ARBR has gone downhill

"Bryan Ball" wrote in message ...

Best post I've seen in a long time...

Well, thank you Mr. Ball! Yes, I have always thought my posts to this
newsgroup were exceptional in every way but occasionally even I exceed
myself! And I thought I was casting my pearls before swine. I can see
now that I have misjudged you and that you for one can appreciate fine
writing and superior ideas. Now that you have vindicated everything I
have ever thought about myself, I am inspired to carry on in my
accustomed fashion with more determination than ever despite the nit
pickers.

Very best regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

(Kurt Fischer) wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:


Yes, I surely do appreciate what you say about it taking two to tango.
But you lose me on the lowest instincts comment. I don't really see it
that way. Everything is and should be grist for the mill.

Of course it was irony with the inevitable grain of truth in it. I'm
convinced we can't resolve problems without being sincere and seeing our
own responsibility. You're right, you're not the only one who is
enjoying these OT-Threads, everyone who responds and takes part is
responsible for their growing, so I see no reason to blame only you for
it. It's kind of an interaction, not your fault alone.

[...]

Kurt, your post to me and to the rest of the newsgroup is very good
and when I leave this newsgroup it will be for all the very good
reasons that you explain so well. However, I am not ready to leave
just yet. I am having too much fun poking and prodding everyone here.

When I review the posts on this newsgroup I find that much of what is
being posted on ARBR is just mindless banter, some good humored and
some not. Even though it is not OT it might just as well be. I am
going to continue to number myself among that 10% and when I see it
becoming too much I will cut back so that the OT will not overwhelm
the newsgroup. But by 10% I mean the number of thread subjects and not
the number of messages. If everyone would learn how to use their
newsreaders there would be no problem whatsoever. The fact is that
there is a certain percentage of us who enjoy OT and we do not see any
reason why it should matter to anyone else who does not like it. They
can ignore us or not as they will.

I am not going to respond to your post point by point because I have a
life away from the computer (believe it or not) and I can only devote
so much time to this. But know that in essence I do agree with you,
but we are not really causing any harm. It is all a tempest in a tea
cup.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

"skip" wrote in message ...

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
om...

Apparently many of the old regulars are going over to something called
bicycles
racing recreation. There is an oxymoron if I ever heard one. But I
wish them all god speed and the best of good posting where they can
all bond with one another without any interference from the likes of
me. In the meantime the rest of us will soldier on with our somewhat
contentious posting in the real world of ARBR.


The suggested migration of a.r.b.r. regulars to rec.bicycle.racing is
attempted humor by Rocketman. Recumbent riders would not be welcomed in
this newsgroup known for its contentiousness that is generally centered
around bike racing matters, who is taking what drugs, personal sexuality,
and other personal characteristics of the posters. Those guys have all the
political sense of a Fabrizo Mazzoleni. But they would surely unite to heap
abuse on a recumbent cyclist who had the misfortune of accidentally
wandering into the newsgroup.

skip


Skip, those rascals catch me every time because I am way to focused on
my own narrow interests. It is good that you are here to give some
perspective to all of this and to occasionally bring me back to the
real world. It did strike me as very strange that recumbent cyclists
would go to a cite with *racing* in it's name, but most on this
newsgroup are so into going fast on their recumbents that I thought it
was not impossible either. All in all, this is a very strange
newsgroup and anything is possible.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

wrote in message ...

[...]

It's different on a forum that's made for the community, not a
topic. Even there I learned that discussing political stuff (like
the repercussions of 9-11) is a good way to get a flame war with
Americans. Europe and the US come from so different angles, we
start as friends and end up finding how different we are as people
when it comes to politics. That's the second reason I steer clear
of heavily political OT.

It is obviously the same for republicans vs. democrats, but a
liberals vs. conservatives fight is largely a US internal matter,
and one that is not of much interest to us Europeans.

Risto, the old Repubs and the old Dems are about as dead as a door
nail. It is all conservatives and liberals now fighting it out for who
is going to prevail in this country. I think the Europeans are over
all more left of center than we Americans. It is extremely doubtful
that Americans will ever go that far to the left. I believe in fact
that we are moving in the opposite direction and that we are destined
to become one of the most conservative peoples on the face of the
earth (Mr. Sherman notwithstanding).

Wonder how this group is going to turn out when we have some Arabs
or Malaysians posting here?

I wonder if they even know what recumbents are?

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

"Rocketman" wrote in message news:lbRBb.359222$275.1178300@attbi_s53...

"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

Hey Rocketman! I thought you mentioned in a previous post of yours
that you enjoyed a bit of humor. Too bad you can't see it even when it
hits you square in the face. Skip is just about the only one on this
newsgroup that can make me laugh. He constantly plays on words and
ideas in a most subtle and original way. That is a most valuable
contribution to the group I would say.

I only wish you could make some equally valuable contribution to the
group instead of just all your bitching and whining which gets really
tiresome after awhile. And quit referring to the group as *our* group
for heaven's sake! No one has any proprietary interest in the group
except maybe the powers that be at Google.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

wrote in message
...
skip wrote:

: Really? Maybe things have changed. Or maybe it's your personal
demeanor -
: you do seem to get along with most everyone and look for the best in
people.
: Could you point me to one of your good experiences with a bent post
there?
: My reference point is Jeff Potter's attempts to interest them in HPV
racing
: awhile back. Admittedly it has been some time since I visited that
group.

Try

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...icycles.racing

alias

http://tinyurl.com/ysvj

I don't think they flamed me once. I also notice some very
familiar posters from here. But maybe it's the bent topic that
attracts them :-)

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/


Thanks for providing the links. I think you are truly looking for the best
in people. I saw a good bit of recumbent spoofing in those threads. All
the Jeff Pooter posts were spoofs. Not good ones but spoofs nonetheless. I
found Jason Waddell to be a typical anti-benter from the racing group. Some
of Jason's posts can be found in the url listed in the More history of ARBR
thread you started today. For starters he leads with the following post and
then gets obsessively anti-bent afterwards:

:I wonder why they keep posting their crap here...hasn't r.b.racing
established
:itself as a anti-bent newsgroup?

:Jason Waddell

Ironically Jason's parents started riding bents. He refused to speak to
them and disowned them because of it as I recall. Hopefully he has now
managed to come to terms with seeing the bents in their garage.

skip

Edward Dolan wrote:
: real world. It did strike me as very strange that recumbent cyclists
: would go to a cite with *racing* in it's name, but most on this
: newsgroup are so into going fast on their recumbents that I thought it
: was not impossible either. All in all, this is a very strange
: newsgroup and anything is possible.

But you knew about low racers, streamliners, Battle Mountain and
(maybe even) Cycle Vision, didn't you?

Speed is often cited as one of the major advantages of bents, so
naturally there are those people who want to enjoy that aspect or
take it further. Not to mention that bent racing is not nearly as
serious as UCI events, though racing is also linked with bent
development (and promotion).

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/

"skip" wrote in message
...

"Rocketman" wrote in message
news:lbRBb.359222$275.1178300@attbi_s53...

"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


Rocketman I'm sorry you're unhappy about being exposed in a pot kettle
black
deal, but the hypocrisy and irony of all this was so egregious I couldn't
stop myself from pointing it out to those who seemingly have such a
difficult time seeing it.

Nice job, Skipper! pat on the head That's a good dog!

If you're going to continue posting in such an
extreme political vein perhaps you should consider backing off the "it's
all Dolan's fault" ragging you've been joining in on lately. Just a
suggestion.

And how are you making things better with this personal attack? Do you have
an axe to grind like Mr. Dolan? Apparently so.

Rocketman

Edward Dolan wrote:
: is going to prevail in this country. I think the Europeans are over
: all more left of center than we Americans. It is extremely doubtful
: that Americans will ever go that far to the left. I believe in fact

It's you Americans who are all right of the center

Maybe this is because serious left-wing thought arose at a point
in European history which the US didn't share any more. Anyways,
off-topic... ;p

: Wonder how this group is going to turn out when we have some Arabs
: or Malaysians posting here?

: I wonder if they even know what recumbents are?

Well cycling generally isn't that popular in the Arab world AFAIK.
But each culture has its geeks, and major groups of people get to
the Internet every other year.

Maybe it's funny that I see lots of Polish people and even
Russians and the occasional Malaysian on IRC, but very few here.
Then again, the IRCnet is also swarmed by Finnish people...

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/

Edward Dolan wrote:

: we are going through a bit of turbulence at the moment. But I am going
: to tone down my rhetoric some as I can see it might be a turn off for
: some.

That is rather advisable...

: I haven't read Mr.V., but it seems to me that a bike forum devoted to
: mountain bikes might be an entirely appropriate place to have a
: discussion about the impact of mountain bikes on wilderness values.

Maybe, though running counter to the fundamental basic assumptions
of a group can be risky.

: After looking at his web site (courtesy of Mr. Sherman), I don't think
: I would relish tangling with him, but I am fearless and would do so if
: I strongly disagreed with him.

He would ignore you, or at least not listen to you.

: I think you are probably a friendly sort of person and I am a hermit
: and have never in my life been able to understand what friends are
: good for.

Then you are exceptional... and that can be a limitation too...

: See my answer above. By the way, what is IRL?

In Real Life - a fairly common TLA (Three Letter Acronym) in online
speech AFAIK.

: I am not a troll. I have no interest in that. I think I am being
: mistaken for a troll because my language is immoderate. But I talk
: like this all the time. And so do most of the folks that I know here
: in small town Minnesota. Calling someone an idiot is almost a
: compliment and a term of endearment here. I do not see what all the
: fuss is about. Try to get used to me.

Well you certainly are not beyond any hope :-) I see more now...
It's a big world. But I think the intelligibility problem is
primarily yours, not of others.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/