Hey Chester,

Welcome aboard.  I was going to say things about staying on RV topics etc., but I don't know what you said and I won't presume and assume.  

I will say however that I've been on this forum for a little bit and there is an absolute wealth of knowledge to obtain from a lot of good folks.  So, hope you stick around and participate.

And thank you for your service.

Happy trails. 

Hey Chester,

Sorry, but I deleted your thread "Are All RVers Like This?" or something to that effect about a motorhome and toad blocking an entrance/exit.  Unfortunately, there is not a way to explain why I delete entire threads once they are deleted.  Perhaps I should start a topic on deleted threads where I can post explanations.

Anyway, there were a few issues with the post.  First, there was one line in your post that (just a couple of words if I recall, and I can't remember now exactly what it was) that set some folks off, and the thread was getting a little too personal.  It was a little judgmental and lumped certain RVers together, so in a group of passionate RVers, it didn't go over too well.  :)

Second, the photos posted included clear shots of license plates, which is just something we try not to do for privacy purposes.

And finally, the thread got off topic with a discussion of RVs at gas stations.  Some of it was helpful information, but a new thread should have been started.  That's my biggest pet peeve with moderating a forum - posts that veer from the original poster's question or comment and have nothing to do with the thread title.  I understand that folks are trying to be helpful, but I'm never going to look in a topic titled "Are All RVers Like This?" for information about the etiquette and legalities of RVs at gas stations.  In order for a forum to be useful to the members and non-members that are researching, the forum posts should be in line with the forum topic title.  And when they are not, I will often delete just the off-topic posts even if they provide good information because when people are looking at a particular topic, they don't want to read through a lot of superfluous information.   

I'm usually a little more lenient on threads posted in the Community Chat section, but sometimes I just make judgment calls when I don't think a thread is helpful to the community, it causes sniping back and forth, it has gotten off topic, or when I just know it's going to go in a bad direction.

For what it's worth, if your original post about what you considered to be an inconsiderate RVer had been worded just slightly differently, everything would have been just fine.  I probably wouldn't have deleted the entire thread, just the off-topic comments.  :)