People leave VMB for a variety of reasons: Sometimes, a person who regularly posts on the board will just disappear, without explanation. Sometimes a person will write me privately to ask to have their account removed for personal reasons. Sometimes a person will have an issue with VMB being a moderated board and/or a disagreement with our policies. Sometimes, sadly, we have a regular member pass away. Typically we will make an announcement thread about these. Although most of us have never met in person, I feel like we establish a kind of relationship and friendship on the board. I understand that there is legitimate curiosity and sometimes concern for people who you have followed on the board over time. I sometimes wonder what ever happened to So&So too. The policy on VMB is that we don't allow the "Hey, what happened to..." threads. In my experience, having those threads is almost never beneficial to the board. Either nobody knows and speculation and conspiracy theories are bred, or the person left and is disgruntled and rehashing all the drama isn't good for the community as a whole. Likewise, if you decide to leave the board, the "That's it! I'm leaving!" threads are removed as well. Go or don't go, but there's no benefit in trying to burn down the place on your way out. It's disruptive to the community. I hope this answers any questions and clarifies our position on the subject. If you have any further questions, I am happy to answer them off the board. You can send me a Private Conversation or contact me via email using the Contact Us button on the bottom of the board and I will answer any questions that I can.
I've been nervous about my upcoming stay at Rio for the first time in a decade; reading this just changed my view. I am going to toast GregRio when I have my first drink at the bar, hope for the best with the room and make sure I review one of the two shows we are seeing that I haven't seen mentioned on the board yet. Cheers Greg!! Thanks Sonya!
I fully understand that these "That's it, I'm leaving" type of posts provides no benefit whatsoever to the harmony and foundation of this board. But it is my sincere hope that one can post and say goodbye to their VMB friends for reasons other than having issues with the moderators or admin of the board. It might be that they lost interest of all things Vegas or a loved one needing full time care, going to school or joining the military, peace corps, etc. There are other good intentioned reasons for leaving the board and I hope they can be able to post and say goodbye. This might also eliminate some of these "Where did so and so go?" type of threads.
PMs are always open and available and people can and do use that to let friends know that they are leaving.
I guess people kind of wonder what happened to some people so they will ask what happened to them. Only natural to wonder, especially for some of the regular posters disappearing. All of a sudden they no longer post here so others that aren't their "friends" will ask about it, as in the recent case. For me I don't see a problem with members leaving to say their goodbyes. People regularly come and go from many forums. I don't think it is disruptive as long as they don't use it to burn down the house. As I mentioned before you will always find someone who isn't in agreement with forum policies so they will say "adios" and I will just reply that we will miss that person but understand their reason for leaving. In the recent case of "what happened" I was lucky that the person pm'd me before he left and gave me his reason for leaving. Basically that person left because of a disagreement with some of the forum policies. Not a problem, I think this forum is bigger than that and can take whatever criticisms are dished out. We reminisce all the time about the past, about past las vegas hotels, about places that have closed, why not past posters? As with other boards there are a number of "good" posters that were popular and helpful to many and other people wonder what happened to them. In the future I hope that mods will allow these people to say their "goodbyes" as long as they don't flame the board. I didn't read that person's goodbye post so I cannot tell if he did it cordially or if he flamed the board. We can agree to disagree and understand that not everyone will agree with some forum policies and rules so they will say goodbye to this board. It has happened before and will happen again.
I have gone AWOL a few times- and for a weird reason. I switched from a PC on a desk to my phone. For some reason I used to sit at the computer for hours on this site and now on my phone my ADD kicked in and I’m on here then FB then a different app. Think flipping between apps is so easy on a phone.
It is nice to know that an exception is made for deceased posters. Of course, if I check out, my best friends won't need to find out here because they will have noticed that I am no longer annoying them on fb.
