Explanation / AFD thread / Dsh's post / More...

[mjmjr25]

Greetings,

Clarifying / explaining / apologizing for some posts.

Will try to be brief...

Every year I do a troll or two, generally around April 1. Obviously harder to come off as possibly legit given the date, and given my history for them. This year I had designed an homage to dsheinem, busomjack, and dc4ever.

I know some folks don't care for them (jokes / trolls) - and some folks don't care for me. Being frank, that isn't my problem and not what the explanation and apology will be about. I know i'm a strong personality and given your personal opinion of me, quite possibly a highly disliked personality - again, not the focus of this post - so hopefully acknowledging that bit will allow the explanation to be more focused.

To bring credibility to the joke - I had planned to "be upset, leave the site" for about 5 days prior to the actual joke starting. I kept the team small, particularly leaving noise out of it, so he wouldn't be in a position where he'd have to mislead people - he's a good dude and doesn't like doing that, not even for funsies.

It just so happened a thread developed that legitimately did upset me, but I was staying out of it. I suggested to another member he stay out of it - and now I believe he wishes he had. Another member messaged me he was just to a point of being fed up with in his assertion, the religious, particularly Christian, intolerance on this board. I agree with his assertion. While I may be the loudest voice of this assertion - please know, there is a large minority whom feel this way and it is something being discussed - this is a separate issue, and my apology comes now. At this point I should have called off the troll - blending real and fake do not work well, but I did not. I am sorry for that - I have unintentionally lessened the one cause on this board I do feel strongly about. We are such a welcoming and tolerant forum - yet on this issue, I believe we are very intolerant - not all mods agree with me on this, some very much disagree, but some do share the assertion as well. Again, this is another issue that will be discussed at greater length - so back to the primary purpose of the post.

Kalessin agreed to lead the charge of buying my collection and made an excellent post (imo). We brought in a couple others early on and as others would PM or ask, we of course let them know it was just some funning and they either said, "dumb", or "hilarious, i'll play along" - to each his own.

The premise was to boast about this amazing collection (busomjack) and then sell it quickly and for only small percent of value for quick sales on AFD (dsheinem)...and then as people called it a troll and stupid (which we knew some / many would) the dumpster arrival was designed to have some folks question...wait, wait...real? Then those who caught on and knew for certain the other way, a la dsh / mustang, they would likely call me out as "enough already, you're getting annoying"...things worked pretty close to how I envision them in my head. I knew if I went at Dave w/a bunch of exclamation points - he'd either buy it or not, if he did, knowing Dave, he'd reply back w/some brahma bull, or if he thought it was fake, he'd pm me. He pm'd me. I told him it was time to wrap it up - told him to come at me hard. He asked if it could be personal - I told him sure (despite our significant political and religious views...and one major spat, we actually get along well and have a certain respect for each other). So...he let loose. He immediately pm'd me to ask if we were good and clarify that he meant absolutely none of it - "zilch". I told him it was powerful - I should have had him in from the beginning - he can sell.

Here comes apology 2. I did not think to specifically say, "come at me, but not on the religious stuff, just call me ugly and arrogant and no one cares about your rooster, bud." So, inadvertently, Dave probably offended some folks, I definitely hindered a cause I care about - and a joke that only a few of us liked anyways, caused more hurt feelings and frustrations. For that bit, i'm sorry, sincerely. I'm not sorry for my beliefs, though, and not sorry that I joke around, and not sorry that a lot of people don't find it funny, including some of my teammates on the mod team.

I hope that clears it up - thanks for kalessin, ghudda, s1mple, fast, and others who were good sports and catered to my silliness. I love this forum, I really do - we are very diverse, smart, and considerate - I think we can continue to grow and learn more about each other. FWIW, my wife (no really, these are her words), "Maybe you should just stick to the snow angles."

Best - my friends and brothers.
-Mike

[J T]

How did I miss this entire thing?

[dsheinem]

I brought religion into it only b/c that was the pretense under which mjm "left" the site and I figured it would add an air of authenticity to my faux anger. If that riled people, I too apologize.

[prfsnl_gmr]

So...he let loose. He immediately pm'd me to ask if we were good and clarify that he meant absolutely none of it - "zilch". I told him it was powerful - I should have had him in from the beginning - he can sell.

Just so you know, I thought Dave's post was hilarious.

Good work on the troll posts again this year!

[marurun]

Will your "snow angles" be acute, right, or obtuse?

BTW, any discussion of concerns about the topic related to the trolling should go in a different thread, and not this one, IMO.

[dsheinem]

I shared this with the mods to spread some cheer post-prank, and will do so here now:


To lighten the mood, here is (honest truth) selected excerpts - in chronological order - from the PMs between Mike and I tonight:

Just come at me hard and fast

asshole if you are serious

then i'll come

ok, but I'll come hard

Come hard - it's all good, Dave.

was supposed to come yesterday...but came today...

ok...coming hard. don't be insulted!

I should have had you in from the beginning

was a REALLY nice touch

[TSTR]

fuckin a

[Jmustang1968]

I shared this with the mods to spread some cheer post-prank, and will do so here now:


To lighten the mood, here is (honest truth) selected excerpts - in chronological order - from the PMs between Mike and I tonight:

Just come at me hard and fast

asshole if you are serious

then i'll come

ok, but I'll come hard

Come hard - it's all good, Dave.

was supposed to come yesterday...but came today...

ok...coming hard. don't be insulted!

I should have had you in from the beginning

was a REALLY nice touch

Was this a PM discussion or what was heard during a sexual encounter between you 2?

[marurun]

Was this a PM discussion or what was heard during a sexual encounter between you 2?

I do believe that is the point.

[MrPopo]

Was this a PM discussion or what was heard during a sexual encounter between you 2?

Yeah, Ack and I asked the same question.