Who Killed ARBR?

This has got to be the strangest newsgroup in Usenet history. The group is
for all practical purposes now dead and yet some here do not seem to know
it. It did not die for no reason. So what killed it, or better, who killed
it?

I urge any of you who are left here to go back and have look at the Google
statistics for this group.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.r...ecumbent/about

There you will see a great falling off that occurred last March after a
hectic winter of assault by a criminal vandal troll by the name of Ed Gin.
He posted under various false and forged names and even forged addresses.
Except for a few of us, the group stood by and let it happen. After it had
happened (it only lasted a couple of months) most left the group never to
return. The group has never recovered from this assault and I don't believe
it ever will. The recumbent community is not so large that it can afford to
lose members because of the criminal activity of a single person.

Mr. Sherman and some of the other regulars thought it was all just good fun.
The proof that it wasn't is that the group went from postings of around 2000
a month to now less than 500 a month. There are now only a few of us left.
No more newbies come here for Mr. Sherman to help. All the regulars have
fled to moderated forums. If you are still here, you need to ask yourself
why you are still here.

The criminal vandal troll continues with his insane posting, trying to get
whoever is left to go to the blogs. The irony of it is that like a deadly
virus he has destroyed his host. There is no one left to go to the blogs
except for a few other insane persons like him and of course Mr. Sherman
doesn't mind going slumming from time to time.

Jim McNamara was right about Ed Gin from day one. Only Mr. Sherman flounders
about by himself trying to defend the indefensible. In the meantime, the
group has died because of the cowardice of the members of the group. I have
seen how other groups handle criminal vandal trolls and they do not run and
hide like ARBR did.

The only thing that survives on this group are my off topic subjects and
some desultory topics about going fast on low racers vs. high racers. We
should all go out and shoot ourselves. We certainly don't deserve to have
any new members come to ARBR. The fact is this group thrived with many and
varied on topic and off topic threads until the criminal vandal troll
appeared and wrecked everything. Only Mr. Sherman and I are dumb enough to
still be here.

My worst nightmare has come true. Mr. Sherman and I will lambaste one
another for all eternity and no one will read anything we say. Even Ed Gin
will stop posting his links to the blogs since there will be no one left.
ARBR will have reached the absolute nadir of its existence. For heaven's
sake, someone please be so good as to put us all out of our misery. Maybe
Mr. Sherman will administer the coup de grace since he was no good at
defending the group when it needed to be defended.

So, who killed ARBR? Why, one person by the name of Ed Gin killed ARBR!
Elementary, my dear Watson!

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Ed,

Nadir was the consummate choice of a word. It says it all. Tom
Sherman could take lessons from you. His most recent myopic posts have
degenerated into desultory, incoherent, discursive, ramblings that
betray his frustration, lack of insightfulness and his inability to
reason clearly.

You are right concerning most if not all that you have said. Ed Gin,
and perhaps a few of his devoted disciples, has inflicted irreparable
damage here at ARBR. Many ARBR members had the intelligence to discern
what was worthwhile and the self-control to ignore the useless. Few
stepped up to the task to voice their discontent and many simply
abandoned ARBR in disgust. I may be one of the last ones to pull up
stakes. You and Tom Sherman will remain as the primary contributors
locked in off-topic cyber-skirmishes ad infinitium. At that juncture,
it would befitting for the last rights to be administered to ARBR.

JimmyMac

wrote in message
oups.com...
Ed,

Nadir was the consummate choice of a word. It says it all. Tom
Sherman could take lessons from you. His most recent myopic posts have
degenerated into desultory, incoherent, discursive, ramblings that
betray his frustration, lack of insightfulness and his inability to
reason clearly.

You are right concerning most if not all that you have said. Ed Gin,
and perhaps a few of his devoted disciples, has inflicted irreparable
damage here at ARBR. Many ARBR members had the intelligence to discern
what was worthwhile and the self-control to ignore the useless. Few
stepped up to the task to voice their discontent and many simply
abandoned ARBR in disgust. I may be one of the last ones to pull up
stakes. You and Tom Sherman will remain as the primary contributors
locked in off-topic cyber-skirmishes ad infinitum. At that juncture,
it would befitting for the last rites to be administered to ARBR.

JimmyMac

I can count on the fingers of one hand those of us who stood up to the
criminal vandal troll. I have noted who voiced their objections and who were
mute. Mr. Sherman, the most prolific poster ever to ARBR up to that time and
one of the main stays of the group, was mute. But he wasn't the only one.
Yes, they did not want to get involved, but that kind of spinelessness will
be the ruin of everything.

I came to this group several years ago with hope and trust that everyone
would behave like decent human beings and we could have a good time
together. I mean, just how bad can anyone be who is into recumbents? I
discovered that human nature is ever with us regardless of our interests. I
will shortly leave ARBR (this will be my 6th and final farewell) with loads
and loads of disgust - and all due to one criminal vandal troll by the name
of Ed Gin whom no one wanted to take on except for a handful of us. He
murdered the group and the group let him do it.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:
...
There you will see a great falling off that occurred last March after a
hectic winter of assault by a criminal vandal troll by the name of Ed Gin....

Mr. Dolan presents an accusation without proof. No one has proved that
Ed Gin authored the Johnny NoCom posts, and there is significant
evidence that indicates other parties.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

Edward Dolan wrote:
This has got to be the strangest newsgroup in Usenet history. The group is
for all practical purposes now dead and yet some here do not seem to know
it. It did not die for no reason. So what killed it, or better, who killed
it?...

Mr. Edward Dolan and others consistently bombarding the group with
pro-Republican messages certainly had nothing to do with it. [End
Sarcasm]

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

wrote:
Ed,

Nadir was the consummate choice of a word. It says it all. Tom
Sherman could take lessons from you. His most recent myopic posts have
degenerated into desultory, incoherent, discursive, ramblings that
betray his frustration, lack of insightfulness and his inability to
reason clearly.

Mr. McNamara can clearly come up with insults, but he can not come up
with PROOF of his ACCUSATIONS.

You are right concerning most if not all that you have said. Ed Gin,
and perhaps a few of his devoted disciples, has inflicted irreparable
damage here at ARBR....

The damage was done by certain people constantly INITIATING political
arguments, cramming their smug, self-righteous opinions down everyone
else throat. This occurred long before any Johnny NoCom posts showed
up.

Rather than keeping on posting on-topic (as occurs in other Usenet
cycling groups) many people obviously could not mentally filter out
what was of disinterest, and fled to moderated forums where net nannies
protect them from any unpleasantness or real controversy. If they
prefer "baby food" discussion, so be it.

Many ARBR members had the intelligence to discern
what was worthwhile and the self-control to ignore the useless. Few
stepped up to the task to voice their discontent and many simply
abandoned ARBR in disgust. I may be one of the last ones to pull up
stakes. You and Tom Sherman will remain as the primary contributors
locked in off-topic cyber-skirmishes ad infinitium. At that juncture,
it would befitting for the last rights to be administered to ARBR.

What is left of the group would benefit if people like Mr. McNamara
took his personal hatred away, instead of venting on the group in the
form of ACCUSATIONS WITHOUT PROOF.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:25:18 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
said in :

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.r...ecumbent/about
There you will see a great falling off that occurred last March after a
hectic winter of assault by a criminal vandal troll by the name of Ed Gin.

Nope. The decline clearly starts around October 2002, by November
2003 it was down to under 2/3 of its peak value, and since November
2003 it has declined steadily. If anything the monkey pox increased
the number of postings, since the poxers are quite prolific.

All we need to do is find someone who arrived late 2002 and really
ramped up their input late 2003. Can anyone find a likely candidate
in the archives?

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 11:04:52 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
said in :

Mr. Sherman, the most prolific poster ever to ARBR up to that time and
one of the main stays of the group, was mute.

Maybe he discovered that his newsreader has a killfile.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

W H A T E V E R 8^) ... JimmyMac

Just zis Guy, you know? aka Guy Chapman wrote:
On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:25:18 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
said in :

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.r...ecumbent/about
There you will see a great falling off that occurred last March after a
hectic winter of assault by a criminal vandal troll by the name of Ed Gin.

Nope. The decline clearly starts around October 2002, by November
2003 it was down to under 2/3 of its peak value, and since November
2003 it has declined steadily. If anything the monkey pox increased
the number of postings, since the poxers are quite prolific.

All we need to do is find someone who arrived late 2002 and really
ramped up their input late 2003. Can anyone find a likely candidate
in the archives?

I told the Worthington City Council that installing Internet access
under the bridges was a bad idea.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley