Dr. Tom

Basically, Sass and I bandied about some names about until we found a couple folks we agreed on. We'd been wanting to overhaul the staff for a while now, actually. He (Sass, that is) took care of lining up the forum mods, all of whom were added last night.

It might not be condoned, but the Catholic Church didn't do much about the problem, either. Priests guilty of child molestation, regardless of their rank, should be jailed for the rest of their lives. The Church itself should be pushing for this to happen. Instead, they adopted a limp-wristed "three tykes and you're out" policy, and just transferred several repeat offenders to different districts. Catholics who have a conscience should express their disapproval by leaving the church. Otherwise, tacit approval is still approval.

It's not often someone argues for their own banning... Who am I not to agree? Edit: HA! I think I beat you to it, Kahran. r0x0rz

Lobster tail is indeed quite good. I can't say I've ever had it at a Japanese steakhouse, but in general, it's good, and usually sells for more than $11.

It doesn't matter. It's false.

Jesse: Very good review. The content was rock-solid. The only thing I'd suggest is using bold or underlining to make titles and headers stand out more.

We're inquiring about better servers and hosting plans, but since the site and its hardware still get billed to Dames, that's one decision I can't make in his absence.

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.

Christ, the man died. Can we keep political squabbling out of this? RIP

I've long thought there should be a law against plumber's crack. But against hotties in thongs and low-slung jeans? No way, no how.

Obviously, it's "fun" to do stupid shit that people specifically tell you not to do... My advice is to be less "fun," Zsasz.

It's not that we can't do it... well, some of us. It's that time is an issue for those of us who can, so it's good to have someone who has both the time and the know-how. Lately, I seem to have only the latter.

Good. I loathe Clarrett. Maybe if his stupid ass had stayed in school, he wouldn't be having all these problems right now. But nooooo, one good year means he thinks he's a prima donna who can flout the rules. Well, fuck him.

Awesome. I'm a huge gloater and shit-talker during any kind of game.

Delete the new account, then. There's no reason for someone who already has an account to register a new one, just because they now can. People who have trouble cooperating with this will be dealt with.

Patience, grasshopper.

Hey, you got registrations back. Now we'll see if new blood is the panacea some make it out to be, I guess.

Actually, Teke, I'm the one bringing in the new blood. When Spree went into his semi-retirement, I recruited Alex to do the DVD reports, now called the DVD Discharge, and I think he's done a smashing job. I also brought our baseball guru Alkeiper into the fold as a writer. My regret is that I don't have the time to write as much as I used to. That seems to be the case with some others, too. So, to sum up: I'm awesome.

I've just re-enabled registrations. They're setup slightly differently than before, but it'll be transparent to those signing up. There's one thing I expect from people here, though: Don't register any gimmick accounts. Enough of the bloody things were deleted to last a lifetime. Your regular account is enough. Any gimmick accounts we see will be deleted, and I'll turn registrations off again if you lot can't keep your bad attempts at humor in your pants. The staff will be watching for any PBP's who might make their way back in this way. I'd also like the regular members to be vigilant in this regard. Some of you are very good at spotting them (much better than I am, in fact), and we'd like to keep using your eagle eyes to make sure the people we don't want around stay gone.

It's not like he peed on one of the statues. ... though I would have found that REALLY funny. Wrong, but funny.

I would've guessed brown hair, myself, worn long with no regard for pulling it back.

Should I consider that a request?

I like Bonds, but I don't like ESPN riding his jock all the time. He's definitely the best ballplayer I've seen in my lifetime, and a lead-pipe cinch to walk into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, even if his career ended tomorrow. As for steroids, I'm not going to judge him without the facts. I couldn't care less that Bonds is surly with the media. Most reporters are tards who ask the same stupid questions over and over... I wouldn't bother trying to be nice to them, either.

I don't like the deal either, Al. I think Anderson is one of those players who's more productive than his meager OBP would indicate, but still. Paying $12 million a year for four years, for a guy who's already 32? That sounds like a bad deal to me. I guess it's nice for them that their entire outfield is signed long-term now, but as much as I think Anderson is very good player, I still think this was a bad deal.

Maybe I will at some point. BTW, I should be posting your column for this week this evening. I meant to do it last night, but it got lost in the shuffle of a bunch of other things that ended up happening. I know we've talked about this before, but I've always thought the MVP should not necessarily be the fellow who had the best season. Sometimes, they'll be one and the same, but that's the reason I wanted a Player of the Year Award. The POTY would be the player who put up the best numbers. The MVP would be the player judged most valuable to his team, and yes, I still think that means the team has to enjoy some level of success. NexTurf seems OK so far, but I'll admit I haven't looked into it very much. I guess I'm a purist when it comes to things like grass. Baseball has such great aesthetics to it that I think they're ruined by playing the game on matted concrete. THere's just something wrong there that I can't get past, and it's totally personal bias. I like the asymmetrical ballparks that have a lot of flavor, as long as their surface is grass. As for Ozzie, he was a tremendous fielder onall surfaces, but I've seen balls take completely cartoonish bounces on turf that a fielder unaccustomed to them would get owned. Playing on concrete shouldn't give your fielders an unfair advantage.