To Jum:
Of course the answer to your question is Kesh.
The question was sincere. I was trying to work out whether you're doing all this for ..... and giggles or whther it is to admonish Kesh. I always thought it was the latter, until I read that comment re: continuing in order to see Keshav "hang himself". The two may be combined, but I thought I'd ask.
Thanks for answering directly. Im glad someone outside this infamous Gang has finally spelled out the name Keshav and his roll in all this. Regarding your question, I dont think either reason is mutually exclusive, I see no significant dichotomy; I think I've managed to make my case to expose him while enjoying Kesh hang himself.
As for stakes, meh. You can come to your own conclusions as to how vested any of us are in all this. A few posts commenting or questioning on a internet forum doesn't - to me - equate to giving a major .....
Oh I get you. For ya'll this is fairly entertaining because frankly you have no 'personal' stake, very pivotal, except for whatever stake you have as a member of the forum. And frankly i believe now that's a poor way of seeing it. I say from my own experience of sitting on the sideline in a previous time it got outta hand. You said I was extolling people, but failed to point out that 'those people' threw their hats in the ring (despite claiming no side taking), meanwhile their chimes come peculiarly short of specifically acknowledging Kesh's role, particularly his absolute instigation of this entire episode. Those are the people I was extolling, to be clear, Migs, Mick, and to a less degree J4rno, all of which have claimed no interest nor horse. I think it's fair game that if they're gonna throw their hat in (despite their claim to the contrary ) then they be called out for not making a stand.
And Doc, I totally get not wanting to get involved in a garden variety piss match. I can name many off the top of my head I've read here throughout the years, we get one or two about once a month. Just over the summer we were entertained with 22 vs Lex, Kesh vs Heisman, going back further, Jumkie vs Kropo, Lex vs Povol, Arrabi vs Barry, back further, and so forth, the never ending boppers vs boners, etc. But this, this wasn't a garden variety flame war. No sir. This was Kesh going supernanny, which was no big deal, really, until he charged the spat by invoking personal wounds. You can easily go back to look, if you or anyone cared to, but Kesh introduced into this a highly personal emotionally charged event. He did. The Rubicon was crossed. Never saw Mick nor Migs nor anyone else who supposedly now say they lament clean threads chime in. It wasn't very ambiguous either when it happened, all us active members knew exactly when this crossed over from a run of the mill spat (like the kind I listed above) to ugly personal ..... If Migs, MickD, and J4rn0 let that go, why then chime in now? And worse, not have the balls or wherewithal to call out Keshav 's absolutely pivotal role in making this personal and ugly! I cannot overstate this point enough, as it is crucial, and not acknowledging it only highlights the disingenuous nature of their stake for the forum. (And all the while claiming no sides, and "zero interest"). What am I missing here? Sincerely. And thats on top of Kesh repeatedly claiming and lamenting the delusion that 'his' Gang of Four were the perpetrators of destroying threads. Or claiming he "doesn't want to continue" (I lost count) this flame war. And i suspect we will see Kesh yet again continue, of this i have no doubt, just look above, trying to manipulate J4rn0. Let's not pretend shall we. There is a right and wrong here. We shouldn't while being scrupulous chastise the bullied along with the bully! Kesh started this ugliness by going after specific members he identified as bad apples, poured jet fuel by invoking old personal wounds (time stamp verifiable), THEN crossed the line further making it highly toxic in going after my very parenting (and btw implicating another active member here who I left my children in their care); but hey ya'll, ALL of you, just knock it off boys, clear the threads.
Kesh is an absolute cancer to the 'SOCIAL' aspect of this forum! A control freak, who even above this posts tries to manipulate and 'shepherd' members into his idea of what they should talk about. No J4rn0, don't talk to these bad guys. Maybe you can't handle talking to me J4rn0. Kesh needs to save you from me. Kesh kills the social fabric here! An aspect that i submit to you is the real foundation that makes this space attractive and unique! Not the racing talk here, though when that's been on, it's been sublime. Look around, our overwhelming dialog is social. We crack jokes, banter, say the silliest ...., and yes argue while throwing digs and darts, all of it SOCIAL and frankly a pleasure to read. A decompression valve if u will.
This war was/is something very different, ugly. It didn't just happen out of the blue and it's dishonest to categorize it as a mere forum spat. In this case the bully Kesh contended with others up to the task to defend themselves. Yeah, we are not faultless, we have complicity, but this fight came to us, we obliged. Nevertheless, we are all still here and likely will eventually restore this space to 'Powerslide-normal'. We have been making significant gains. If ya'll want to lament anything, lament the Joads lost forever to the forum who we will never know about their potential contributions to this space since Kesh saw fit to tell him to go wrap his spine around a tree.
But this can all have a happy ending. I mean it, and not that it's so bad now, .... most of us are having a gay'o time. And as long as we can grow and change, I think there is hope.
