BG and the Demise of BPL

Ahh… I stand corrected.

Thanks

THE END IS NEAR! REPENT YE CAUSTIC AND VINDICTIVE POSTERS! (May the fleas of 1,000 camels infest your armpits.)

Hey, I always thought Bob posted good stuff and if I caught a slap on the wrists from him it was likely deserved for sloppy thinking.

This site NEEDS experienced posters willing to call someone on fuzzy thinking or lies or damned lies. (Note, I said EXPERIENCED posters, people who know whereof they speak.)

Bob, if you can read this, all is forgiven. Come back.

I'm glad Bob's plight has made it out of chaff into the big time. I was so afraid to bring attention to the issue (fearing that I myself would draw the focus of The Eye) that I hijacked a thread – and in chaff at that. I am the one that inserted the BG issue into a thread started about someone and something else. As such I am to blame for some of the confusion on that thread, and then extended into this one – mea culpa.

Bob can't "come back to us" on his own volition. It is all going on on a higher floor. So my suggestion is if you feel strongly you do what Roger suggested I do, and that is to write an email to ryan@backpackinglight.com. The only way to get Bob back would be to unlock his posting privileges. I think we should ask for "absolution" for whatever he did, and at the very least for Bob to be told what is going on. Getting BG back will be good for us, and even good for the BPL "stockholder" since Bob can single handedly increase the hits on the site. If it was just a screw up of some sort then it should be fixed by the BPL staff as soon as possible. But as we already know, in the past even when we wrote to management, and even on purely technical issues, it take a very long time to get a response, and then an action. If we do not at least raise the issue, nothing will happen.

I'm not smart enough to evaluate the health or lack there of of the whole community. I think it might be best to concentrate on making helpful post oneself – something that CAN be controlled. I'm focusing on what I CAN understand here, which is as far as I can see, this was either a targeted, unfair action toward BG that, as others have pointed out quoting scripture and verse, violated the stated policies of the management on these issues – or else it was an incredibly synchronous random snafu in a system than almost never changes state without the most strenuous bottom-up efforts.

Write to ryan@backpackinglight.com

Drew, for what's its worth your first post in this thread made coffee shoot out of my nose.

Or you can send Ryan an email and thank him for unloading BG. I'll be doing that.

Ok, yeah. Nick, you have a point! Its not just that you are ever-so-slightly older and grumpier that I am.

Re "don't save Bob" vs "save Bob" — consider what Bob said several years ago in the midst of some other eruption over BPL deleting threads and postings:

"Take Roger Caffin as an example of a moderator. If he sees some posting that violates the rules, he chops out the offending text and drops in some note about it being deleted or edited by Roger and why. That seems reasonable to most of us.

"Other staff members have become unhappy with an entire thread, so they have deleted the entire thread without any notice of who, why, or wherefore. Most of us know who, and we can guess why, but it seems so unprofessional that it upsets some members.

"It doesn't upset me much. I don't have a dog in this fight.

"–B.G.–"

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64777&startat=80

Whatever the reasons, opinions, or outcome may be for this current eruption, that was the view Bob expressed then about BPL's unexplained censures.

Just like Alfred E. Newman, he said: "What? Me worry?"

Darn ironic, regardless of what might be said of the current eruption, as well as other censorship mysteries which only provide fodder for speculation.

To be honest Bob still doesn't give a damn, apparently. He said he was miffed, as anyone would be, for about a day. Without risk of hyperbole I feel like we are the ones loosing out.

That's "losing" — not "loosing"

But at least it's just an internet forum.

Lot more serious stuff out there to worry folks. Like the meaning of/in life.

And that can get really get someone down in the dumps. Consider Macbeth (actually not talking about life and the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth, but about the decline of common civility in BPL forums in recent years) —

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28

It's past time to head for the hills & quit this petty pace, day to day, in forums.

"That's "losing" — not "loosing""

I am a 3-fingered typist, but I'm sure Bob is nodding his head.

"that's losing, not loosing."

Et tu, Brut….ermm, Richard?

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

Sounds like a description of a session of the U.S. Congress – or the Oregon legislature.

Bob Gross
Edited for spelling

Is it possible that BPL isn't aware of Bobs problems ?

BPL is an excellent company that prides itself on courteous service with prompt response to community issues. If BPL was actively restricting users, they would have communicated it through one of the email updates etc.

It's probably just a software glitch as the new site gets prepared.

It's doubtful it is a software glitch. Anyone else hear from someone with this problem?

As for the service, the BPL staff has always been slow, not prompt, in replying to things like technical issue. I've been on this site for over a decade and I'm not sure where your confidence comes from. Basically I've always given them the benefit of the doubt as I assume they had pretty much a rump payed staff.

But Bob has, as of the last time I heard from him, not revived a response from BPL to his direct inquiry. Its been a very long time. Not even a "we're looking into this". Also it happened hard on the criticism/corrections Bob made of a particular post.

I'm sure now the "truth" will out, and at this point the "story" that it was a glitch would be fine if it get fixed promptly. But either way, the longer it goes, without even a reply to Bob with an explanation, would seem to contradict everything you said above.

And the whole episode is a bit disturbing to many of us. I feel like I've done my part, such as it is, and I don't think I'm going to post about this anymore. There is nothing I can do to protest, as BPL already has my Life membership money. Like Nick in the OP though, I will probably come here less and less, and not just because of this particular issue.

Bob Gross is/was a social experiment by the silicon valley people, by the very people who purport to know him.

The experiment is concluded. Account Closed… (no, a different Account Closed) (which, BTW was a deceptive ploy to confuse and cover BGs whereabouts.

All that remains to figure out is, who is the man in the picture???

Tough to tell… nerdy tech guy, or white trash… the photos are ambiguous.

I think redmonk was being sarcastic, Marco.

Well I've already said many time we need ironic and sarcastic smilies of some sort, but bad on me. I should have just stuck to my gut response if that was the case, of "Are you Joking?"

Jeffs, he does live in the heart of silicon valley so he may in fact be an android, or even pure software. Still he deserves human rights IMO. Free the androids!

Has anyone tried the obvious route of attending a WTS course and asking in person ?

I recall when the MLIFE folks wanted their chance to participate in a strategic meeting, after many years of waiting, Ryan finally put the strategic meeting inside of a WTS course to help stress how important the WTS is to the BPL strategic vision.

While submitting a message or ticket might help, flying out and participating in a WTS could go a lot further towards showing your commitment to making BPL a success.

Bob is just proving his LNT skills are supreme

Having been a moderator on a forum before, I'm surprised the moderators don't have access to figure out what happened. Or at least an ability to communicate themselves with Ryan and find out.

Bob can be acerbic but he shares good info. This forum never seemed to have people so thin skinned that they couldn't take a little criticism.

That's a good comment Dena.

Ken asked and got a reply, awesome !

Probably just an out of date email in his Bobs contact info or something.

So I sent an email to Ryan and got a reply. He would like Bob to e mail him please. ryan@backpackinglight.com
Let's get this taken care of. Let Bob know if you are in contact with him. Thanks.

Edit. never type important info on a tiny screen while watching TV.

Edit: Ken corrected the contact info.

The very next post on this thread is rather embarrassing, however.