Well I guess the mackems win. I am so tired of logging on to what used to be a great board. Granted I never posted much, but just loved the banter and the informative debates here and on the old Communicata BBS. Seems like now every thread degenerates into a "my dad's bigger than your dad" argument. I hate to say it, but it's not all the fault of the mackems, after all it takes two to argue, or three or four or twelve. It is always tough to pick an argument when there is only you, by yourself. I am going to take a rather long time out from one of my favourite places. No offence intended to anyone, but I just can't be bothered to read all the crap. We are the biggest team, club, stadium, singers, chips, sandiches, remember when we won, we had a bigger crowd etc etc etc. Bollox. Who really cares who can brag the most? I do care about my team, and really couldn't give a toss about the other lot, what they win, what they lose, how big their bags of crisps are etc.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Answers

Pete, don't give in. Just look at the point in the season - yesterday's game was a derby. It's only to be expected that we would see heightened activity from the Makems. Believe me. it will die down in a day or so. Just keep reading (and posting) about Toon issues. The rest is simply not worth it.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

It's still a great place, Pete. Just ignore the dross. For me it's a bit like the pesky neighborhood kid who keeps coming around bugging you. You ignore him as much as possible, but every once in awhile you just can't help yourself.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

But we don't ignore. We rise every time. Take a look at the 'Should we buy Cole' thread. I've made my thoughts pretty clear at the end of the thread. It's no bloody wonder I've moved to Sydney.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Pete I will be disappointed if you decide to turn off. I just ignore the comments - sometimes I don't even read thread once it becomes my dad id bigger than your dad. You're right that it's not just them - it's some of us as well. But we just have to get on with it. There is still so much right with this board and it is still a very good community

You may not post much, as you say but you are always top company on match days. I think there were only the three of us on Sunday who didn't have the pictures and relied (in a loose sense of the word) on the web cast. Match days won't be the same without you.

With a bit of luck the mackems will either get bored and bugger off or make a real contribution like ML3 and more recently Sooper.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Pete mate, just ignore the Mackems and stay put! Maybe Macbeth can put a warning "Mackem dross included, enter at your own risk".

Don't let a couple of bad apples spoil the whole basket.

Bud

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2001

Pete, I for one would be very sorry if you stop posting. You are one of the mainstays of this BBS, not to mention a great companion on the matchday threads. I certainly share your concerns though. The atmosphere on here has changed dramatically. It`s a far cry from the beginning of the year when say the `genealogy` category was instigated. I certainly wouldn`t feel comfortable posting that sort of non footie stuff on here at the moment. As for some of the truly excellent `current affairs` debates we used to have - well, they seem to have dwindled too. What a shame - these were the very things which gave the bbs such depth.(:o(

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I agree with Pete. I am sick and tired of the pettiness which seems to have overwwhelmed the site. Why does anyone need to respond to the rantings of some half-minded supporters of rival clubs. I suggest that in future they should be ignored totally. By responding like for like we only encourage them to persist.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Whoops sorry! It was my thread and my responses to the Makem which seem to have led to the voicing of concerns regarding this board. The thing is it is very difficult to ignore someone when they are responding to you directly. I was desperately trying NOT to let the thread degenerate into 'my dad's bigger.....' stuff by attempting a balanced argument. maybe I should have known better.........

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

THE WAY THIS BOARD IS SET UP I CANNOT BLOCK ANYONE FROM POSTING ONCE THEY KNOW THE PASSWORD. I COULD CHANGE THE PASSWORD BUT THAT WOULD ONLY WORK AS LONG AS IT TAKES FOR SOMEONE TO FIND OUT THE NEW ONE.

I CAN EDIT/DELETE ANY POSTING. I SOMETIMES EDIT WHEN SOMEONE DOESN'T REMEMBER HOW TO DO HTML VERY WELL AND WE END UP WITH PAGES OF ITALICS OR BOLD OR WHATVER. I VERY RARELY DELETE EITHER A THREAD OR A PARTICULAR MESSAGE FROM SOMEONE.

IF THERE IS AGREEMENT FROM YOU LOT I WILL HAPPILY, FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, DELETE ANYTHING I FEEL IS POINTLESS OR JUST THERE FOR SPITE.

RECENTLY I WAS CHASTISED FOR TRYING TO DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF SOME TO POST ON HERE. THOSE POSTINGS, FROM ROLY AND SUPERKEV AND OTHERS I PERSONALLY DIDN'T FIND DISTASTEFUL, I FELT THEY WERE QUALITY WIND- UPS, OFTEN WITH A GRAIN (A VERY SMALL GRAIN !) OF TRUTH IN THEM. WHAT WE HAVE SEEN OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS FROM BARBIE HAS NO WORTH, NO USE TO ANYONE AND IS JUST THE RESULT OF SOMEONE WITH LIMITED WIT DROPPING STICK BOMBS IN THE PLAYGROUND.

SO FROM NOW ON I WILL BE DELETING WITH NO WARNING. THIS MAY WELL MEAN THAT SOME POSTINGS FROM REGULARS ON HERE ALSO GET DELETED. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME IF YOU FEEL AGGRIEVED THAT YOUR WELL THOUGHT OUT RIPOSTE HAS BEEN REMOVED !!!

IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THIS THEN LET ME KNOW QUICKLY, AND IF YOU DISAGREE I'LL PROBABLY JUST DELETE YOUR DISAGREEMENT ANYWAY

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Are you Dougal in disguise? no need to shout man.....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I have edited the Cole thread, leaving names in but changing messages, is this okay ?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

It's sad that you need to delete postings, but it looks like you may have no choice. I don't want a situation where a regular poster or a regular lurker feels that they can't log on. Afterall this is our home. Like I said I think that ML 3 and Super Kev do add something to this board and a bit of friendly banter is welcome. It's just the meaningless rubbish which has been spouted by some people which has turned this board around.

It's become very sad that we need to question comments on here. ie Coles press conference, Match day thread comments etc.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I think you're going to be busy MacBeth

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

You may be creating a lot of work for yourself, mac. I wonder if an environment of cat-and-mouse censorship is going to confer higher status on the pond life than they deserve. At the moment, the 'disruption' is still at a stage where you can fairly easily ignore any of the infantile threads - they're usually quite easy to spot as they've got spelling mistakes or 'tee-hee' in the title - and it's probably not worth making that much of a fuss. Sadly, one or two of our regulars do rise to the bait and these posters - aswell as those who admit to taking the piss on RTG or wherever - get my goat as much as the Sunderland lads who come on here to post their infantile shite. Sooper and Roly excepted, of course.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I don't think anyone actually does go on RTG anymore.....well at least no-one owned up to it the other day when the question was asked...I reckon the mackems beef lies with mags elsewhere....not that they'd admit to being wrong like...

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Macbeth, I don't mind having to change passwords, say once every 3 months, you could notify us by email?

As a matter of interest, how can new blood be attracted to this site, I just did a quick search (with Google)and, there is absolutely no link to this board?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

This is gonna be hard work Mac.....can't we reason with this guy and tell him to ease up a little...it worked with SuperKev....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I always felt Kev had it in him, not sure this time. Kev was able to bond with Buff which helped

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

pete (if you're still there) the surname isn't Derewlanka is it?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Macbeth I don`t envy you! You are trapped between a rock and a hard place. As you know, I am very anti censorship - most of all because it shouldn`t be necessary on here. I also don`t think this board should be tailored to meet any `one` person`s taste/sensibilities/tollerance levels etc. On the other hand, I don`t want to see it sink to the level of most(every) other football forum. Even more than that, I don`t want to see regular BBS users falling out with each other through mischief making outdside infulences.

Can I just make one more plea to everyone on the subject. Please DO NOT respond when a posting is thrown in with the intention of hijacking a thread. They are usually pretty obvious. We are allowing the odd malovent poster to wreck far too many good discussions.

If we go down the road of censorship, it could cause almost as many hard feelings as the current crop of offensive postings have, and I would rather it were kept for the really extreme cases (and I know there have been some.)

Well, that`s my opinion.....what`s the general consensus?(:o)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

its extremely convenient the way youve all ignored pete's comments about how your all just as bad as me ALL winding the mackems up with SMB & Free ticket mackems & the like.

Thats right, me, all me, EVERYONE! Me!

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Lynda - is it possible for you to BE a bigger hypocrite (I know SOME MAGS DO HAVE THE ABILITY TO STEP AWAY FROM THE NORM AND BACK ME UP, as you HAVE done in the past, namely Dave Smith & Gav & Jonno)

Here is my reply to your Cole posting

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Aye, if Cole was upfront yesterday your finishing would have been even WORSE than it already was. Cort & Bellamy, with Ameobi coming through isnt THAT bad, LooLoo seems poor, Shearer is practically finished but in maybe 2 years time, the little ugly welsh twat & Donkey Cort could be a canny partnership upfront.

;-)

"Youll never beat Sun'land"

-- Barbaric Swine (barbarian@hotmail.com), August 27, 2001.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- LYndas Reply was intended for NOTHING other than to goad me about your magnificent display the day before, SHE WAS THE ONE who didnt wanna talk about Cole anymore, SHE was the one who wanted to start harping back to the match and who was a better team with better chips & better carpets etc etc etc SEE BELOW -----------

i think we might well beat Sunderland actually. Especially if you play like that. Be grateful for your point because you know we were the better team.

-- Lynda (lynda1892@aol.com), August 27, 2001.

I just cant belive what a bunch of hypocrites you are, LOADS of vicars have admitted to lurking (and UNDOUBTEDLY posting on RTG in the last week), and i stress there hasnt been a single decent mag posting on RTG all weekend, EVERY SINGLE POSTING by mags has been along the lines of

"mikecuhms are cunts" "SundalInds are fuckin shite and we are ten times better" "We are gonna/yaz wor unlucky not to get beaten 1769473-0"

What ive posted here in the last 4 days has been NOTHING in comparrison to what Rollneck Macbeth & your crew arranged to post on RTG donkeys ago (want me to post it all again?), so f*ckin well get over it and stop crying like a bunch of twats if i just HAPPEN to suggest that Nufc & there followers ARENT the best thing since sliced bread.

Softie, what will your answer be?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Macbeth's post highlights very well the dilemma he has experienced essentially since he took on the Admin role.

Screacher and I have been in fairly regular communication with him over what we should do to maintain the integrity of this forum, and we have found there is a major split in opinion on here on the subject of censorship, with the majority appearing to be very against any form of censorship. This has created, or at least exacerbated the problem, by severely hampering Macbeth's efforts.

The reality is we can't have it both ways, and PeteinCanada and Nick Raphael's recent reaction indicates very clearly that we now have to provide Macbeth with much clearer direction.

I've personally always believed it was idealistic to hope that the worst excesses of the 'lurkers' would simply disappear. They enjoy being infantile prats way too much, and I also feel it's unreasonable and impractical to expect everyone to ignore them 100% of the time.

So the real question comes down to what does the community want Macbeth to do? You need to tell him.

The options are actually fairly limited given the software we are using. Unfortunately, we have looked into it and are not able to move to individual passwords.

We can change the current blanket password, perhaps regularly as Kegsy suggests. We haven't done this due to the risk of 'losing' contributors each time we do so, and the problem with false or inaccurate e-mail addresses which make this more likely. There is also the obvious risk that the new password simply gets passed around again within a few days.

Finally, we can ask Macbeth to become more active in censoring posts/threads. This will significantly increase the Admin workload, and will inevitably upset some people from time to time. In addition Macbeth is not always available to fulfill this onerous task. The workload and availability issues could be addressed by asking an extra 2-3 people to assist Macbeth as Co-Adminstrators.

Finally, I believe we should provide some direction to Macbeth as to how we would like him to exercise the censorship role, and over what issues. I can't think of any better way of doing this but via e-mail, asking him to collate the opinions, to thereby determine the concensus view.

As a final plea to all the people I regard as friends on here - do not allow these people to destroy this wonderful community. In walking away that is exactly what you would be doing, and the lurkers would have won! WE CANNOT AND MUST NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

--------------------------------------------------------- is everyone happy with that line?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Agreed......I will mail Macbeth this morning with my feelings on the subject.(:o)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

One point to pick you up on mate....You're assuming that loads of us vicars have been posting on the RTG, I say we haven't.....the stuff you're getting on there isn't from us....I've known the majority of people on here for a long time and if they say they haven't been posting then that's good enough for me....

If you can PROVE me wrong then fair enough but I don't think you can so you really should give the people on here the benefit of the doubt...

Don't blame us for the nasty stuff thats occurring on your site and don't bring it onto here cos it's nowt to do with us....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Gav at last, a vicar with some common sence

Id be willing to bet money that a certain Shagspeare gthomas@blueyonder.co.uk Was posting on RTG last night

Did i actually act abusively (is calling someone a hypocrite when they clearly ARE a hypocrite) in the last 3 days?

Softie, whats your answer Pal?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Well said Gav but you're probably wasting your time.

I've emailed Macbeth in the past requesting that a new password is emailed to contributers and anyone else who emails Macbeth. This one is too well known and I think someone said it was posted on RTG. Those who don't use valid email addresses don't get the password and neither should those who abuse the system (and us).

It's sad that it has come to this, but historically this BBS has never been an abuse forum and of late it's been going downhill fast. Don't blame our regulars for responding - what do you expect? I am not at all happy that threads from here are being cut and pasted onto RTG!

The new password shouldn't exclude Mackems or anyone else, for reason of the team they support. I only ask that they respect our voluntary code of behaviour and the security of the BBS and don't divulge the password to anyone - all requests should go via email to Macbeth (if he agrees).

Well that's my vote - change the password.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Well Shags? you've been named....is the lad right or wrong?

I think we all need to calm down a little....ignore the heated/wind up stuff if it irritates you...there's plenty of other good discussion still happening on the board....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

For the record i'm not for censorship or changing the password....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Sorry Pilgrim that wouldn't work. Everybody on here has an email address they can all get the password and then log on here as someone completely different and send the password to whoever they like.

I don't think changing the password is the answer.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Kegsy, I assume that we can still trace IP addresses so if the cr@p kicks off again we can change but not deliver passwords to that address. We can't stop people determined to cause problems, but maybe make it a bit more trouble than it's worth.

Of course another alternative would be to change hosts, e.g. switch over to The Gallowgate, but frankly Greenspun have been excellent and don't deserve this.

I don't really want to do anything but I am completely exasperated by the inability of our guests to play by our rules.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Pilgrim,

I think Kegsy is saying that we could hand the new password out but then it could be passed on again and we wouldn't know who'd passed it on....therefore we wouldn't be able to determine the source of the leak to plug it....

Individual passwords or IP blocking would be ideal but neither look possible on this system, I think it's silly for Mac to have to edit all the postings so we're just gonna have to live with it.....the only way to avoid it is by ignoring it....still, i suppose Mac could post the IP addresses of the offending posters....we could have fun trying to track them down....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Couldn't really switch to the gallowgate as I erm haven't paid the bill.......

I said the same to MacBeth in an email - it is an alternative, but not one that I particularly like.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Just a thought. You techies - Is it possible to put a bit of code in the source so that the IP address is suffixed to the email address at the bottom of a posting?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I doubt it Pilgrim....as far as I know we don't have access to the bbs codings or workings, we're using it as an off the shelf free package so it's kind of "As Is" in terms of set up/use etc....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Re-gurgitating the gist of what I put on the original Cole thread that triggered this, all we need is enough self dicipline to ignore absolutely and completely, any thread that ends up going along the lines of that one.

I see no reason for censorship of any sort. Mac has enough to do, I'd have thought, not to need the added aggro of sorting out playground squabbles

It only takes one of us to bite on some 'My sh1t smells worse than yours' comment, and away it goes.

Most of the time it sticks out like a sore thumb when a thread's going down the tubes, and that's my cue to do a runner. I only posted on the Cole thread because it saddened me to see some of us trying to give as good as we were getting, and it was so obviously an exercise in futility.

So howweh lads and lasses, just grit your teeth in future and let saddos like Barbarian foam at the gob in isolation.

And again Barb, don't waste your time putting me in my place because the silence will deafen you. If you're just taking the p1ss, fair enough, but there are better ways. For me, your postings are like that pile of dog crap on the pavement - notice it's there and just make sure you don't step in it.

Pete and Galaxy and anybody else who's feeling a bit down in the dumps about the way the BBS seems to be going, nil illegitimo carborundum.

If you can stay detached, quite often you can have a good laugh at how pathetic they all are. If that's a kind of arrogance, I really don't give a sh1t. Ignore the sad bastads, life's too short. Being a bunch of vicars, we should have no trouble at all in turning the other cheek.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Easy for you to say Victor.....turn my cheek and there`s an unschedulled eclipse! (;o)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

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Hey, I have absolutely no idea what just happened there... please forgive the last attempt at posting... my browser just died...again...

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Interesting if difficult to read way of putting it Sparxx :))

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I think what has made this bbs different from many other football forums is that the huge majority of the contributors are grown ups. Most open football forums tend to be infiltrated by spotty kids who think it's dead funny to go on them, use bad language and make abusive comments about teams they dislike. They do this in the main totally anonymously. They never have the courage of their convictions.

This bbs has always been free of such banal behaviour. The "opposition" fans who come on here, like LR, generally understand the protocol expected on the board. I've had my arguments with him but I don't think either of us ever degenerated to the sort of silly remarks and behaviour we've seen on here recently.

Sadly, one poster has been largely responsible for this degeneration. ML3 and Roly are sensible blokes and, other than in the heat of the battle surrounding the derby, they have generally entered into the spirit of this board. Superkev started off badly but has also become a much more sensible contributor of late. It is only Barbie who has yet to learn.

There are folk on the bbs who have responded in kind to him and this has been the main cause of the problem. Whilst I expect Barbie is the sort of bloke who could start an argument in a phone box, it hasn't helped that some of us on here have helped him in his quest to create mayhem. His initial point seemed to be that a few (was it 7, I can't remember) from this board had posted on the RTG at very irregular intervals. This seemed to upset him. He was attempting to make some dubious point about the people of this board being hypocrites - he was making wild generalisations from a few particular incidents. OK, he's made his point. We have had our wrists dutifully slapped. Let that be the end of any further conversation with him until he starts behaving in a sensible and grown up manner. I will happily discuss football with anyone, whatever their club allegiance, but I see no useful purpose is served by simply indugling in the sort of schoolyard abuse that this poster has perpetrated and, sadly, received.

Initially I thought that attempting to respond rationally to him might make him see that it was possible to talk sensibly to people who support another team. He does not appear to have responded to this tactic. I think, therefore, that we should try VERY HARD simply to freeze this bloke out. Can we, as has been said already, simply IGNORE any posting from him, whether at the start of a thread or as part of a discussion. IGNORE any comments he makes. DON'T RISE to his silly remarks. It is extremely difficult at times - I mean when you get a gatecrasher at your party, you don't ignore him, you deck him and hoy him out. But that must not be our reaction. The more we respond to him the more we give credibility to him.

What he will do, of course, is to make up yet another phantom non- existant email address and pretend to be someone else. But the style will stay the same. You will be able to recognise it. So IGNORE. Remember what we are talking about here - you are sitting in front of a computer screen, you're not in a pub in a face to face "debate". Ignoring someone is as easy as pie on here. In order to respond you have to sit down, think about what you're going to say and type it all out. You have TIME to reconsider before you hit the Submit button. The most frustrating thing for a wind up merchant is lack of response. Just think of him sitting at his computer composing all these "clever" remarks, logging back on with the evil grin on his face to see the mayhem he's created and finding ............. bugger all. Imagine the sad droop of the mouth, followed by the frustration and the stamping of the foot! And just smile quietly to yourself.

Edmund Burke said "All it takes for evil to prosper is that good men should do nothing". I think in this instance he is wrong. We should do nothing. We should treat the bloke as if he doesn't exist. What we must NOT do is allow one socially challenged individual to destroy what has been established here. Remember what happened when Ken died - how many of you felt a personal loss even though you'd never met the bloke? How many of you sent donations to Macbeth in his memory so we could support a very deserving organisation? Do you want one daft individual to ruin that?

For God's sake don't give him the satisfaction.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Sparxx, I'm knackered after reading that!

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Well said Jacko. I won't respond 'til he's got something worthwhile to say.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Well said Jacko. Exactly my sentiments, and so stated on two threads, but nowhere near as eloquently.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

pile of dog crap on the pavement - notice it's there and just make sure you don't step in it.

Hear, Hear! or Here Here!?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

We won't go into that Gal.

How about a compromise HnH ? Hear here seems reasonable to me, but other way round will do just as well. :-)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Jacko, very well put, my sentiments exactly!

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

My infantile responses to Barbie gained exactly what was intended, confirmation that we are dealing with everybody's least welcome contributor, Krist. Anyone who used to log into RTG or The Strawberry can tell you that he has the dubious honour of getting himself banned from both those boards for serious racist abuse. The only thing more pathetic than that is that he didn't have the courage of his convictions to stand by his postings but tried to claim it was all meant as a joke and was merely taken the wrong way. Sure enough, when I mentioned Derwentside College he got all hot under the collar and started spouting off about posting my real name or some such - bit bizarre really, never realised Krist was anything other than a handle. The only reason I know about the college angle is from when RTG traced him to the Janet net during one of his previous "laughs" and threatened to shop him to the network manager.

Having established who this joker is I can now cheerfully ignore him. There was a chance that it was someone else, but the complete absence of humour, wit or information was making it pretty obvious. Sorry that I've contributed to the downturn, but I can't abide QWERTY- Casuals and couldn't see how that thread could degenerate any further considering the content of his postings.

I'm easy enough to find Krist: just wait until you're old enough to drink and look for the bloke in the Strawberry with "Softie" on his back. Not prepared to meet you in MacDonalds so your hooligan fantasies will have to go on ice until puberty.

p.s. My Dad's willy is bigger than yours.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

For what they are worth,Macbeth, here are my views. I do find the postings of certain 'foreign elements' distasteful -- but I have heard all the words, and many more, before, and have survived. The remedy does not lie in censsorship, the principle of which I have always detested probably because of the would-be censors. My annoyance here stems from our friends and fellow supporters responding to the mindless jibes of semi literates.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Yer bugger, so I grab 10 minutes after lunch, log in to by far the best football forum I've yet to encounter, and the first thread I click on is an extended "identity crisis" one broken up by what I thought at first was a poem by e.e. cummings but was actually Sparx's creative browser. (It wouldn't be called "HAL" by any chance?)

My humble £0.02:

Firstly, it's going to be hard to reply to Barbie's allegation without insult and therefore - to use Pit Bill's analogy -poking Barbie's figurative dog turd with a stick. Suffice it to say that he would lose his money. I could never be remotely arsed to post on RTG or any other club's board. I have much better things to do. Quite what Barbie's thought process is fekkin well defeats me, but I suspect it's because (in the course of skimming through several boards just to get the general crack) I happened upon a thread entitled something like Bitter Greenspun vicars talking sh1te as usual which turned out to be a thread from this board copied onto RTG, identifiers and all. In other words: private posts published on a public forum, which seemed bang out of order and not something that could just be ignored.

Secondly, sending Mackems en-masse to Coventry isn't the answer because otherwise the Superkevs amongst them can't be nurtured (seems like an okay bloke now, he does). I think inclusion of any or all of "FTM", "2-1", "HAHAHA" or "Big club, my arse" is enough to warrant specific Wearsiders to be Gordon-Strachan-bound, however.

Thirdly there are individual NUFC supporters as obnoxious as the Barbies of this world. There was one in the pub on Sunday walking around tables annoying people alternating dialogue from the old Viz Brown Bottle strip ("yer my bes' mate hiccup" etc) with chants of "WE HATE SUNLUN' AND WE HATE SUNLUN" (you know the rest). A plague on both their boarded-up houses.

Thirdly - and this will probably get me censored - I like Peter Reid. There I've said it. It's partly because he's a laugh on A Question of Sport and during post-match interviews but mainly because he's an honest bloke. Contrast him with Taggart. If a Mackem player commits carnage in the name of a tackle, then Peytor admits that he's seen it and a b*ll*cking will ensue. Also his behaviour following Sunderland being kicked out of the cup by an overstaffed Tranmere was fekking exemplary.

I've just picked over the above post and snipped out several examples of my opinion of Barbarian/OML/Krist that would not have helped at this juncture. I can understand how people on here get aggravated when they are accused of hypocrisy on the basis of fekk all evidence though.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Oii....Pete.....NO!!!......Match day threads...Gotta be there!!

As for the mackems. Let’s just keep things as they were. The genuine will stay and contribute and the rest will get bored, but remember that in the past when we've sat around the virtual pub table ripping the piss out of SAFC we've been on our own. If we have a few lost soles on board there not just going to sit back and not respond!

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Fair enough shags I believe ya...

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

To be honest Hiro, one of the surprising things about this bbs is that there are so few threads about Sunderland on it. We seem to find all sorts of things to talk about (even the Tory Party leadership election for heaven's sake!) without bothering about them.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

And today`s new word is `malovent`. This word was an accidental creation during a moment of indecision. Should I use `malevolent` - wishing evil to others, or `malcontent` - discontented person, or rebel? But hey.....it works! As would most other words beginning with `mal` - apart from `malapropism` - which would actually apply to me. (:o)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Galaxy, are you sure about malevolent?

I always thought it was a boy baby shrew?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

LOL (:o)

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Shag
I also shall peep out the closet and admit to thinking Peter Read's a canny bloke who doesn't deserve some of the crap hurled in his direction by some of the blokes in my local - and they're makems.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Oh god what have we started.....

I also think Peytar is a decent honest bloke and not a bad manager....

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I've always liked Don Hucthison and Kevin Philips and I love the delightful way Peter Reid's side play football

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I see we've gone too far already with this olive branch :))

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

...and that Nick Sharkey, he was good, and that goalie (the one with only one ball!), Jim Montgomery, I wish they played for the Toon, much better than anyone we've ever had.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

That Kate Adie's not a bad news reporter, all things considered.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

And Lorrimer's Scotch Ale was always better than McEwan's 80 bob.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

The Toy Dolls were quite a fun band in small doses.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Thank God - we've rediscovered our sense of humour!

As I said to one of "them" on one of these current threads, while we regularly take the p*ss out of Reidy, he actually commands the respect of a great many Mags because of his openess, inherent honesty, and down-to- earth approach - he's a top blerk in my mind.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Enough! That's it for me. I'm off. This BBS has just degenerated too far.

PS. That Tyne Bridge replica isn't such a bad thing after all, is it.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Reidy is an honest bloke, he always has been, it's some of the players that I don't like.

Anyway, I think hiro got it spot on - let it pass, those who are genuinely interested will stay and the bored ones will move on.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Hah!!!! I might not post much but what a response. I forgot to mention on the original post the my "time out" is actually a well earned vacation to Texas, the true land of "our's is bigger than your's". Thank you my friends for making me feel better. I think frustration got the better of me and for that I apologise. I love this place, and I mean "I love this place". Can't be here for a couple of weeks, no computers or modems where I am off to, only fishing rods, sunshine (with the odd thunderstorm), lake, swimming pool and lots of whatever the local brew is in Texas. (I hear they have 92 ounce pints there). And Peter Reid is indeed a top bloke, Frank Clark knows his father :-)

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2001

Pete, Alaska is bigger than Texas, tell 'em that &, Canada is bigger that the US too ;7)

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001

Pleased to see you posting Pete. Have a wonderful holiday.(:o)

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001

Just don't be buying any 92oz pints for ditsy 19yr old blondes answering to the name of Jenna and being followed around by a bunch of guys in suits and sunglasses.

Oh, and if you could arrange a little 'accident' for some guy running around a big ranch pretending to be President, you'd become an instant hero. ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001