Reason For My Absence

[rang19ca]

I have said this before, but this forum is the best one I've had the pleasure to be on. Lots of sharing about our vehicles and lives. Many good people and really good Mods and admins. I hope that we can continue to keep this active and fun while being respectful to all. Thanks Dave @AzScorpion
Dave IS in the house.......

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[Progeny2021]

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son".

What a movie.................

Time flies. 'Flounder' Stephen Furst passed away 5 years ago at 63 years young.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/stephen-furst-flounder-in-animal-house-dies-at-63/

 

[Wytchdctr]

I don't use the Ignore button for anyone because I simply don't care very much in the first place.

You have more self-control than I do. I am at least 85% asshole.

 

[wanted33]

I was going to suggest everyone unblock everyone they have blocked ? and just "start over ", then I realized not very many people would actually see it , cause ...

You ain't bad at all Steve. You should have been here when that "Budule" guy was active.

 

[NotBudule]

You ain't bad at all Steve. You should have been here when that "Budule" guy was active.

Dad can be a handfull , ill give you that ...

 

[Fawnbuster]

First off I want to thank everyone who messaged me concerned. I really do appreciate it and still need to get back to a few as I haven’t had time to reply to everyone yet.

One of the main reasons was I found myself not being able to do my job here without being upset at a certain member. Me and RP have had our share of disagreements and there was some arguing between us a few weeks ago. After stepping back for a day I thought it would be best for myself and the forum if I stepped away for a few more days (which turned into weeks) because it wasn’t doing anyone any good. I can’t be a hypocrite and tell other to “move on” in a thread when I’m not myself. As time went on found myself not even checking in and only answering my PM’s because I watched the quality of his and some others posts and threads really getting out of hand. I’ll be honest here I almost deleted my whole account but I had a few members here talk me down and said to wait things out a little longer. You know who you are and I thank you for that!!!

Many (if not all) have no idea what me, Rob and the Admin do behind the scenes to keep and make this place run smoothly. You don’t see the deleted posts or threads, the flagged reports or the endless PM’s about RP’s (and others) behavior. You didn’t see his post targeting me and undermining every move I made on here and his PM’s to me telling me to “stop hiding behind my Mod status”. ALL are against forum rules as that’s targeting a staff member but I let them all go. I even gave his a 1 week ban in hopes he’d cool off. I’ve had MANY really good members PM me saying they were done posting here because they can’t stand his constant snarky remarks towards them and some have and are leaving for good.

I’m sure most have seen by now that RP has been banned, I found out last night when a member messaged me. I know he has his “cronies” (his words towards me) and I’m sure you’ll all be mad but take a step back, clear your head and reread some of his posts/threads and ask yourself if his behavior is acceptable? Sure some where funny remarks and yes I even found myself laughing once in a while but it was to the point where they were getting rude towards others. Others have been banned for much less or have had their posting privileges either needing approval or banned from certain areas. What I’m getting at is that he’s had 9 lives and used them all up. I (or any of the staff) want this but it’s sometimes necessary to keep things moving along smoothly. Normally discussing a banned member is a no no but I felt this one was necessary to clear the air and make sure the forum doesn’t get disrupted by it. I don’t want the comments to turn into a Q&A and I know some will blame me and that’s fine because in the end all the staff are doing is trying to keep this a fun and informative forum for everyone to enjoy.

One last thing I want to touch on since this is already a long post now (you all know I can’t shut up once I get going lol) is the belittling of others. Some need to remember not everyone was brought up with a father, brother or friends who were mechanically inclined. I’ve seen some really hurtful posts and just because it’s obvious to you doesn’t mean it is to everyone else. I was lucky to have a lot of friends who wrenched on vehicles, motorcycles and snowmobiles so I learned a lot from them. Not everyone had that and something simple like changing the oil can be intimidating to them. This only keeps good posters from asking questions and others looking on fearing they’ll be criticized for asking them too. I do encourage members to discuss and disagree with each other but there’s no reason to be rude or troll another member because he/she doesn’t agree with you. These things will not be tolerated and don’t add anything of substance to the forum. Many of us came from the Tacoma World forum so I know you can relate.

I hope this clears the air and we can all go on enjoying this forum and our love for our Rangers. As always you can message any of us staff members with questions or concerns. If you made it this far you all need to find something better to do. ?

Hiphip hooray! Hiphip hoooraaay! Hang in there Dave!

 

[THEMIZE]

Glad to hear you’re back and the dancing banana is gone.

 

[jsphlynch]

When I saw that RP was banned, somehow I was simultaneously surprised he was banned and shocked it had taken this long.

I'll add my praise for the job that Dave and the other moderators do. This forum strikes a nice balance between letting people speak their mind and keeping things civil.

 

[Trigganometry]

You ain't bad at all Steve. You should have been here when that "Budule" guy was active.

A real doozy! ?

 

[JohnnyO]

You have more self-control than I do. I am at least 85% asshole.

Eh, I just have many more important things going on in my life than the internets. I go to FB and message boards to relax and share information and maybe learn a thing or two. I used to get pissed off once in a while but at some point I realized that other people don't really care about my opinions and they aren't going to change my mind and likewise I don't really care about their opinions and I'm not going to change their minds. No sense wasting time worrying about stuff.
In real life I'm the nicest guy you want to know but just the same if someone gets pissed off at me, that's fine, IDGAF. That's why I'm a good mod and admin on a few boards and FB groups.

 

[tgRanger]

RP was like the crazy uncle we all have, or at least I had. One day we want to say STFU and the next day he says something that’s makes you say, your alright. But in the end I think he was part of the family here. Too bad we couldn’t tolerate or just mute him.

Dave I believe what happened is he got butt hurt that you became a Mod and he wasn’t chosen. Seems like he took a turn for the worst right after. Just my .02

Either way you see a lot more than I do and I support the decision. You did the right thing, hate to say I may miss the guy, but I might.

Now just get ready for all the former Tacoma owners buying up all the Ranger leases in the very near future. This place is about to Really change. ?

 

[FunInTheSun]

Welcome back Dave! I imagine things must have gotten pretty out of hand if ol' Banana Man got the boot. I can tell you are a pretty patient guy, and RP didn't have a functional brake pedal, so it was kinda predictable.
Most people will admit and/or apologize when they step across a line, or at least put a cork in it for the sake of civility. But I saw several times when RP, and others just kept going, when it was obvious that they were enjoying the other person's anger. And that's not cool.
I always told my boys when they would get out of hand with one another, that "If the other guy's not laughing, it's not funny." It seemed a pretty good rule, and kept things down to a tolerable level. But some people don't have that kind of an upbringing, and things can get downright mean.
I'm not an "ignore button" kind of guy, at least not with the level of stupidity I ever saw anybody hand out on here, anyway. But I have had Navy Training... If a guy can dish it out, he shouldn't complain if some of it comes back. But it's better not to start it to begin with.

Anyway, welcome back, and I hope you aren't permanently damaged...

 

[Eoj]

my First post in a few months. I’d love to know how to delete my account. I’m fully fed up with the assholes.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

Now thinking of changing my profile pic…
To soon?

 

[mtbikernate]

moderating forums is a thankless job, for sure. I definitely appreciate the people who can handle moderating because I know exactly how hard it is.

I was a moderator on a forum for awhile that verticalscope bought. They certainly do have a knack for ruining a community. they de-modded me for being insubordinate because I was resisting their efforts to ruin the community and try to sell more crap. everybody else was thinking it, but I was really the only one voicing it.

this makes me wonder what if persons are banned and simply come back with a new "handle" and location, email etc?

You can but the mods and admins can still look at your IP address and ban you again.
There's ways around it with private VPN's and IP masking services but it's more trouble than it's worth unless you're simply unhinged and can't stay away.

yeah...I know of a guy (never met him personally, but I've had sporadic contact with him online since the late 90's) who was notorious for starting flame wars and being mean and all of the things that most good forums nowadays put a damper on (hehe). He'd fit right in at TW. He first got permabanned from the forum maybe sometime around 2003 or so, when the forum software finally started requiring an account to post? He's probably created a few dozen sock puppet accounts, then had those permabanned because his tone and manner of behaving was pretty signature. I know that I've personally found him out at least a dozen times and the mods caught him others. Each time results in a new permaban. Pretty sure he was doing the VPN and/or IP masking and creating new disposable email addresses routine in order to get past the filters. One thing verticalscope forums do have that's nice is the moderation dashboard lets you know when new accounts have IP addresses or email addresses that match previously banned accounts (and how many).

He doxxed me once on the forum, for what reason, I have no idea. He was able to figure out who I was because we had a mutual friend on Facebook and he spent a bunch of time weeding through the content I'd posted that was visible to him. Nowadays, I have my FB tightened up a bit more. Definitely falls into the unhinged group.

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