Quote Originally Posted by Newfie View Post
Hiya George.

No doubt this will come to a resolution one way or another. Unfortunately, it may mean people leaving unnecessarily, that's what I hate about the situation.

Someone please tell me if I'm 100% right, totally out to lunch, or somewhere in the middle when I say I believe much if this is fueled by political beliefs!! Like I said before, I don't really give a damn if you, or Sid, or Bill, or Barry, or whoever thinks the Republicans are better than the Democrats , or vice versa. I just don't think it should evolve to bad friendships here.

No, I don't have any history behind the current dispute, I'm just looking at the possible results. I don't believe I'm taking sides, either.

I like to think I have a thick skin and can stand up to quote a bit of crap, I just hate what's going on here. There was a thread quite a while ago about a "Home Board". I like this place (and the freedom allowed) and like the vast majority of the people.

This discussion, like many others, can have no settlement. Some people will always agree to disagree.

Agreed??

Honestly - the political discussion was getting out of hand. While I appreciate differing views and am not overly sensitive (I can take it as well as I dish it out) - there comes a "line" (as you say) of decency. You may be disturbed about CC's diatribe - but it doesn't even come close to some of the hateful, obnoxious, disrespectful, crude, vulgar and otherwise hurtful nonsense that was being posted in those earlier "political" discussions. Some of which (as you point out in the current scenario) led to good members packing it up and moving on, while others seriously assessed their continued presence on this board. Good people left because of the nonsense....

So - was it the purpose of the individual who was the nexus of the "discussions" to provide a glimpse into their political views? Or was it really intended to draw out individuals with opposing views to engage them in a head to head battle. I dunno..

I think at least a portion of the current discussions seems to be about whether or not there was a "conspiracy" - and how deep that "conspiracy" was. There is some pretty compelling evidence to support the view that at least one person was engaged in behavior that was suggestive of him trying to "control" the board, or "control" engagements. There is also some pretty compelling evidence that there was a calculated orchestration for certain events and individuals that are not participatory on our board came over here to influence the events.

You can draw your own conclusions based upon the adequate evidence that's available, if you care to look at it. It will definitely take some reading to get the full flavor of the conflict...

Remember, though - half the story is not the WHOLE story no matter how you try to paint it. Being there is more important than reading about it. For example, you no longer have the opportunity to test ideas and assumptions concurrent with the discussions in live time.

Boy it sure would be swell to get past all of this and move on to discussing cigars. And Utopia is a great place to be!!! In reality, though, I think we are never going to be away from disputes on our board - and we about about as close as we may come to living in Utopia.