International I Hate Sports Club

At the end of Tolkien's Hobbit, three armies assemble in the field to greedily battle for the gold of a dragon who has just died. Elves, dwarves and men are about to converge in a three-way free-for-all.

As they march into battle Gandalf stops them, and warns them that an army of Goblins are at that point pouring over the plains to claim the gold for themselves. The three armies then realise that their civil conflict was childish compared with defending against the orc swarm about to descend on them.

The men, elves and dwarves agreed immediately to end their pointless feuding.

(That's how I remember the story going. I was only 8 or 9 when I read The Hobbit, and my memories keep getting mixed up together with the cartoon version that I so loved to grok, back in the day.)

I smell Goblins.

I invite all REGULARS here (plus Silence, if he likes) to PM me for details. I will discuss it with you all individually, BCC-ing Earl the whole time. Unless you have posted at least 100 times, I won't discuss the situation with you, even if you are trustworthy, because I have to draw the line somewhere. Earl can fill you in on the details if he deems it advisable.

Cheers,
RF


I will be waiting...

Oh, and Safety can feel free to contact me as well, if he wants more info. Technically, he is a "Sportsman", not a "Regular", but I trust him. He has made over 100 posts, after all.

--RF

I think this should just be kept to the main components of this actual civil war, by which I mean, you, me, Fat Man, Earl and possibly Wibberley, if he's going to broaden his posting horizons beyond the "Pop Music Sucks" thread. If he makes a comment on the situation in that thread, move it here. Nonetheless, I don't think we should have people who really have no involvement with this at all getting involved in this whole issue, in case one of them ends up getting pissed off by what another person says and the "civil war" expands by one more member. We need no more fallouts. Nonetheless, I congratulate you for making a big "conference" sort of event out of all this, and you shall have my cooperation if there is to be a peaceful debate to resolve this crisis. We need more intelligent, civilised debate over pink lettering and online shouting.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Recovering_fan, Skul needs to be informed as well. Thanks.

Yeah! I'm getting tired of this stupid Civil War!

Let's just agree to disagree!

Earl wrote:Recovering_fan, Skul needs to be informed as well. Thanks.

I'm aware of this.

I've been stupdendously tired over the last few days and I don't know why. But I've seen this thread.

Fat Man wrote:Let's just agree to disagree!

Nice. I agree to disagree.

i_like_1981 wrote:Nonetheless, I don't think we should have people who really have no involvement with this at all getting involved in this whole issue, in case one of them ends up getting pissed off by what another person says and the "civil war" expands by one more member.

Yes, I agree with Fat Man about the whole Civil War--that we should just put it behind us. We can calmly hash it all out later, if you like, but I personally need to attain a sense of distance from that whole spat of ours before I talk about the spat with you or Fat Man.

This thread wasn't really about the past week. It was more about an additional reason why it is important, now more than ever, to close ranks and remember who we are. I don't think there is any reason to panic, yet, by any means, and I'm certainly not trying to play "Big Brother" and scare everyone into solidarity by fanning fears about wars with "Eurasia" or "East Asia" or anything like that.

Earl wrote:Recovering_fan, Skul needs to be informed as well. Thanks.

I have noticed some odd things, that's all. I don't want to go into any details right now, because that could cause trouble or stir up unwarranted fears. I will inform you and Skul, as and when I have more substantial evidence. When I inform the two of you of my suspicions I would advise you to use discretion about whom you tell. If I were either of you, I really wouldn't trust anyone with a post count under 100, except for Silence, Brigan and Don.

In the meantime, people should use take extra caution not to get trolled, but it's probably nothing.

--RF

If you want the honest truth, recovering_fan, I like you less than I did before all this started. I'm sure you can understand why. However, my respect for you has increased, because you really do know how to take control of a situation and make people listen to what you're saying. You're not exactly inhibited in what you say. If something's pissing you off, you let it be known. This is a way in which you and Fat Man are similar - you're not afraid to speak what you're honestly thinking and feeling and don't let the fact you may upset a few people deter you. Believe me, there's more stuff I'd like to say in my posts but I dare not. You've been in full command of this "civil war" all along. You are definitely the sort of member I'd like to see more of on this board. I'm interested to hear more about this situation regarding trolls you mentioned in your last post. Don't worry. Though I don't exactly feel you'd count me as a "friend" anymore, I am interested in what you have to say.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Hi 1981,

Sorry you like me less than before. I don't blame you, and I can certainly guess why it is. I'm not going to make a detailed response to your last post, but I would like to clear up one misconception.

i_like_1981 wrote:You've been in full command of this "civil war" all along.

I'm sorry you think that. You may be right in asserting that I "started" the civil war, but the thing about wars and fights is that no one is really in control of them. That is why one should try to avoid them, not at all costs, but definitely whenever possible.

Cheers,
RF

Don't worry, recovering_fan, I don't hate you. In fact, I take you more seriously now because of this. I know now that there are some members of this forum who won't tolerate crap and will stand up to it and call it out when they come across it. Heck, there's more I'd like to say, but I try and restrain myself on here in favour of keeping the peace and not upsetting any of our long-term members. But you are right on one point - there are too many extremist comments being posted on this forum. And I wouldn't dismiss the fact that some of these comments may have lost us some potential members. We'll never know who, but I'll bet they've turned a few people off.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

Earlier, I wrote:I smell Goblins.

Sorry if this thread about goblins scared anyone. It appeared that some odd things were happening at this site; and elsewhere, but related to this site. Nevertheless, none of my leads turned up anything. All of the odd happenings had logical explanations. So I apologise for the false alarm.

RF


We can all come down from our trees now...

I take it back. I now think Wibberley is a troll.

These latest two posts indicate as much, although I'm open to hear dissenting views on the matter.
(Don't call me a hawk, please, I really am open to arguments that he isn't a troll. )

Two posts:

[1] Preaching gloom and doom to anyone who wasn't freakin' Casanova during high school:

http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... 999#p20999

[2] Attacking chess in my thread about chess and coffee clubs:

http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... 002#p21002

SO PLEASE...


...DON'T FEED THE TROLL

recovering_fan wrote:I take it back. I now think Wibberley is a troll.

These latest two posts indicate as much, although I'm open to hear dissenting views on the matter.
(Don't call me a hawk, please, I really am open to arguments that he isn't a troll. )

Two posts:

[1] Preaching gloom and doom to anyone who wasn't freakin' Casanova during high school:

http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... 999#p20999

[2] Attacking chess in my thread about chess and coffee clubs:

http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... 002#p21002

SO PLEASE...


...DON'T FEED THE TROLL

I must confess ever since his 'friend' and 'daughter' posted, I have had my doubts about him.