Yes. And I believe marmistrz missed one point, if you politicking MODS/GODS want to play that game for our money (yeah, right this point settled, joerg and woody will pay all bills so they keep their rights) then a ban should be debatable in democratic way. If 3-4 guys with an agenda decide to ban/kill someone that is pointing to their flaws, this should be overturnable by actual sponsors. Sadly it is not democratic (this is actually a plus) nor meritocratic (minus here), but better than politics/mods/gods...

So tell me. Have you ever had someone come in to a room when you were arguing a point you strongly believed in? Someone unfamiliar with what was happening right now, but who "knew" the other person involved a long while ago, and took their side because they knew them?

That's what just happened here.

In the time you've been away, you missed some pretty major things. If you review what happened, I think you'll find I'm not someone trying to "rule" anything. At the same time, I'm not the type to put up with others spreading FUD and lies, and get fed up with people harping on the same issues when they've been hashed, re-hashed, proven to be FUD, and rehashed again.

Believe what you want, that's your right. My only advice to you is be watchful, especially if you consider Estel to be a "hero" of the community. I think you'll find his status in the community is not what it was before, for very valid reasons.

Regardless. Welcome back.

Nobody was banned for pointing out flaws. Were that the case, I and marmistrz, and several others would be banned by now. Has that happened? If I was the power-god you seem to be accusing me to be, do you not think I would have called for you, and him, and others, to be banned?

Please... Educate yourself before making assumptions and accusations. You're getting your information from an unreliable and very biased source. Check facts, and don't rely on outdated information. People don't normally change quickly, but they absolutely can given the right conditions. Consider the possibility that that may have happened here.

At the same time, I'm not the type to put up with others spreading FUD and lies, and get fed up with people harping on the same issues when they've been hashed, re-hashed, proven to be FUD, and rehashed again.

More facts pls or you're spreading a fud history behind your hero history... wasn't that the point? Him calling people idiots is not far away from stuipid fan clubs, I'm tired of you fan boys... I know the truth better!(that's for tomi) LIARS and UNTHRUTHERS!!! without caps it's not the same

When somebody thanks a post, it isn't to all words of the post. I don't agree with any stereotyping of people made here. So, for example, I don't agree with many words from woody.

Life is simple : do not offend other people. Be in real life, Internet, politics, religion, marriage, etc. And we are the sum of our acts, and we should pay for them.

Please, understand that I haven't challenged you to anything with me.

Thanks for the invitation. I live in Brazil, Espírito Santo, so if you come here, I invite you to eat the best brazilian "moqueca" in front of a nice beach. With some on (N900) device coding while waiting.

You may as well tell a leapord to not have spots. This is my weakness. And frankly, not one I'm ashamed of.

I do think there is a use. If someone new comes in, and reads a litany of posts detracting one group or spreading lies about what's going on, without any counter point, they will accept is as fact. Just as szopin has come back and made poor assumptions based on a lack of information, and misplaced trusts.

I'm not looking to be popular, or "win" a contest. I just want the facts to be out there, preferably at least in balance with the number of times the lie is out there.

I've seen in my own country what repeating a lie, unchallenged, can do. If me spending some off-time countering lies educates one productive person and keeps them here instead of turning them away, I'm happy to do it. If some label or libel me because of that, that's their issue. When facts are on your side, it's pretty hard to consider holding to those facts to be a bad thing. At least that's how I feel.

It's just that this prolonged, spiraling down thread does more harm than a forgotten debate.

I point to the facts linked to in my reply to marmistrz. There you will find links to Estel admitting to breaking forum rules. You will find a link to an e-mail from Chemist, who did the initial 3 day ban, and his reasons for doing so,which was reviewed by the Council, other moderators, and Reggie.

You want to base things on merit? How much merit does Reggie have in your eyes? Does the fact that he chimed in on this in that same e-mail thread, backing Chemist, give you the slightest amount of pause? Does the fact that Estel called him an incompetent hack give you pause? (He did that... just read the mail thread.)

Those are the facts.

In this very thread, Estel has claimed he only opened the second account to contact Reggie (who he later called names). While his own e-mails and posts to the forum, linked to in the archive in the post referenced above, tells a different story. The story changes pretty regularly... Does that not give you pause?

The point is that one small group of people is trying to pull this community apart. The ring leader of which (from what I can tell) hopes to regather the take power over the pieces after it breaks up. Just read his comments a few posts back about starting his own forum and moving people there...

I'm simply restating what actually happened, with links to historical archives to help those willing to read verify for themselves what I'm saying is factual.

Estel did some nice things, 8+ months ago when you were here last. But things changed when he got elected to Council. He changed, or at least his true nature became more obvious. It took a while for people to see that, because of the meritocratic nature of this community. But when it became obvious a lot of people fell away from him. If he were really banned without reason, do you think only a handful of people would be making a fuss about this?

I'm not asking you to take my word for it. Ask around. Find people you trust, that you think have merit, that were here in that time frame and ask them. Look at the links in my previous post. Make up your own mind. And if you don't agree with me, that's fine. I don't need or want everyone to agree with me. The world would be very boring if that were the case.

Cool off. Think. Nobody here is attacking you (or anyone for that matter). This, coming from the hot-head.

Not when the alternative is the repeating of a lie to the point that it makes people believe it's the truth.