I was thinking the same thing.
Before everybody had a common interest, Porsches.
Now politics and religion are getting thrown in. Wars are fought over this crap, why bring it here?

However, if you *need* to go to the internet to air out your issues, you have to be prepared to hear stuff you dont want to hear. Lots of trolls with nothing better to do.

Amen!
 

Amen!!!

Me either,

I didn't like the tone of some of the posts on the thread.

I was going to comment on the irony of some people posting "how could this happen in this day and age?" while others were posting "someone needs to go to that part of town and teach those people a lesson" (my paraphrase).

However I felt that Mike was just venting and hurting from the loss of someone close to him... so I let it go.

I always click on Mike's threads... I find him very entertaining...

Attention whore? Really? OT is all about posting our failures/success/ business/relationships Maryann/Ginger Mustang/944... it is supposed to be nonsensical place to let loose...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1330964047.jpg

I never understood pronouncements of departure. Always felt they were an invitation.....

Perhaps a different perspective but.....skin needs to be a bit thicker if PARF really angers you. This is a web forum with eyes on it from around the globe. People are bound to disagree and may not be eloquent in their expression thereof. There's really not much heat in the kitchen, so if you feel it's really too hot here, yes, you should leave. Life is too short to get upset over things that simply....aren't real.

Me either, BUT it's a little more definitive as opposed to just fading away.

The first thread on the topic stayed in PPOT, and people were supportive - as is almost always the case here. The *second* thread on the topic was inflammatory to begin with and comments on both "sides" quickly increased the temperature, hence my moving it to PARF. While I'm sure that there was very real sympathy for Mike and the families involved, taking that grief and lashing out with not even thinly veiled racial comments drew predictable (and mostly measured) comments questioning the story and tone.

Online communities are like an extended family, for some all digital, for others a mix of in-person and via-keyboard. And like every family I've seen, there is some degree of dysfunction. Since this is an "optional" family though, each individual must determine when the cost/benefit ratio of investing the time and effort to contribute becomes too high.

Having been here for over 10 years I've seen a lot of people come and go. And back in the day I took more arrows that most here have ever even seen. There were some truly nasty comments (that thread is long since deleted). I stuck around because I learned from the experience, and value the friendship of many on this board. To this day, despite what I consider to be intolerant and mean-spirited posts I see in PARF, I remain due to the enormous number of people here who I am happy to call a friend, despite widely different backgrounds and outlooks on life.

From time to time we have taken the temperature of the place and it seems that a majority like PARF to be more "free-wheeling." Bannings are rare, and not many threads are edited or closed. If I read every thread and were left to my own devices I frankly would delete probably 10% of the posts and ban about a dozen people (which would take care of the 10%). But it isn't my board - Wayne owns it and the community writ large determines how it plays out.

Mike has been pretty honest about some tough circumstances in his life, but in being open and shooting from the hip, he has also opened himself up to scrutiny. It is the nature of the beast - living a "public" digital life opens you up to some degree of comment. In general this community is pretty good about being 100% supportive when someone is in need. But it also calls things out as well - sometimes appropriately, sometimes inappropriately. I try to leave the former and catch the later, but I don't read everything and I also have my own biases at play. I remind people that the mods don't read every post, let along click on every thread, so the community needs to be the eyes and ears. If things are reported we do take a look, then try to use judgement on whether or not to step in. In the end no decision will please 100% of the audience.

If Mike decides to take a vacation I wish him the best. If he decides to stay, I wish him the same.

Agreed. Reality can be harsh and we should be ready to deal with it.
If we all sit around singing kumbaya it'll be more pleasant, but it will just be pretend and make-believe.

I prefer the real world as unpleasant as it may be from time to time.

Jeez this really re-inforces my decision to almost never go to PARF. Just not worth it and not going to fix anything.

Mike, give it a rest for a month or two then come back when you feel like it... worked for me!

Joe A

Ever read Hamlet ? It is hard to be rational in some circumstances. I am fairly well known for being outspoken, but there is a time and place for everything.

CHOOSE ONE:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1330993090.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1330993163.jpg

I'll go with the tortoise and purple bear...

I guess this means I'm never going to get my steak dinner. :(

I discourage you from doing so. If you do, you allow them to dictate your actions.

I can understand if you do go away though. Our community will be diminished greatly by your absence.

So does this mean an autographed copy of your latest book is out of the question?

If you post something sensitive on the internet to a large group of people and expect everyone to sympethize and get mushy, you're crazy. If it hurts you so bad that you have to take a break and need everyone to know by making a big deal about it and starting a thread saying so, you're way too sensitive. Sorry about what happened in your story; a real shame, but this thread and this high school drama of a situation is ridiculous. Just sayin...

Lot of mixed messages posted here.

Remember that jerks(myself included) in Pelican Parts Off Topic is just a small island on the sea.
The sea is a patch of water on the internet planet.
The internet planet is just an artificially-created means of communication between people...a constructional representation of reality.
Reality is subjective.

Get yourself together, rest, then rejoin life the best way it suits you. All the best.

can we start this retro to just before this thread was started?

summed up pretty well above. if you have to wade through a ton of shat to find a nugget you still smell like shat when you've found it.

Calling the other guy dirty doesn't make you any cleaner.

I'm at a point where i don't even care about the initial "problem" , i'm just annoyed by the foul stench that comes off this entire thread.

I think it's about time the Mods put a lock on this thread cause no good can come of it, it's way past the point of debate or argument, this is just dirt thrown back and forth.
It's an embarrassment on this forum

wisdom from the Flanders Fields. Thread closed.