Dr. Tom

This is all I'm going to say on the matter. And yes, I'm going to close this thread after I reply, partly so that it doesn't turn into a constant bitchfest, but also because nothing more will need to be said here. Nik and the other forum mods enjoy the full support of the administration. Since I'm the admin in charge of the staff, that means they have my full support. If Nik (or any other forum mod, but I'll use Nik as the example here) thinks a thread should be closed, he's going to close it. If he thinks someone should be warned based on their conduct, then he's going to warn them. Nik's judgment is sound, and it really is just too bad if you don't agree with him. It's funny... I also admin on a site network dedicated to collectible card games. One of the sites is populated by a lot of 13-16 year-old kids, and has several times the number of members TSM has. Threads are closed far more often there, and no one has a problem with it. Why? Because it's one bloody thread out of many. If a thread gets closed, figure there was a reason for it. If you're unsure of the reason, then PM the mod in question and ask them, like a civilized human being, why the thread was closed. Abusing the folder mods via PMs will not be looked upon favorably by me, so let me emphasize the "civilized human being" part again. If someone thinks a mod is closing too many threads, they can start a thread here in Feedback about it, and present their points like (here it comes again) a civilized human being. Or that someone can PM me, again like a civilized human being, and discuss it. But abuse of the folder mods, in posts or via PMs, will NOT be tolerated. Anglesault and Angelslayer: Nik has been having problems with both of you of late, and has had to warn both of you at least once recently. The next time he has a problem with either of you will be the last time you present a problem to anyone on this board. Nik, let me know the next time they act up toward you. Downhome: Hell, just read Will's post. I couldn't say it better. Remember, folks: abuse of the folder mods will not be tolerated, and you should present any issues you have like a civilized human being. Closed for business.

One always has to take the bad with the good...

Actually, he asked for it. I was only too happy to oblige him. It's good to see he's done a bang-up job thus far.

That sounds reasonable.

Good riddance. Christ, he was annoying.

I can't tell you how many people used to email me and complain about my x/10 rating system. For some reason, dividing that x of 10 by two to get the ***** equivalent was too much for some people...

I think you'd have to pay people to get behind that one, bub. If you want me to contribute $10 to your cause, you have to give me $500.

I think she'd be a good choice, Sass. Not only would she look good in the outfit (which has to be a consideration for the part, let's be real), but she's capable of pulling off the physical presence that's required of the part.

I could see Pearce as Hal Jordan, but not as Superman. Good god no. Wonder Woman is supposed to be a *warrior*, so you need someone who can have an imposing presence. Reese Witherspoon does not have that.

Not anymore.

Absolutely. I'm completely ready to label anyone who raises a stick at an American soldier or civilian a terrorist. Anyone who's in any way aided the terrorists should meet the same fate. We shouldn't differentiate between terrorists and the pieces of subhuman sewage who help them do their dirty work. Personally, I'd prefer Napalm pits, because that sounds awesome. But shooting everyone like that in the head would be fine with me, also. As long as they all end up dead, I'm not going to quibble overmuch about the means.

There you go, kids. The past is the past. Ever forward. There are still plenty of terrorists in the world, and plenty of ignorant fuckheads are still harboring and helping them. In other words, we still have a lot of people to kill.

It's gotten out of hand, Slapnuts. Not in this thread, but in Iraq. I watched the video. I thought about it for a while, and decided that I should. I have a strong stomach, so it didn't make me physically ill. It made me very, very angry that there are pieces of subhuman shit who do things like this. Capturing innocent people who are only there to improve your ass-backwards shithole country and then killing them is barbaric and stupid. For a long time, I believed in the Iraq invasion, and in our purpose there afterwards. Spreading democracy to a part of the world that sorely needed it was a great idea. Somewhere along the way, that idea turned into the mess we're now faced with. I'm almost ready to side with Mike and say fuck Iraq and fuck the Iraqis: they don't deserve our blood or our democracy, as they've gone to great lengths to show. Almost. I think there's still something we can do. Something to get rid of the terrorists and leave us with the decent, honest Iraqis who want freedom, who want to forget about the decades of torture and abuse under the Hussein regime. Step 1: Take all captured Iraqi and other terrorists and toss them into a big ditch. Step 2. Pour in generous quantities of Napalm. Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 as often as necessary. If you point a gun, a knife -- hell, if you point a fucking TWIG at an American soldier or civilian-- then you're a terrorist and you're getting thrown in a ditch. Fuck you, Habib, here comes the Napalm. Say hi to Allah after you're finished being disintegrated. Next, round up all the pieces of shit who have accepted even one goddamn penny from the terrorists to plant mines, or do anything that's even had the chance to bring harm to an American, and throw them in a ditch, too. Add Napalm. Fuck 'em. You're either with us or against us. If you're with us, then you'll have a democratic system of government and finally be free of despots. If you're against us, then you get tossed in a ditch and burned alive. Those are your choices. If we do that, we'll be left with the kind of people we went over there to free in the first place. And if the rest of the world bristles at it, fuck them, too.

Chris Rock has it right: Ashton should try to "punk" Suge Knight. And if I were a multi-multimillionaire having dinner with my wife and have some random jackass got in my grill and started mouthing off, I'd just deck him. Fuck it, you can always write him a check...

I voted no. I might disagree with him and think he's a terminal cretin, but we don't ban people for being terminal cretins. Yet.

Yawn. See my replies the other 4500 times these threads have cropped up. Don't kids read anymore?

Let's form cliques? Bah. I have a better idea... LET'S FORM VOLTRON~!

"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."- President George W. Bush. Al Queda and Bin Laden and 911 had NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING to do with Iraq OR Saddam. No Al Queda cells in Iraq. No training camps. No funding. Sadddam and Bin Laden don't even KNOW each other. They've been photographed together. We know they met a few times in the mid-1990s. Israeli intelligence confirms this. We know Saddam gave bin Laden money in the mid-1990s. Again, Israeli intelligence confirms this. There have been Al'Qaeda training grounds in nothern Iraq. You were saying... ?

55378008

For somone who supposedly webmasters a Literacy Network, he sure seems incapable of reading...

Peachy. That's also completely irrelevant. The "point" was made that these terrorists are fighting for a cause they believe in, and damn our filthy souls for getting in their way if we disagree with that cause. The Nazis were also fighting for a cause they believed in. THAT is the extent of the comparison. Should we not have interfered with their plans, either? Because I don't have any sympathy for terrorists. I have no sympathy for worthless rabble to try to kill American soldiers. I have no sympathy for people who murder their daughters because they committed the "crime" of being raped. I have no sympathy for people who let schoolgirls die in a burning building because their ankles would show in public if they were let out. I have only enmity for people like that. The filth we have captured are not soldiers, they're terrorists. And we should throw them in a ditch, pour in the napalm, and find another group to kill. And if some of them get beaten or humiliated along the way, good. Fuck 'em. I am, however, completely opposed to torture under any circumstances. But, so far, I have seen no evidence of actual torture, just humiliation and a few beatings. And after things like September 11th, I just can't find a tear to shed for some piece of shit terrorist who got whacked with a stick a few times.

Since I’ve caught wind of some vicious rumors flying around about TSM, I felt this was a good time to make a “State of the Site” address. This gives me a chance to address as many concerns and rumors as I can at once. I’m going to be completely honest here, perhaps to the point of being brutally honest, but by the end of it, you’ll know everything I know, and you’ll know what I think about everything. Think what you will of me in other areas, but all of you should know that I’m a straight shooter. 1. Rumor: Dames isn’t coming back/Dames has sold TSM. I know for a fact Dames has not sold TSM to anyone. He is still the owner, and the site fee is still charged to his card. While I haven’t had any communication with him during his absence, I have no reason to believe he’s not coming back. Think about it: why would someone walk away from a site they were stoked about opening, especially after they’ve put so much time, effort, and money into it? Sure, it’s work to maintain a site and administer a large messageboard, but there’s nothing that makes me think Dames doesn’t want to do either. The latest I’ve heard is that he’s basically settled in now, and is looking at getting permanent internet access within a couple weeks. Is this longer than he originally said he’d be gone? Yes... a lot longer, actually. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Life has a habit of throwing a monkey wrench into things from time to time. I’m sure Dames’ plans and life are no different than anyone else’s in these respects. 2. Rumor: TSM is closing on May 8th because the site won’t be paid for. Absolutely false. I’ve been assured by Mike, the site’s longtime admin, that this will not be happening. TSM will soldier on like it always has. 3. Hey, I’ve seen some new writers on the site recently... Indeed you have. We lost Jay Spree to semi-retirement, so while he’ll occasionally chip in a review, his days of doing weekly DVD news are over. I think Alex Padrino has taken the reins admirably and done a bang-up job. Our resident baseball guru Al Keiper has been writing a column about the national pastime, and it will continue throughout the season. Former Smarks Board poster and 411 staff writer Jesse “Judas” Baker just made his debut on the site. We’re assembling a dashed fine writing staff here at TSM, with these fine new folks adding to the already very solid writing staff we had in place. Maybe I’m biased, but I’d put our writers against anyone else’s. And that leads us to Chris Coey. As most of you know, he was banned from this messageboard some time ago. That is not going to change. “Jubuki” remains banned, and it’s by his own choice. However, we’d be foolish to pass up someone who writes such bloody good articles, and that’s why he’s on the mainpage. Our very own Sass can take a bow on that one. Regardless of the fact that he can’t contribute here in the forums, we’re quite pleased to have Chris contributing the CRUN-CH on the mainpage. 4. Hey Tom, you can be a dick sometimes. You’re right, I can. However, I don’t think I’m a dick that often, and I’m never one until someone does something to put me in that mood. Is Dames a nicer guy than me? Absolutely. I also think he tries to be nice, at least most of the time, whereas I just come here to do my job. I don’t try to piss anyone off or act like a dick, but things happen and sometimes, that’s the result. And while I can be a dick at times, I think my record of dealing with people who disagree with me (often quite vituperatively) speaks for itself. I’ve never banned one person for arguing with me. Not everyone is going to agree with how I do things; I know and expect this. And I don’t mind disagreements and questions, but if you try to bite my head off in your post, you should expect an appropriate response. 5. The staff and its leadership While our owner has been away, I don’t think we’ve suffered for leadership at all. I’m not saying this to toot my own horn; while I might be the go-to guy in Dames’ absence, the entire staff has embraced their roles as leaders of the board. Things would not have been as smooth here as they’ve been for the past two months without our dedicated moderating staff. Take a bow, guys (and girl): you’ve made my job easier, and you’ve worked to make this board better for the people who use it everyday. 6. Ch-ch-ch-changes By popular request, we’ve recently reopened registrations. Hopefully, this will mean an influx of new posters who can contribute to this board in meaningful ways. Realistically, it means trolls and previously banned posters now have a window to get back on. While we appreciate your vigilance in watching out for such people, having a few more official eyes on the situation can’t hurt. So, over the weekend, we’ll be adding a few forum moderators to those forums that need them. We’re also going to add one global moderator, since our member numbers are increasing, and our potential problems are going up right along with them. This is not the chance for you to metaphorically throw your hat into the ring: decisions have already been made. I’m not going to reveal any names, but over the next couple days, I’m sure it’ll become obvious enough. 7. “I am astonished to observe how willing men are to lumber their minds with such rubbish.” I’m sure there are rumors going around other than the ones I’ve addressed here. While I don’t know them specifically, I can tell you they’re almost certainly false, because rumors usually are. No, there’s no master list of people Sass and I are going to ban. No, FrigidSoul is not a permanent admin or mod. No, Dames did not sell the board to me and retire to a tropical island, where JLH- looking women will feed him peeled grapes all day. (And if he did... hey, hook a brotha up with a plane ticket.) The point is that rumors are just that: rumors. They’re not facts, and they rarely bear any resemblance to fact. If you come across some rumors, the thing not to do is spread them like wildfire. Exercise a little discretion. PM me or another mod and inquire about it, or look us up on AIM. We’ll be happy to discuss things with you, but we don’t want the posting community getting alarmed over nothing. This site and board are here for you to enjoy, and it’s hard to enjoy something with doom-and-gloom rumors flying all about. Help your fellow posters enjoy this place a little more. That quote is from Henry David Thoreau, by the way. That’s all I have. Civil discussion of the points mentioned here is welcome below, or you can find me via PM or AIM.

Hitler and the Nazis were fighting for a cause they believed in, too. Should we not have fought them? It's precisely that kind of thinking that causes so many problems. That ninny way of thinking leads to terrorists being relabeled as "freedom fighters." No, they're fucking terrorists. They're not soldiers, they're thugs, and except for a few isolated incidents, we have not been treating them like the worthless thugs they are.

People: Use your judgment. Nik's guidelines were clear and very well thought-out. "HHH wants to work with Edge this summer" is not a spoiler. Things that are more specific, and come out closer to the event at hand, might very well be spoilers. "HHH beats Benoit with the Pedigree tonight" is a spoiler, and it should be treated as such. Downhome: I remember I had to make a post called "Posting Spoilers" because you were calling for people to get BANNED for posting a spoiler without warning. What Nik is doing is trying to make this forum "safe" for those who don't want to see things spoiled, a position I would think you'd appreciate a little more. He laid out for you what a rumor was vs. a spoiler. You seem a sharp tack, so I'm sure you'll figure it out. I think Nik's guidelines are perfectly fine. Anyone with further quibbles should take them up with me.

I guess this isn't sport-specific. Baltimore Orioles: Cal Ripken Jr. Besides The Streak, Ripken had over 3000 hits, over 400 HR, and was a tremendous ambassador for the game of baseball when it needed one most. When fan apathy was highest after the 1994 strike, Ripken brought people to the ballparks in droves as he chased and passed Lou Gehrig's record, often signing autographs for hours after the game. A class act, a great player, and an easy first-ballot HOFer. Baltimore Ravens: Ray Lewis. A case could be made for JAMAL~! but Ray has the larger body of work so far. He's a dominating force on defense, strong enough to fight past most blocks, and fast enough to catch running backs in the open field. He's also been an excellent leader of the Ravens's great defense, and has personally taken several younger players under his wing and straightened them out. Rockin' Ray is considered by many to be the best MLB who ever stapped onto the field, and he's now coached by a guy who was a pretty dashed good one.