If ever?

I’m interested in who you mean by “et al”… 🙂

In the short period of time between them storming stw towers and the police ending the siege and ripping the controls for the servers from their lifeless but still warm hands?

DD – I think it means “and the rest of ’em”

Though it could also mean “and Fred”

My French isn’t that good.

I want names Pook. Names I tell you! 😮

Surely it would be Al rather than Fred. If you meant Fred you should have put “et Fred” rather than “et al”

I miss em. 🙁

I also miss the proper trolls, the ones we have now are very meh.

TJ ate Fred?

(I’m from Yorkshire)

What is with the obsession over this?

I think I had a few nice exchanges with “TJ et al”, and perhaps a few less than nice ones. But I don’t really care if they’ve gone – surely other have stepped into their shoes, be it trolling or perhaps even [dare I say it] through interesting posts regarding bikes or riding.

FWIW, as Cougar [et al] have posted before, for every ban there is a way to circumvent it. If they really wanted to come back I’m sure they could find a way.

Can’t we move on? Or should we all just head over to STW:argue and bitch [oh puhleeease, people…]

no.

I’m rarely on here anymore, what was the reason for TJ going?

FWIW, as Cougar [et al] have posted before, for every ban there is a way to circumvent it. If they really wanted to come back I’m sure they could find a way.

I suggest that TJ stops riding that tandem. It’s always going to be a dead giveaway if he tries to sneak back in.

TJ won a bet against me recently over Egypt 🙁

what was the reason for TJ going?

he argued.

Has Al been banned again…?

gofasterstripes – Member
What is with the obsession over this?

I’m not sure it’s an obsession for most people, but those who’ve been on here a long time can see how the forum has changed over the years as people come and go, and some (not all) preferred it how it used to be when some of the now banned were prevalent. I liked TJ but never tired of watching tie himself in logical knots, nor did I ever tire of watching that youth from London get intellectually owned over and over again by folk that he erroneously thought he was cleverer than. I can see how they would have annoyed others by being very overbearing on lots of threads though. They were probably far more annoying to people who wanted to make a constructive contribution to threads than they were to the kettle-and-biscuits brigade who simply enjoy the entertainment.

Surely they just need to sign up and behave themselves like everyone else?

No, STW Mods have “hunt and kill” orders for TJ and Fred

I know TJ and he’s alright. I do think the forum’s a much nicer place without the contstant arguing though

I don’t think Fred will ever come back, not even under an assumed name. Oh no that’ll never happen.

TJ? I think his treatment on here was pretty shameful actually. I hope he’s doing well, I suspect he probably doesn’t miss the shit he was given.

On a more positive note I’m pleased to see less anonymity from the mods and more info being given on certain decisions etc. it might be a privately owned site but without us it wouldn’t exist. I felt that it wasn’t being managed particularly well around the Fred/TJ/TSY time but seems to have improved. I think I’m right in saying that order members who were culled at the same time are back under other names now, would be interesting to know why that was allowed.

It is a much nicer place. I’ve been around here since 2006 and found I avoided it completely over the last 1 1/2 years. I recently put my toe in the water again and found it quite agreeable.

It is – dare I say it – a teensy bit boring now though.

You can’t have it all I suppose!

I much prefer it now. It’s a cycling and randomness website forum. Great.

STW belongs to who it belongs to and its their call ultimately, and I think that should be respected. However, as a general comment, I am fascinated by how moderators on fori operate. Seems to me that very often there is little or no logic to the moderation other than to make the chatroom as bland, featureless and lacking in colour as possible. Always seems to me that we are driven towards a THX1138 style existence where discussion and debate are confused with dissent.

It is a much nicer place. I’ve been around here since 2006 and found I avoided it completely over the last 1 1/2 years.

That’s what we wanted back the forum how it once was a friendly place, no pointless arguing or silly trolls. We know it’s not perfect it never will be but it’s a more welcoming place now.

Yes other banned members have returned we know that but they changed their personas on here dropped the silly banging the drum trolling that they were being banned for.

We also owe a big thanks to the members of course for making this place what it is mostly because of the way you behave, anyone who visits other forums of any kind will see how bad they can be, but also for not tolerating certain behaviour and reporting issues to us. So thanks.

Fred insinuated that Mark was a paedo on twitter. I don’t think he’ll ever be back on here at least not as himself…

Fori? *smirk*

#STWnavelgazing

^^^Ooooh. That’s not on.

I can’t remember when I signed up, but I lurked before, since 2007. There have been exciting moments and you could say less of them recently, but then this is not supposed to be troll central ( >>>/b/ is that way.

If we want a good forum, we have to post OC and support each other.

Be the change you want to see in the world. But don’t piss off Mark!

Gofasterstripes, Paulosoxo +1

This forum thrives, among other things, because it has sensible rules of engagement that are sensibly applied. It seems to me that people either leave or get banned because they either don’t want to or can’t abide by the rules. They then have alternative forums to use and we have the freedom to join then there. Oddly enough, it seems that very few do despite the frequency of these kind of threads. That all seems a bit strange……unless of course, in truth, we/they like STW because of, not despite, it’s rules of engagement and style of moderation!

I guess the only thing that is odder, is when people despise this forum (apparently) and yet persistently want to play here? What is the point in that?

well personally i hate every single one of you, especially cougar.

never trust a man with a beard

(unless he’s a dad, because if your dad doesn’t have a beard.. you’ve got two mums)

Or a mum with a beard

I miss TJ.

There was almost always a thread with a row going on, which was easy to avoid. And it did seem to that some had an urge to wind up others. For an interesting group has to have a mix of characters, and one wouldn’t expect to get on with all of them.

Aside from all that TJ was a source of advice and experience. I benefitted from that.

I also miss the proper trolls, the ones we have now are very meh.

Tailforth is seriously slacking. I’ve seem some sensible/helpful posts from him recently. Disappointed.

Don’t forget, this forum isn’t just here for the big hitters and the trolls. STW want to attract more and more people here, some of whom, bless them, just want some useful advice on their bikes and stuff. Big, long, drawn out arguments with real venom being spouted is not going to attract people, it’ll scare them off.

STW is a business at the end of the day and people rely upon it to pay their mortgages and pay for their little children to wear clothes and eat food. It’s all about self control within the set rules.

*even* moderators like Drac and Cougar have bad thoughts sometimes, but they keep them to themselves. That’s what everyone should be doing.

I don’t think Fred will ever come back, not even under an assumed name. Oh no that’ll never happen.

I doubt they will ever let him back and having seen STW argues i cannot blame them

TJ? I think his treatment on here was pretty shameful actually.

He was a tit at times but he was harmless. he had no malice in him and he was surrounded by goading trolls who were full of malice. On his last thread I said exactly the same thing 3 pages earlier and then TJ said it and they all descended to attack him. TJ insists one member was also banned at this time but he is still here patronising us.
He did not help himself but what we did was shoot the victim not the bullies and they only removed [some of]the goading bullies after a forum response and not all of them.

TSY _ Honestly i have no idea why he was banned from here but it appears it was from a throwaway comment on twitter rather than what he did on here. This place is also much poorer [ and way less funny] without him – I cannot see any reason at all as to why he was banned and have never seen one given

As for the effect – it is certainly better for the absence of big hit athons [ of which I was involved] but it is also blander and a lot less interesting as those folk were clever and entertaining… as well as sometimes bonkers

When the forum was asked who they would most like to meet
TJ and Fred won by a long margin read into that what you will

I suppose like parents they cannot be seen to back down and overall it has been positive i would say but it may be worth restricting the hammer and seeing how they respond- how many years on are we and still the forum “grieves” for its fallen comrades 😛

It seems to me that people either leave or get banned because they either don’t want to or can’t abide by the rules

Some manipulative people use the rules to their advantage and use polite and moderate language in order to provoke and elicit responses. One can then stand around looking all innocent and the lecture folk on obeying the rules sometimes even years later . Its a subtler form of trolling but it was effective in getting at the target from what I saw who was then of course blamed for it all, by the perpetrator, for lacking self control. It was like provoking your sibling to get them told of by your parents or a teacher whilst still maintaining your innocence and blaming them. This was done by grown ups 🙄

in what circumstances would will people start to recover from the banning of TJ et al

I’d like to think at least some of the mods are looking at the shitheap some of our threads have become lately and are thinking “Oh hey, it turns out banning the guys that used to be the target for so much of this shit hasn’t stopped it from happening after all, who’d’a thunk.”

I honestly reckon that Fred aside, the forum today is as good and as bad as it’s ever been since I’ve been reading.

at the shitheap some of our threads

We do, it’s now some and not the majority it once was.

As for people being banned for nothing, nope not the case we keep info on warnings and previous bans. They all get taken into account when we have to issue a warning.

What Drac said.

people either leave or get banned because they either don’t want to or can’t abide by the rules.

IN MY OPINION:

You beat me to it. I was going to say this, and it’s an important distinction. Some folk can’t help themselves, some won’t help themselves.

TJ fell into the former category. Even at the end he was posting comments to the tune of “I can’t get drawn into this” and it was fairly clear that he didn’t really get what he was doing wrong. If he were to come back and not argue that black was white at the drop of a helmet he’d probably be allowed back. But it’ll never happen because he just can’t help himself. Which is a shame, cos when he put his mind to it he was a clever bloke and a valuable contributor.

Fred fell into the latter. He knew full well what he was doing and just didn’t care, he was doing it on purpose. His parting shot emails to us burned his bridges, the absolute contempt he demonstrated means that there’s no chance he’ll be allowed back without a full and sincere apology. And I’d hazard that’s even less likely to happen.

*even* moderators like Drac and Cougar have bad thoughts sometimes, but they keep them to themselves. That’s what everyone should be doing.

I’m having one right now.

Was under the impression TSY got banned for repeatedly calling Molly ‘Trollgrips’… no?

All these inward looking shenanigans have knackered my eyes and made my head hurt. Cheers for that. 😐

Was under the impression TSY got banned for repeatedly calling Molly ‘Trollgrips’… no?

Oh yeah he got a lifetime ban for that. 😆

Errrr no.