"Rocky Mtn.Bum" wrote

G'day. I have been lurking in this group for a month or so. I really
have found the ski discourse helpful looking back over previous
posts. My question is how to stay unblocked? Do I have to not reply
to certain posters? If so, which ones? I see two particular posters
who seem to have caused a lot of disruption here, and they post
nothing of value that interests me...Are any posters real-life ski
friends? Just asking

The #1 Bum

Stay out of the flame wars with the loons, or at least minimise
direct responses to them. It's not like they will ever listen to
anything you say in any meaningful way. Mostly, the people I block
are the "enablers" that goad the #1 loon trying to antagonise him,
and of course, the loon himself. There is never anything of value in
those threads. There have been a few people who frequently get into
it with him that I kept around for a long time, because they
actually had something interesting to say on other topics
occasionally. Over time, the ratio of real contribution to enabling
became too much, and they went also. Of course, everyone's standards
are different, so you take your
chances. The major consideration is probably to stay on-topic, and
avoid the flame wars.

I do wonder how many have blocked me because I have responded to
threads involving the loons, asking people to stop enabling them by
responding the way they do, mostly to no avail.

Probably 90% of the messages posted to this group involve these
flame wars at times, judging by the number of new posts that
actually make it through my filters.

Yes, who have you blocked and maybe I will do the same. It should
alter the appearance of my Forte Agent newsreader...
Thanks

Easiest thing to do is just watch a bit. It will become quickly apparent.
Sorting through my blocked list looking for people in this group I
haven't seen in years is more than I care to bother with. Stuart and Pigo
were the only two real recently. I kept hoping they'd finally see the
futility of argueing with the loon, but no such luck.

Blocking the regular enablers does significantly change the appearance of
the group.

OK well Twobuddha is the main problem..Walt Dick Bev Horvath Richard Henry
all seem pretty normal. Pigo I don't know about. Same with Stuart but I
would give him the benefit of the doubt. If it is the same Stuart, anyone
read his previous posts? I think he is an instructor who skis with a guy I
know who comes out to Silver Star every Xmas. He teaches skiing in
Calgary? Seems to me he is also a shrink. Yabbahoobs seems Ok as does
downhiller. Tranny Boob seems like a sock puppet for Twobudda, but even if
not, I will killfile him anyways. Snowbender seems like a loon too but
harmless enough so I'll leave him in..

How's all that sound?
You hit the high points just fine. Horvie has been accused of a number of
things but I suspect even he might have a problem with "normal". Stuart
seems to have multiple personalities, or perhaps he sometime posts sober and
sometimes not. Think he skis Marmot in Jasper and lives in Edmonton, if I
recall correctly. I killfiled him bout 2 weeks ago after he claimed he
wouldn't reply to Scott, then carried on doing so. I'll wait and see if he
turns up in any replies not involving Scott, and perhaps change my mind.
Snowbender seems to be Itchie's new signature but the old kilfile is still
working. Some here have actually met him and according to all reports he is
quite normal and a fairly decent skier in person. Seems like he just gets a
kick out of pretending to be a loon and yanking peoples chains, but in here
the effect is the same so he stays in my "prefer not to waste my time" file.
The other point of etiquette is if you ever find yourself replying to a post
which contains anything from Scott ot itchie, its nice to snip as much as
possible of their ramblings. Of course normal usenet guidelines - don't top
post, snip earlier less relevant stuff, etc.