i think there are a few major problems that have dragged the riu community down, the biggest being the total lack of respect for the seasoned growers, i think there should be a teachers section that should be strictly for teaching (trolls get banned instantly). i know we have the newbie section but there are just to many trolls that ruin it for new growers and the fact that the trolls are left to get on with it makes it hard for anyone looking for reassurance. also the search function on the site is pretty crap at the best of times meaning that when you search for a Q that's already been asked 1000 times you get very little info if any.
when i joined up a couple of years ago i was lucky enough to benefit from a few of the older members advice and threads i.e uncle ben, brick top and a few others, i read the threads they created and also read all the links they put up that were based on actual research and facts and that aided me to no end and answered all the Qs i had at the time, unfortunately for new growers coming to the site alot of the older more experienced members have left due to the trolling and sheer bullshit that was thrown at them repeatedly by inexperienced growers and trolls, which left a gap that's hard to fill and unfortunately in a lot of cases now bad info is passed off as facts when they are anything but.
just my opinion but i believe riu has taken a bit of a nose dive and is now more for fucking about on rather than learning and sharing knowledge, don't get me wrong there is still some great info here but not like there was, the stickys have been changed and the new ones have replaced them that were started by new inexperienced growers that do a good job at adding info but i don't think it's the same as reading from someone that's been doing it for years and doesn't just know how to do it but more importantly why it should be done.
the trolls aren't kept in check
some of the new mods are shocking and do a terrible job
informative threads get derailed and the info is lost when the threads get locked, i think over all some upper management decisions have been poor and the site has suffered as a direct result. the sad part is until these things are changed and dealt with the good, experienced and helpful will just keep leaving, leaving the trolls and bullshit to keep flowing.........troll it up??? i think so