Quote Originally Posted by CgarDan View Post
Common guys what was done and in the past is exactly that. If some one wants to bring a banned member back maybe a poll on that can be started to avoid further complications or disagreement betwen people here.
Dan... you know I am your friend, but I don't think that ignoring the past is the proper thing to do here. Ignoring the past never works.

I've said it before... this used to be a great place to come and talk. That's the part of the old board I want to get back. There is still a wealth of information available here due to the contributions and efforts by many members, not just a few. There is no doubt that activity has dropped off, but I think it was because the turmoil, insults, name calling and general nastiness of a few members along with the general feeling that if you didn't show these "FOG's" the proper respect you would be burned at the stake. Right around the time of the last meltdown came an alternative board that many folks here gravitated to, and apparantlly they found that they liked the culture there better than here. That's the long and the short of it, and the results speak for themselves.

Were there a bunch of asshats that came and went here? Sure. The board seemed to attract them like flies to shit, and policing was left to a bunch of guys who felt they had to give a good paddling before they let it go. Some of it was fun, but as time went on more and more members felt that this was the "norm" and they tried to fit in which did nothing but raise the noise level. But the majority of members here were and continue to be good people who are looking for comradery and a place to discuss and expand their enjoyment of cigars.

Let's go ahead and get this out in the open. Many others have gone to Cigar Live. It didn't help CS's cause that some of the more *respected* members here went there and tried to trash their board, then started crying foul all over the Internet when they weren't allowed to continue. For those who don't know, the owner of that board is an IT guy ("Information Technologies" for those who don't know what it stands for) and he was able to see exactly what was going on with regards to CS. He'd watch when an "innocent" post was made by one of the FOG's here, then he'd see a bunch of people immediately log in, go directly to that post and read it, then log off without ever looking at anything else. It was pretty obvious to him that the poster was putting something up then going back and telling people to log in and take a look. And it was proved beyond a doubt that one ex-FOG here logged into his board with no less than 3 very familiar aliases. He was able to track it very easily. He put a stop to it and his board was immediately labeled an asshat board by the FOGs here at CS.

It also doesn't help anyone's cause when some folks trash talk the CL board on other forums. What it does do is support the feeliing that many previous and potential members have that the CS FOG's are still alive and well and playing their stupid little self serving games. In my opinion, these folks are not out to help this board, they are out to bolster their self esteem and protect their individual "status," and being associated with CS doesn't help the reputation of this board at all.

So it's out in the open. That's the kind of shit some of our "well respected" FOGs get their jollies from. I think we are at a critical point right now. Either we can bring back our "Generals" with open arms, or we can try to rein them in. If we're going to have a discussion about what's best for the future of this board, let's do it with an open mind to the past and keep our damn egos in check.

We can grow to be a great board again, but not by playing stupid games and trash talking other boards and putting other members through the fire for our own little self indulging purposes. We can exist in tandem and even help other boards to grow. In doing so we can improve our own reputation and be a place that other folks want to visit. We can be a quality board that can stand on our merits instead of our criticism. This strategy that some have to make themselves relatively bigger by knocking down the other guy never really makes anyone any better. It just drives away the other guy and leaves nobody but the bullies feeling better about themselves.

I agree that Hex has all the authority he needs to do what he wants with this board. He can lock discussions, he can ban users, and he can do it without permission or approval from anyone. He bends over backwards to give us a place to gather and talk freely, but in the end his wishes and words need to be respected. And if anyone feels he needs their permission to run his board the way he wants to, they should think again.