On Apr 25, 9:33 am, Mark Hickey <
[email protected]> wrote:
> I had an epiphany. Last night, I was getting a painful deep massage
> to help with the effects of my bike accident in 2003. The nice young
> woman was leaning heavily toward me to better drive the point of her
> elbow into the very sore muscles of my neck. I thought "I'm paying
> her to hurt me this much - I don't really have to put up with the
> pain". Of course, I didn't stop her because I benefit from the
> process, however painful.
>
> Which brings me to the current state of the rec.bicycles newsgroups.
> I've been frequenting them for over 15 years, and (particularly in the
> early years) have learned much, and tried to share what I know through
> those years. But it struck me as I was enduring the pain of that
> massage that participation in the newsgroups gets more painful by the
> year, but no longer holds any particular benefit for me. Technical
> discussions break down into pointless bluster as often as not (ala
> "jim beam") and discussions about social issues have long since ceased
> to hold any promise of civil discourse.
>
> And it only gets more and more shrill as time goes by.
>
> Character assassination has become the chief tool for those who prefer
> to avoid facts that run contrary to their world view, and I've
> increasingly been the target of these attacks.
>
> It strikes me that most of the "high-content contributors" have also
> left these newsgroups over the years, and it's easy to see why. I
> suspect that the content to noise ratio is only going to get worse as
> time goes by.
>
> JT's pernicious accusations are just the latest in a long series, but
> they're the ones that opened my eyes to the reality that this is no
> longer any fun, and there are many better ways I can spend my time. I
> have a very full life, a wonderful family (including four new
> granddaughters). I can ride my bike more.
>
> So, it's with absolute joy and anticipation that I bid you all a fond
> farewell. I've got the same kind of feeling that you get when you're
> finishing up a tedious task before walking out the door on a long
> vacation. I'm psyched. For this, I can only thank JT for doing his
> part to bring this long, glorious waste of time to an end.
>
> Happy trails,
>
> Mark Hickey
> Habanero Cycleshttp://www.habcycles.com
> Home of the $795 ti frame
Hey Mark (as if you'll read this),
You should sing "So long, farewell, auf viedersehen (my German's
rusty), good night..." from Sound of Music in your bike attire
prancing around in the Swiss hills (with other regulars on the rbt as
the back-up singers (also in lycra of course)) and post on youtube.
The ending screen would show "Goodbye rec.bicycles.tech" in the same
flowy font as "The End" in the oldies, as Mark et al. go riding into
the sunset. And if some of you are shy to sing on camera, just dub
Julie Andrews' (or the kids?) voices from the movie. Not only would
this be a comical and fitting departure, it would bring throngs of
traffic onto this site, and hopefully, people into cycling. Well,
maybe not the latter, but it would certainly be superb rbt comedy.
Any budding or hobby directors out there?
