rants and raves. required reading.

c2bill · Post by **c2bill** » December 21st, 2006, 1:16 pm

some of you know me as c2bill, some as bill patton. some just as the anonymous guy who gets blamed everytime the ranking crashes or there are duplicate entries on the ranking.

several years ago i gave birth to both the ranking and the first training forum - with amazing results. The community that appeared supported these efforts has been tremendous. The online ranking logs over 6billion meters in a year? and the forum sees thousands of visits per month.

Since the early days of the forum i've been loathe to censor or control the posts in any way - being a big believer in personal freedom and responsiblity. and also, i just don't have the time.

that said i'm dismayed beyond the point of words at some recent posts - and the tearing down of great threads and content. I simply can not tolerate it any more.

i've deleted some of the more offensive posts - and will continue to do so as time permits. I've also created a new topic - 'rants and raves'. If you must slander and shout this is the ONLY place it will be tolerated. If i consistenly delete your posts and you don't get the picture i will delete your profile, every single post you have made since the inception of the forum and make every attempt to ban you from re-entering this forum.

There is room for everone in the community of rowers - but there has to be a basic level of courtesy present for this group to continue to flourish.

happy holidays all.

-bill patton

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » December 21st, 2006, 1:39 pm

Hmm, seems something is catching. Quite sad that it has come to this, certainly more work than you deserve to have heaped on your plate, especially after having provided the forum in the first place.

It's your forum, and frankly I'm all for zero-tollerance, as long as it comes along with a valid reason stated for the forum to see, which certainly shouldn't be hard to find, when one becomes "dismayed beyond the point of words ".

That would also serve as a future guideline, i.e. "You say things like this, and it's going to get you booted. Just as it did for UserX."

grams · Post by **grams** » December 21st, 2006, 2:59 pm

Bill, thank you. Most of us members spend time on the forum looking for help with our technique, times, and general health. Over the last 6 months I (and other ladies I'm sure) got so tired of wading through the non-productive posts that we stopped checking in with the forum community entirely. I believe the comeraderie is back now.

With your help and good judgement we can get back to using the forum for its intended purpose-helping each other.

grams

George Dunning · Post by **George Dunning** » December 21st, 2006, 3:30 pm

Thank you Bill, you have my support.

george

Tyn · Post by **Tyn** » December 21st, 2006, 5:35 pm

Thanks Bill, Thank you all!!

happy holidays!!!

SlugButt · Post by **SlugButt** » December 21st, 2006, 11:57 pm

Thank you, Bill! You do great work.
David

jamesg · Post by **jamesg** » December 22nd, 2006, 1:51 am

It was interesting to see how an addiction to erging can be reinforced by an addiction to writing and reading about erging, and how such a virtuous circle, mixing in maybe a little 1970s catastrophe theory, can become a vicious circle. Is it a problem of its own or does it stem from its prior existence in our brains? Anyway it seems we need a Big Brother. Far better to stay on the mens sana in corpore sano road than get onto a devil's "mens sick" slope, whoever keeps us there, so well done. Though perhaps some awareness of what was actually happening would have been enough; it's so easy to wind up, but why so difficult to wind down? There's bound to be a world record winder-upper somewhere (Iran docet), but don't we know a zoo when we see one? What kind of a zoo is it, if there's only one species?

TabbRows · Post by **TabbRows** » December 22nd, 2006, 1:00 pm

Thanks Bill,

Nice job...not easy but you do it well.

p-fitz · Post by **p-fitz** » December 22nd, 2006, 3:42 pm

c2bill wrote:i've deleted some of the more offensive posts - and will continue to do so as time permits.

I find John Rupp loathsome but I admit to being highly entertained by Chad Williams' posts a while back, and I know many peole had issues with him. I guess "offensive posts" are in the eye of the beholder.

TomR · Post by **TomR** » December 22nd, 2006, 4:11 pm

Bill--

Best wishes in your endeavor. The Forum has been a lively gathering place for years, and I hope it remains lively, albeit a bit more civil and a bit less childish.

Personally, I find some of the debates highly entertaining and occasionally enlightening. But I also find some of the squabbling tiresome beyond words, and I've taken advantage of the "ignore" feature, but that doesn't address the issue more generally.

So by all means whack away at the offensive and abusive stuff and exclude the incorrigble.

Merry Xmas.

Tom

Yankeerunner · Post by **Yankeerunner** » December 22nd, 2006, 5:10 pm

Thanks Bill,

I don't buy the freedom of speech argument in this situation. Someone's freedom of speech doesn't give him the right to, say, walk into one classroom after another of his choice at any school and spout nonsense non-stop. The internet being what it is, one motivated Troll can actually be in many classrooms simultaneously on different continents spouting nonsense and insults. As much as I would prefer the forum to be uncensored I agree that the abuse of that freedom has gone too far and for too long and that moderation if preferable to continuing the way that it has been going.

So many have left the forum over the years that once contributed to a pleasant environment. I'm sure that not all of them left because of the deteriorating atmosphere, but many did. Just a few of the names that I wish were still around are Monty, ABRA, Old Granny, Old Gramp (R.I.P.), Walker Collins, Fred in Toronto, El Caballo, riverrat, Guy W, Big Bird, Helen Danby, Hup, Planky, Mark Payton, Tom Mills, Stuartl, Chief (Jim McGoldrick), Ripley (Eileen Ryan), icevixen, Alex Targ, spagirl, skigirl, Marilyn, iliana, Dr. Goh, Ed Connor. While these may ring a bell with some I'm sure that there are many more that others can recall with fondness.

Thought of another way, if the forum has survived the loss of all those good people above and continued on, it can survive the banishment of a few of the most disruptive voices as well.

However you choose to go, you have my thanks for having made this available to us all these years.

Merry Christmas,

Rick

Widgeon · Post by **Widgeon** » December 22nd, 2006, 11:12 pm

Thanks Bill, you have my support.

Pam

Afterburner · Post by **Afterburner** » December 23rd, 2006, 1:50 pm

Thanks Bill! I really appreciate it, I too had lost a lot of my interest in the forum due to this. It's really nice that we will be able to have the forum like it used to be again.

Dickie · Post by **Dickie** » December 25th, 2006, 4:49 pm

I am a little dismayed at the thought of any censorship, but I can at times see the need. Personally I like the ignore feature and prefer my own censorship in picking and choosing the threads I read.

I will not grouse at this turn of events and i would like to offer my sincere thanks to you and everyone at C2 for providing a great piece of workout equipment and the motivation to use it.

Fred Dickie

Joanvb · Post by **Joanvb** » December 27th, 2006, 1:20 pm

Thanks for this move, Bill, and thank you for all the great work you've done to create opportunities for support and motivation from fellow ergers.

Concept2 Forum

rants and raves. required reading.

rants and raves. required reading.

Re: rants and raves. required reading.