Arachnid wrote:
I can't believe we found the thug who gooned sThinkster away...take care my arse, how can you feel good about killing Artie, he was one of a kind, he was...smarter than the usual bear....he was....wonderbar.....I miss his hockey discourse
Let me correct you on a couple of things...
This site had never been as large a community or as active a community as CC was...But it did something that CC stopped or couldn't do, and that was it just talked hockey in a manner that was inviting for all fans, whether they are timid or aggressive in nature....
Being one of its first members, I was happy to oblige when Brian asked if I would get the word out to other posters at other boards and invite them over...
In 2004 during the lockout, I was approached by the poster known as "Piston" who was the Kings fan who had been given access to the teams financials who asked if I would be into setting up a debate to discuss both sides of the lockout, and Brian and I arranged to have Tom Benjamin and Piston square off in a debate on the boards....
I thought it was quite the compliment to Brian that his site was chosen by this well known Kings fan to host a debate...
I've decided to refer to you and those like you who act like bullies on this site as the rat pack in honour of the moderator who goes by the handle rats19...Seems to me this rats19 moderator is like the NHL officials in the playoffs, they put their whistles away which is another way of saying they ain't doing anything so why do we need them?...
The rat pack doesn't understand that a discussion or debate is between to two sides who don't agree on the topic and that it is those differences in opinion which is interesting to read and participate in....
In my opinion, the wider the gap between each sides opening opinion is, the better the chance for a great debate....
In the case of Piston and Tom Benjamin, the differences in opinions was 180 degrees wide...And it never closed which is ok too...
In those early days, Brian would pin what he called "epic debates" which were posts which turned into massive debates and were deemed to hall of fame type debates....I took it as challenge to turn every new topic into an epic debate...
From what I've seen in hanging around here for the past week or so is that this site has no hope of ever having an epic debate again and that is because of the rat pack....
You guys can't or won't debate, when someone posts something that you don't agree with you go all bully on them and kill the discussion....
Thinker was involved in many of those epic debates, I thought of him in the same way I do wikipedia in that you always knew when he was around you better have your facts straight...
But Thinker made his decision to move over to that other board where it sounds like he became one of the rat pack....
Speaking about that other board;
I understand that it shut down for financial reasons...
And most of the posters I've noticed on this board use to post on that other board....
And I've been approached by some members of this site who have been frustrated by the antics of the rat pack and don't wish to speak out against the bullying that is going on here....
Now, I get that it takes money to keep a site going which is why I always paid what I thought was a fair donation to the site every year to help with the costs to keep it going...
And since you and the other former CC members are surely sensitive to the cost burden having had the misfortune of seeing your former site closed down....
And since the rat pack dominates these boards and causes others to shy away from it...
I have to ask you a personal question....
How much and how often do you make a donation to the site to help it with its operating costs?...
Maybe the rest of the rat pack would like to answer that question as well....
Because as Strangelove pointed out in an earlier post, the rat pack has turned this site into the same thing it did to the one which went broke, your own personal lounge to hang out in and have some fun at the expense of others...
So, if that's the case, don't you think you should be paying for it?....
Later....