Well, I can't read 7 pages of posts (
with references to me - positive OR negative) and NOT say anything... It
is strange - things HAVE gone a bit quite - then again, it does seem cyclical; it was quiet '04 year-end too...
Maybe my tiff with Barry a year ago had something to do with it (in fact, I am sure that it did), but more so; the subsequent pissing matches (such as with Jim K., Brian Berger, Mats, Andrew Brown et al) when Barry's die-hard friends jumped to the rescue (and ultimately with Peter Webb over on the BB) did not help matters either...
Funny thing is that Barry and I have made friends and have probably seen each other more in the time since then THAN ANY OTHER TWO MEMEBERS HERE (brothers and a select few others excluded...) Barry and I share resources and help each other out; I have carried things back to SA - he has built me some hubs - we've probably seen one another on 20 occasions over 5 trips in 12 months!!!
The feud however, between me and other active members in Barry's "inner-circle" has not subsided... Why? Even Andrew and I made friends and we have tried to coordinate getting together on more than one occasion. (He has some nice shiny new pistons that I personally carried over for him and ask nothing in return for.) That’s the spirit of it! We don't swap spit in the moonlight or anything, but we'll get there
Most everybody who has ever participated here
actively though have had their share of misunderstandings (perhaps not as many as I have) and then again, just ask Jes, Greg and a few others who slip my mind right now and they will tell you that this is a tough forum. I see many posts (I sign-on and read actively 2-3 times per day) from new-bs that go unanswered or that get answered in a very dismissive way, as in: "...this has been covered - go look somewhere else..."
This is NO fun for someone who has just signed up and who is searching for the answer to a question that MANY here
did not even know the answer to until fairly recent.... Just because one of us knows the answer or just because the subject was already covered, does not constitute no further lessons on the subject or no new info can be derived...! It's pretty sad.
What I find particularly sad is that one member (because of his popularity among the secret hand-shake club) can get away with referring to another member’s child as “some rat-faced kid” and yet one mis-step and you get nailed from out of left-field!!! The bias in that is incredible. The constant “challenging” of information makes others timid.
Also, when one DOES make and attempt to take your bitch with another member off-line to private mail or email and the member then shares the content of that private exchange back with other members of the divine ya-ya-sisterhood - NOT nice... It whips others up against you even more and it shows up the VERY next time you post!
Not everybody is willing to put their nuts on the line (right or wrong) and risk getting slapped down.
That drives traffic down…
I've said it before (and re-reading this entire thread again today), the point was made here in this thread by at least three others already (aside from yours truly) that nobody wants to come on here, on a public forum like this, where it is supposed to be fun, relaxing, a hobby - no wait; A PASSION to share - only to be shot down by others who either don't get your point, who don't agree with the point, or who just simply dislike you for some peripheral reason and now want to take the opportunity to nail your arse to your own bonnet...!
Also, too many posts by the same "gurus" over and over smother the forum.
There, I've said it. In South Africa we call this “…’n goeie gemoeds-bekakking was nodig…” Doesn’t translate well, but in short – We all need to purge once in a while…) Michael, awesome job bud! (The man lives 3 blocks from my house and we only see each other once in a blue moon!!!) Here’s a shot of Mr. Harris, Ron Simons and I having a braai over at Michaels house…
Barry, this is the second time you have threatened to quit! You, the Easter Bunny and I head over to Jamaica – they also love Alfas there - for a vaca. We can even start our own Alfa club (but no forum – the gtv6.com has it all!!!)
...to Alfa, or not to Alfa? That is the question...
Therefore, I intend to start throwing around more low blows at the established vets of the forum...
