Jon:
"ARBR was an interesting exception for many years. Experienced,
knowledgeable people, generous with their comments and advice.
New posters, genuine in their questions and interest in recumbent
bikes. A community open to discussion largely without personal
attacks and fallacious arguments. People of all levels of interest
and experience interacting constructively. Little spam. Few
contentious exchanges and even fewer that lasted into thread
lengths surpassing a hundred and lasting months. "
Actually, pretty typical of groups (including internet forums) since 911.
I've experienced several really bitter enmities with people that literally
date from 09/12/2001. Prior to that, we were fairly civil or even friendly.
It isn't tough to see there was a fundamental kind of division within the
society that the events of that day brought out in the open. Which doesn't
mean that it's necessarily a bad thing, mind you. With a few people,
including some way to the left of me, it's been an opportunity to clarify
things and get beyond superficiality.
Prior to WWII there was a lot of division in the country, similar to today.
Much of it was left vs right, except that it was generally the conservatives
who were pacifist. Well, not entirely. The left was split between the
pacifist left, and the anti-Nazis... and the two leftist factions really
hated one another. In France the pacifist wing actually became part of the
Vichy government, after the invasion, but the US put aside the factionalism
after Pearl. The term generally used for this period, at least in Europe,
was the "Phony War." There was some irony in the term, because it wasn't
really phony. It was just that tsunami that hadn't made landfall yet.
--
--Scott
"Jon Meinecke" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1107355209.00ca81ee28b27629bc1334a93ed9a778@teranews...
> "Tom Sherman" <[email protected]> wrote
>>>Have you ever considered the possibility that this is just someone
>>>trying to make Ed Gin look bad?
>
> Perhaps. However, if so, the evidence as seen from examination
> of message headers was expertly manipulated. And the previous
> messages (well prior to the Johnny NoCom appearance) where
> Ed Gin signed messages with a different name seem to indicate a
> connection. The fact that the prodigy connection is no longer being
> used after the "bentrideronline.com" impersonation also suggests a
> connection.
>
>> In addition, one of the prime accusations here against Ed Gin is using
>> sock puppets - which would not happen if someone fraudulently posted as
>> "Ed Gin".
>
> As I asked previously, Will the real Ed Gin please stand up? Is it the
> best that can be said that the evidence of NoCom, etc's. identity s not
> beyond a reasonable doubt?
>
> What the Minnesota Ed and perhaps the Chicago Ed, the monkeys
> and others have done and continue doing IN this newsgroup is
> sadly, not that unusual. Hardly original. Such is the fate of many
> newsgroups. (Notice the distinction drawn of what people do IN
> vs. TO a newsgroup, -- both inflections exist.)
>
> ARBR was an interesting exception for many years. Experienced,
> knowledgeable people, generous with their comments and advice.
> New posters, genuine in their questions and interest in recumbent
> bikes. A community open to discussion largely without personal
> attacks and fallacious arguments. People of all levels of interest
> and experience interacting constructively. Little spam. Few
> contentious exchanges and even fewer that lasted into thread
> lengths surpassing a hundred and lasting months. Vulgar and
> abusive posts were almost nonexistent even in the presence
> of divergent opinions strongly held and expressed.
>
> Check the archives. Lower message volume, yes. Higher
> signal to noise ratio? Arguably so. Even Mike V didn't
> bother with us. MTB recumbent bikes anyone? %^)
>
> Jon Meinecke
> net.subtle-apteryx
>
>
