Sass

You're giving people way too much credit Kotz. One of the main complaints I got before Nik came on board was that Loss, CC and Goodear weren't "visible" enough as mods. But each day they come online they're busy in the WWE folder. Moving, merging, deleting, and locking threads wasn't enough for some folks and the mods were criticized heavily for being nearly "invisible" in the WWE folder with the complaint "what do they do?" Some of our fellow Global Mods are criticized for their lack of presence on the board since some of them go without posting for long periods of time. But I know for a fact that nearly every mod on the staff visits the board at least once a day and keep their eyes open for things that need to be tended to. Sometimes a person does need to be reprimanded publically for acting like a fool. If they have no regard for themselves or the people that post here then turnaround is fair play. Of course then the mods are called "power trippers" when something like this occurs since we're flexing some muscle and no one likes a "show off" or someone that has all the keys to the house, which leads to tension and tension can lead to rebellion. Btw, I'm not attacking you here. I just wanted to point out how being visible and not visible on the board is a lose-lose situation in regards to someone on the staff catching flak for their work or lack of. Nik has been criticized for being "too visible" and "doing too much" while his other fellow WWE folder mods have been criticzed for "not being visible" or "not doing anything" when that isn't true. There's no balance. I've made a 4-paragraph response to your 2-line post. I will be waiting now for someone to attack me now for "going off" on you.

That can be a catch .22 If a mod hasn't made their presence visible enough then some folks might complain that they "don't do anything" when in fact they do.

I guess all my buddies should have cut back on the munchies then. I can remember them complaining about the bitch tits they were developing back when they were heavy tokers. When I smoked weed I was still able to function and after I regained my senses back a bit more, I would hit the gym afterwards instead of pigging out with my reefer head cohorts.

Has smoking weed regularly had any effect on your body weight wise like beer has?

If ABC wants a brother in the booth, then go with Ronnie Lott. The man is *very* comfortable in front of the camera and is extremely articulate. He'd be a nice getaway from Madden and Michaels' "good ol' boys" vibe they give me in the booth.

Charles is a smart guy (for the most part). He *has* to realize this has "bomb" written all over it. Just put Dan Fouts back in the booth.

Quiet, elf. Sasquatch You rang?

Correct. I can carry the weight right now but I don't want it to bite me in the ass later on down the road and hinder me health wise. I have no reason anymore to keep all the mass with me now that the WSM contest is a long gone dream. I'd like to improve my speed and range of motion as well since I've been doing a lot more cardio than pumping iron in the gym lately. My family has had a history of health problems (mainly heart related) and I want to do as much as possible to ensure that I can live a life with as few health problems as possible in the years to come for me (shit happens as we know but I'd like to better my chances). You're going to be a stud on the rugby team though Dama. I can see the drive you have to be the best you can be along with the desire to win above all else. You'll do great.

I think Dark Horse CEO Michael Richardson put it best about Watchmen in a THC special on comics: "The book was both good and bad for the industry." I share the same sentiment with Richardson. The book was and still is a marvelous read and is one of the best comic book stories ever written. But it helped spawn a generation of comic book writers who feel that it is necessary to have "big bang" conqequences in each of their books rather than tell a simple comic book story that involves a super villain or two. Today, some comc book franchises have not used an actual super-villain in years and instead have offered up "real" world terrorists or faceless corporate moguls. An example? From Hulk #34 to #65, writer Bruce Jones has only had two Hulk major super villains show up during a run which has lasted for over 3 years now. During that time the Hulk's alter ego Bruce Banner was on the run which led for some of the most mind-numbing stories I have read which have involved Banner where he gives the reader no reason to care about what happens to him since he doesn't care about himself. It's even worse with guys like Iron Man and Captain America where both guys have fought no-name crackpots and/or terrorists who meant nothing in the long run and will probably never be brought back again (hopefully). Watchmen helped give the comic book industry that "serious credibility" that they seeked to have for years but unfortunately they have sacrificed escapism in comic book for "realism" with a bastardized version of escapism that involves super heroes taking on terrorist groups while having once-great supporting cast members take a back seat to talking heads and super villains being persona non grata in issues while giving would-be world dictators the spotlight who get mowed down easily in the resolution issue.

Troy Hambrick (RB) signed with the Oakland Raiders. If the team signs Warner (Kurt, you're crazy if you think NY's O-line can protect your ass) then this season could be a hell of a ride for the Raiders compared to last season. Kurt Warner > Kerry Collins, something I hope Coach Turner realizes.

Brian, those numbers you can do with the weights is pretty frickin amazing man. You could come in handy as my spotter if we ever went to go work out. How tall/big are you if you don't mind me asking? Currently I'm treading around 330 but I'd like to drop about 15 or 20 more pounds for health reasons (I'm getting older and don't need any more excess weight). The heaviest I ever weighed was 380 and that was at my peak when I was training for the World's Strongest Man comptetition the last couple of years (along with a possible try-out for the AFL team the LA Avengers). When I was in middle school, I was out of shape and considered "fat" by many of my peers. I had back problems and exerted more energy than I should have by just walking around campus to classes. I got to high school and became interested in football, baseball and discus throwing, which helped me tone up and gain muscle in considerable amounts during my time at the school. That was when I became heavy into working out on my own time (along with the sports) and it became like a natural function for me to go and work out (something I still maintain to this day). If I can borrow a cliche, no pain, no gain. A number of my buddies who played on the line with me in football lost a copious amount of weight after the senior season ended and they worked out hard to get a "healthy weight" as some of the dudes skimmed down from 100 pounds and more in some cases. They generally seemed more comfortable and sure of themselves (a couple of them even managed to get a couple good looking girlfriends as well). Running and cardio should be a fat kid's best friends if they want to improve the way they look and feel.

I spoke to -ib- myself personally as well and he has seemed to heed both Nik and mine's advice. Furthermore, there is no winning. Being a mod is a catch .22. You either get complaints for not doing enough or else you get complaints for doing too much. There is no middle ground with being a mod and you (have to) roll with the punches if you're to keep your sanity from slipping. CC and Goodear have been very busy lately and Nik's been pulling triple duty for the folder while Loss is also attending to some personal matters at home. I'm shocked that he's still willing to enter the folder and do some mod work. The whole reason I suggested that the WWE folder have more than one folder mod is because the place get's the most traffic out of any other folders here. I wouldn't wish anyone on the staff to handle modding that folder by themselves. Yet Nik has not complained once to the staff about the folder or how the posters have reacted to him. He's come to us asking for advice on matters and that's something I'm glad he does because sometimes the Global Mods don't catch stuff that happens in the folder. I wouldn't have known about -ib- being a pain for some folks had Nik not come to me asking about how he should handle the situation. Being a mod is about trial and error. Nik's feeling his way around the folder and so far he's done a solid job with a place that a number of the Global Mods don't care to enter. He's taken on the task of trying to help maintain some civility and composure (see: acting like civil human beings in debates/arguments) in threads that look to veer totally off topic and possibly degenerate into another flaming session where someone's calls wrestler x names or else flames the heck out of a poster for challenging their views. But either way, Nik is going to pick up flak since people in general don't like having things done for them when they're doing something out of leisure such as posting at a message board during the hours of work or downtime at home with nothing to do. Angelslayer is not a problem poster. He's one of the posters here at the board that I've always managed to find amusing. If Nik knew the type of posts that AS makes as well as AS the poster then he probably wouldn't have said anything to the guy. But he didn't and was looking to have AS punished. Putting it all in context, I couldn't blame Nik for feeling that way. The PM that AS sent Nik is grounds for a banning but the situation that led up to their encounter should not have warranted such a response from either guy so I spoke to both men about it and managed to (hopefully) get them to see eye-to-eye on why they had a massive communication breakdown. Nik used poor judgement in reprimanding AS for the behavior he has always exhibited but AS used poor judgement as well by coming up with a PM that says "fuck off" since I would have wanted him banned too had I not known the type of person AS is. Joking or not, that is *not* a smart PM to make out to a member of the staff here. This then puts others like myself in between a rock and a hard place when trying to fix the situation and smooth things over with the mod and poster in quetsion when I know AS was just being a prick like he is half the time (and revels in it I might add). I wasn't going to ban AS but I also couldn't let Nik get dissed like that and not offer him any help when he came to me about the situation. If I had taken AS's PM as a malicious insult then he would have been banned pronto and Nik would have become public enemy number one on the board and in the process create a giant headache for the staff members in calming down the posters who would want his head on a stake since the staff here don't sell their own out up the river. No one ever said being a mod was easy and I've been fortunate enough to see that Nik hasn't felt this way. I've known a number of people who couldn't cut it as a mod and break down the first time they get some dirt kicked in their face by some posters and so far Nik has managed to weather the criticisms but also take them under consideration since he's always looking to improve as a mod (something I find very admirable). He's got his rough edges but over time they'll smooth out once he becomes more familiar with the territory and start to let shit slide that has normally done so in the past. Folks don't want to screw up when they're given this type of job and sometimes they can go overboard in "proving" themselves as a staff member. So far the mods that have been added to the staff over the past several months haven't stirred up too much of a commotion with the board members (with the WWE folder mods being the ones that have been criticized the most since they were all added on) and that shows me that they must be doing something right. Making decisions as a mod is a double-edged sword and is a thankless job. But I'm thankful towards the folks who have remained on the staff without breaking down or causing catastrophe's out of spite for the critics they have since this is not an easy job to have. This job is about trial and error and sometimes we luck out and get no complaints about things we do and other times we get 8 pages of people complaining about something we've done. But I digress. It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it. ::spits in a can::

I love abusing my *snicker* powers.

Don't sugar coat things but don't give them the impression that you still wish you could live those days out again. This would negate your discussion. Just be brutally honest but also talk *to* them about these things, not at them. I've talked with my kid brother's friends before about my problems with substance abuse in the past and it's really all about being open and honest while maintaining a level of "I was like you and you'll make your own decisions on things but I'll share with you what happened with me." If you tell them "don't do drugs" then they'll think you're a "sell-out" or something ridiculous and you'll lose them. Just be honest and descriptive about your experiences. I think you'll do good CWM. I'm sure some of TSM's high school folks here can give you some more pointers on what to do and what not to do when talking to their peers.

Kobe > Shaq > Malone > Payton. Kobe has youth on his side while the other 3 are on their final legs as "proficient" starters. 7 years, $142 million Kobe...you know you want to stay... That is unless you're ass isn't in the pokey by the start of the next season...

...

Those aren't good ideas. A number of folks got hurt feelings from those things and later things spiraled down from there. The WDI Draft was fun...but I don't think anyone here could pull it off the way that IllOne and Stevie B did.

Where did I say I was joking? The POPICK 4 LEADER collection for banning Dames starts at $10

Hoff didn't talk to anyone for like two days after Josh or someone posted that at the top of WDI's board. Good times.

Fuck a bunch of that, I'll ban DAMES if someone sends me enough money. You're just opening the doors for a Popick takeover...

::prepares firing squad for CWM the dissenter:: you can not silence me. I have minions! *summons Agnes and Team G.H.E.Y.* If your "minions" are anything like the ones you helped lead during the WDI Invasion...then this fight is already in the bag. ::prepares to edit *all* of CWM's posts::

What kind of board do you think we run here? You can't go around and try to bribe us into banning someone you don't like. That's not how things operate here. There are protocols and rules that we need to follow. I'm liable to just go ahead and ban you now Spiff just for insulting the integrity and hard work that we all do here. Give me $50 and a ticket to the next Jags/Dolphins game and you have yourself a deal. What, you think we're cheap?

Only if he pays. Although, I'm sure the two of us could probably scare a clerk well enough to where they'd give us a room for free if we were to approach them in a threatening manner. You bring the Slayer AoO and I'll bring the Ministry. "213" and "NWO" can be the songs of the day.

You've outdone yourself here Kotz. Bravo.

All we need now is one of EIW's Sailor Moon pics with SKeith and Botter faces planted on the girls while caressing one another. That was the pic that IIRC made Botter delete the flaming folder.