ARBR has gone downhill

"Rocketman" wrote in message news:CGzBb.73919$_M.372052@attbi_s54...

"Al Kubeluis" wrote in message
...
[...]

Ed Dolan started out in good humor to counter liberal biases on arbr,
but he has over done it.

Sorry, but going all the way back to the very first Dolan thread, I failed
to see any humor. The guy is a classic troll with no debating skills, and no
apparent interest in actual give-and-take discussion. He belongs in the
permanent killfile with all other trolls.

It has never been my mission to amuse jackasses like yourself. If you
want humor, turn on your TV any night of the week and view the
situation comedies. That should be about on your level.

Also, I am not here to debate anyone. Everyone in this world knows
what and how liberals think about things. I am here to give my
opinions and my opinions only to refute liberal opinions. If you want
debate, go to Cambridge or Oxford in England and see how it is done
for real. These newsgroups are nothing but opinions and that extends
to recumbent related topics too.

But the main thing is that anyone who would go back and look up old
threads to see what anyone said on them has got to be crazy. For
instance, I have never had the slightest interest in what anyone has
ever said on any newsgroup except what I am currently reading and
responding to. But that is because I am not crazy like Rocketman!

But Ed Dolan is not the only, or even main, OT poster. Tom Sherman,
for
one, posts many liberal OT posts.

Um, there's your problem. It's not about who is liberal and who isn't, now
is it? I didn't see a sign at the gate to a.r.b.r. that said "no liberals,
please!" Political partisanship is of no concern here; until certain trolls
make it their mission to divide a thread along political lines.

Yes, it is all right with this jackass if liberal political opinions
are inserted in a reucmbent related topic. However, the rest of us
know that it is far better to have an OT thread devoted strictly to
politics so that the rest of us do not have to read asinine political
liberal comments in a thread that is suppose to be about recumbents.
Another beautiful example of
liberal "articulated logic" - whatever the heck that is.
[...]

Those who want to talk politics, go to a politics newsgroup.
Those that want to fight, email duel.

Talk to your boy Ed Dolan about this. He's been in my killfile for a long
time now. A.R.B.R is a better place without him, IMO.

And why not talk to your boy Tom Sherman about this? ARBR would be a
far better place without you and him both, in my humble opinion of
course.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

"Rocketman" wrote in message news:rhABb.74348$_M.372583@attbi_s54...
[...]
This adversariality is happening everywhere in the US. Polarization along
ideological and political lines, and a generally selfish, anti-creative and
even bullying attitude has cast a pall over our society. It's on TV. It's on
the news. It's in the newspapers. It's here, and it's real. Along with this
polarization ("us" vs "them", "You're either for us, or against us") has
come a rising paranoia. Every day we're bombarded with news that casts our
personal safety and security (politically and economically) into question.
We're being herded by fear into our private castles, separating ourselves
from each other. As millions of jobs are lost, and our currency crumbles,
and government debt rises to record highs, each of us wonders if we will be
next to get a pink slip, or to endure bankruptcy or foreclosure. In such a
social, political and economic climate, we are pitted against each other.
It doesn't have to be that way; but that is how it is now.

There it is folks! The complete liberal diatribe.

Polarization is the best thing that has ever happened to this country.
At long last the previous prevailing liberal orthodoxy is being
contested and being defeated. You have had your run for the past 50
years (ever since WW II for the most part) and now it is time for a
really big change which is being ushered in by Bush II. America will
be infinitely the better for it and so will the rest of the world. And
just in the nick of time too when terrorist groups and rogue states
are on the brink of acquiring nuclear weapons. Does anyone in their
right mind think the liberal Dems would know how to deal with that
extremely important problem - other than running to the UN of course.
This is the very same UN that knows how to standby and allow genocide
to occur right under it's nose over and over again (Rwanda and the
Balkans).

Dean is your man. Please be so good as to throw away your vote on him.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

"Bryan Ball" wrote in message
...
Hey Rocketman,

Yes I killfiled Dolan eons ago but when everyone responds to his posts, I
still get to see them. Simple fact is that I spend way too much time
reading message boards and such. I needed to cut back on one.

Please don't give up on a.r.b.r. just yet. It's still a vital resource, and
we're trying to make it better, increase S/N ratio, etc. It's all about the
people, and our collective will to better our state. Nothing happens by
accident on Usenet.

With all of
the OT stuff here and the amount of time that I spend trying to filter all
of it out, the decision was easy. I'll still pop in and out but I just
won't try to dig through all of the crap every day. If I had the time, I
would love to post five on-topic messages to every one of Ed Dolan's
right-wing rants but I don't.

We're wise to Ed Dolan now. He knows he's not wanted, and inhabits most of
our killfiles permanently. I've stopped responding to him (even by proxy),
and will try my very best not to add to OT threads.

Must...resist...temptation...to...bitch-slap...lame-ass
troll...resistance...fading...engage...emergency.. .circuits...

BTW - The saddest part is that ARBR was immune to this for SOOOOO long. I
was always amazed at how long it stayed relatively civil and on topic when
other newsgroups that I frequent became big piles of crossposts and
flamewars (ironically one of the Buddhist groups that I used to read is by
far the worst).
It's just sad to see that even ARBR isn't immune.

Religious NG's are the worst for trolls! Maybe the Church of RANS (did I
spel it rite, Tom? ;-) is close enough.

Glad you're still here, Bryan, even if it's part-time. Hey, you have a life,
and a magazine to write.

We all love ya' like a brother, even if you did find an escape hatch out of
the US to the land of Sleek and Beautiful Recumbents in "Yurrup." Looking
forward to a full review of the new Challenge Taifun 20/26 (what's it
called again?) That one is on the top of my 2004 purchase list, even if I
can't remember the name.

Cheers,

Rocketman

"Rocketman" wrote in message
news:f9MBb.79779$_M.393835@attbi_s54...snip
"Bryan Ball" wrote in message
...snip
Hey Rocketman,

Yes I killfiled Dolan eons ago but when everyone responds to his posts,
I
still get to see them.

Please don't give up on a.r.b.r. just yet. It's still a vital resource,
and
we're trying to make it better, increase S/N ratio, etc. It's all about
the
people, and our collective will to better our state. Nothing happens by
accident on Usenet.


Rocketman's desperate plea to keep Bryan aboard almost brings a tear to my
eye.

But then only two hours earlier Rocketman's contribution toward making arbr
a
vital resource, increase S/N ratio, and to
better our state is reflected in this exchange:

Republicans want to starve kids, kick old people out on the street,
make poor people have to eat dog food to survive, poison the air, land
and water and kill millions of American kids with your imperialist
wars.

They don't just *want* to do it, they *are* doing it! It's much worse than
anybody dreamed possible back in those prosperous and carefree days before
Election 2000, the end of democracy as we knew it in the US.

HAIL to the THIEF! Not my president. IMPEACH HE SUPREME COURT!

Right there with ya, brother.

"If the goal of President Bush's foreign policy was to make America
weaker, more vulnerable and more hated, mission accomplished."

Great quote. Is it yours? Can I borrow it?

Rocketman

Edward Dolan wrote:


Jon, did it ever occur to you that maybe the recumbent related topics
are so boring and dull that no one is paying any attention to them
anymore. Instead, these OT posts, which you so much deplore, seem to
be generating a lot of responses. Why is that I wonder? It can't
possibly be just me, can it?


No, it's not just you, it takes two to Tango, at minimum. These OT-posts
attract attention because we are all human beings after all, it's kind
of an ambivalent dilemma: On the one hand we feel we should stay away
from this threads, but on the other they are corresponding to our lowest
instincts. Many of us stare fascinated at you and your counterparts
awaiting eagerly the next sensations of your political mud-wrestling.

So you shouldn't feel too guilty and I don't blame you alone,
nevertheless I think you should give some thoughts a serious
deliberation.

First I think you fall into a major error dividing this group into
liberals and conservatives. People are not here in the first line
because of their political orientation, they want to talk about
recumbents. And I don't buy your crusade against the wicked liberals, in
reality you and all of your _deliberately_ off topic posting buddies -
liberals, conservatives, or whatever - are leading a very unholy war
against one of the most important principles of Usenet and against all
who are trying to maintain this fundamental principle - liberals,
conservatives or whatever.

I'm sure you know what principle I'm aiming at: Usenet is divided into
subjects, not into groups of people discussing all and everything.
That's why there are thousands of groups with different topics, not a
single group talk.all, where you would have to browse through zillions
of postings to find the ones you're interested in. Or even worse:
thousands of talk.all groups and you had to scroll through all this
groups till you were able to find by chance what you were seeking.

Of course a certain amount of OT will happen in every group, that's ok
and simply a consequence of human nature, but as soon as these posts
exceed a critical mass, the feelings will get nastier and nastier and
the good humor gets lost.

I do vote for free speech, and I'm convinced you should say what you
want to say, but I'd suggest to do it at the right places. And a.r.b.r.
is not the right place to talk about Bush and politics in an extended
way. All you excessive OT-posters act like golfers occupying a
football-field where teams are playing and many spectators(lurkers) want
to watch the football-game.
That's unfair against players and spectators and will cause anger sooner
or later, even if some of the spectators are interested also in golf.

I hope a.r.b.r. will survive the hard times, maybe your excessive
OT-posting will be good for something. By making a profession out of it
and doing it as fulltime-job you probably will clearly demonstrate where
this will lead. So maybe, Ed, you will serve as a mirror for all the
"left wing wackos" who think it's okay to post longwinded OT-threads.

And, for the (good?) end: It's very easy to spoil good manners and to
destroy, think of a house of cards. But it's very difficult and a real
challenge to find back to the good manners and to build up a climate
where useful and constructive debates are possible. Take your choice.

Kurt

"Kurt Fischer" skrev...
And, for the (good?) end: It's very easy to spoil good manners and to
destroy, think of a house of cards. But it's very difficult and a real
challenge to find back to the good manners and to build up a climate
where useful and constructive debates are possible. Take your choice.

This is not a new thing. Has happened here before.
Newsgroup is still around far as I can see. Just with different people.

Oddly enough when we had 20 overlapping OT threads in a week because of 9-11
one almost got crucified for suggesting people stick to the existing threads
or taking it somewhere else. I suppose theres OT and OT. ;-/

Oh well. This is as pointless as getting people to cut what they are not
replying to etc. so I will stop contributing to these threads.

M.

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:04:36 -0600, "skip" wrote:

But then only two hours earlier Rocketman's contribution toward making arbr
a
vital resource, increase S/N ratio, and to
better our state is reflected in this exchange:

Republicans want to starve kids, kick old people out on the street,
make poor people have to eat dog food to survive, poison the air, land
and water and kill millions of American kids with your imperialist
wars.

Well, hell, I thought you were only complaining about *contentious*
off-topic stuff ;-)

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:04:36 -0600, "skip" wrote:

But then only two hours earlier Rocketman's contribution toward making
arbr
a
vital resource, increase S/N ratio, and to
better our state is reflected in this exchange:

Republicans want to starve kids, kick old people out on the street,
make poor people have to eat dog food to survive, poison the air, land
and water and kill millions of American kids with your imperialist
wars.

Well, hell, I thought you were only complaining about *contentious*
off-topic stuff ;-)

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

I'm not complaining, mind you (having contributed my share), only noting the
traces of *irony* in all of this.

skip

On 9 Dec 2003 21:29:09 -0800, (Fabrizio Mazzoleni)
wrote:



It's guys like me that get all the public's attention.

Guys like you and Michael Jackson.

"skip" wrote in message
...

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:04:36 -0600, "skip" wrote:

But then only two hours earlier Rocketman's contribution toward making
arbr
a
vital resource, increase S/N ratio, and to
better our state is reflected in this exchange:

Republicans want to starve kids, kick old people out on the street,
make poor people have to eat dog food to survive, poison the air,
land
and water and kill millions of American kids with your imperialist
wars.

Well, hell, I thought you were only complaining about *contentious*
off-topic stuff ;-)

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

I'm not complaining, mind you (having contributed my share), only noting
the
traces of *irony* in all of this.

And this is helping in what way, other than as a self-serving display of
tattle-tailing? Ah, that's what I thought.

Maybe next time you can contribute something of value to our group.

-Rocketman