise my blood pressure one point or let this fester inside me. I will NOT make my profile private and I will try my best to go on as I did before the rules were changed. If you need to vent then do so by
all means but please stop disrespecting the rest of us who are trying our best to muddle through this mess.

The gist of it is quit telling me to stop! I'll stop when the hurt subsides! I'm not stupid, I know that it is a done deal! I feel better if I'm able to bitch about it! We are not babies, miscreants, troublemakers, or what ever else we were branded as! You can take it in stride and I won't call names! But! Sorry, when I get called names, I call names back!

I echo all of your sentiments Loko. I am not calling names I am just eliminating contacts, little by little until there are none left. I had a home here with a lot of people I liked and trusted. When the trust was gone it hurt. Eons will continue, that's fine. My home was wiped out in a tsunami and I need to rebuild - but not in the path of known destructive influences, wouldn't be smart.

What I said was, "If you feel the need to vent then do so...." That certainly was not meant to imply that you should stop saying what you feel. I totally support your right to say whatever you want to in your own blog and in the groups to which you belong or anywhere else, for that matter. We definitely got shafted by management and I don't think anyone could argue that point. Well, no one in their right mind anyway! I would respectfully submit, though, that name-calling can only fan the flames higher since emotions are running at such fever-pitch now. If the members all splinter off into factions it will make things even worse than they are already. Like Ben Franklin said on the eve of the American Revolution, "Let us hang together for otherwise we surely will all hang separately." :-)

The members are already in factions - or non-members.

i agree with you loko, so why is it that at any one time there are only about 20 people online at our other site, hmmmmmm? thit or git, dude.

I wrote to another user how this reminded me of the phrase "You can never go home again". It happened to all of us when we left our childhood homes. When you came back it felt "different"

I feel like EONs has told us in no uncertain terms 'this is THEIR place' and even if I decide to stay here, it will never feel the same again.

Maybe the reason you are being called a "5 year old" is that you say that to consider anyone who doesn't share your convictions to be "sheep and doormats".

Agree with you or be insulted, are those the options you offer?
Sounds like kindergarden to me, but that's just my opinion.

Great post loko, one of the things about getting old is everybody expects you to be a complainer - actually we complain less and are willing to defer rather than hurt the feelings of others. Anyone that thinks that we should just shut up and make the best of the changes is entitled to their opionion, but those who see an injustice and want to make their views known, should be respected. I feel that there is another shoe to drop here - a change to the format to make it friendly to a different age group - so before anyone invests a lot of their time in "making it work" they should wait to see what "it" is. In the meantime, those who want to make their complaints known should keep it up, maybe some of it will have a positive impact on the deaf managment of this site.

Where to start where to start...

I could not have put it better my self! You have every right to bitch moan and complain in any venue you please until either change comes or the hurt is gone. Somehow I rather think neither is in the cards.

Many forums are going private, many are closing and looking for more honest pastures. Mr. Taylor and Company forget... WE are the age group who ended wars, who brought down presidents, who demanded and got change at every turn, socially, politically and sociologically. OUR era is no more like our parents time than theirs was the horse and buggy era... and THIS is STILL OUR ERA! WE are the single largest demographic group, WE control over 70% of the cash in this country, and WE hold the purse strings on 70% of the money spent by the 0-24 year olds in many urban markets! Let's hear it for Grannie Power! Each following generation is SMALLER than the next for the foreseeable future! And more of us are getting online every day. We invented the concept of the informed consumer and the idea of consumer rights. And we still believe in the adage of the customer ALWAYS being right! We vote with both our pocket-books and our feet. We are NOT a group to be triffeled with.

Those of us who have been here a while feel betayed like you do. Our trust had been broken and our faces feel slapped. You are right... I too do not take betrayal lightly, and too resent those who would have me sit down and be silent when I am the injured party.

YOU GO! I'm still really hurt by it as well. Somehow being hurt and betrayed isn't supposed to be as awful as losing money or a job. Complain away, bro! I see both sides, as usual, but I really don't like seeing people get away with blindsiding people that CARE, people that have given infrastructure to a community built in a successful way. We will have to "get over it," but as with any shock, it will take time. As much time as it takes.

Let's put this chronologically! I complain about Eons
I complain some more about Eons and change my age in my profile!
Now I'm getting called a baby, miscreant, troublemaker and whatever! I call names ONLY after I'm called names first!

All our anger, no matter how expressed or depressed, is really directed at the eons administrative team who have NOT handled our objections with either respect or openness -- threads closed, messages removed, condescending remarks (I just finished reading a thread controlled by jamie that was down right insulting). While it is, indeed, their site, they admit that they didn't have a clue about how it would evolve. And now that we, the members, have made social networking the primary force for the site, Jeff and his coherts have co-empted what we created for their own gain.

What they obviously still don't get is that messing with and diluting the unique dynamics created here is not a sure road to a bigger success. Especially if they alienate a large percentage of the very people who made, out of their own interests and needs, this site as it now exists.

Booooooooooooo hisssssssssssssssssssssssss Bbbbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I got to thinking after I left my last comment, I am 76 and maybe I should complain about the under 60 crowd. I guess you all have the right to complain, rant. and or rage. I came here to be among adults near my own age. And I have met several of you and you have made me happy. I hope I can meet more and make good friends.

Thanks Eons, for doing something good! TBodine, posts like that are what got you kicked off Eons!

So...5 months later...I'm not seeing this site overun by teens, as I supected it would not. The content here and the average age of the core membership does not attract teen participation--bottom line. The EONS management team made the right decision--and they continue to market this site predominately to the Boomer demographic. The sky has not fallen down, we still have a great site on which to network and socialize on--give these EONS developers a break--try getting out there on multiple social networks, you will not find them to be as dynamic nor content orientated nor as supportive of their initiant membership!!!

Go out there and cruise Yahoo 360, Facebook, Multiply, MySpace, any of the major social networking sites without age restrictions, you will see that they naturally attract a certain following depending on how membership drives content. The core membership here drives content primarily through the Booming of message threads/blogs and by making their desires known--and EONS development/management shows their support by making themselves available and on a personal level, i.e. Community Girl and Suzy--you don't see that kind of personal support on any other site, believe me--EDM also supports the core membership by the way in which it promotes members/groups/activities that cater to its Boomer and older members. And as far as technical advancements/enhancements, other sites just pretty much lay them down with little warning--EONS EDM sends out community wide messages and requests/encourages active commentary and response. Face it, we have a pretty good site here--despite the occasional glitches--but change is constant and that is especially so in the technical world--patience is warranted when the site is constantly active, or it would be brought down constantly in order to lay the enhancements down and test them in the "live" environment.