I think the forum survived the storm and it provides me with comfort and lots of laughs on a daily basis.
Thank you everyone for posting and Merry Christmas! It is heartwarming to know that the forum is there for us.

I don't sense any apocalyptic shadow.

Thanks, Sagitta, good words...

The forum is there for us as long as it needs us, at the moment you don't bring it what it needs, you are good for the trash.

Come on LIB, thats a totally disrespectful comment, and you know it.

And this, I dont even know where to begin. I am even surprised that a mod is taking sides by egging you on with a "thanks" on the post. Unbelievable. Always thought that mods are supposed to be neutral when it comes to such "politiking".

Ouchboy has been a great help to many off the forum to many members including myself. And sometimes, his LOLcats make more sense than senseless musings.

I am done with this shite - merry christmas everyone.

If you don't like a neighbourhood, you leave the neighbourhood, stop. You don't go door to door telling everyone how miserable their company has been and then leave.

Ok, you can do that, but then don't expect farewell pat pats in your back.

While I don't agree that the thread "belongs" in the trash, I can see why it would (should, could) have been locked and left in OT or something.

Many forums I use have a "no goodbye threads" type policy in place as they are very fertile grounds for trolling, something which we have plenty of here already anyhow. Whether it is comments (which may turn nasty for no good reason) on the member / poster, comments about the forum, comments about outside activities related to the relationship(s) formed via the forum... troll fodder it often is.


So, sorry to see Porche go, sorry to see his thread in the trash, but I understand and respect the possible reasons behind each.

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The Joys of Opticianry

can a mod please come and put this thread in the trash already?

ok. that's my 4% posting limit reached. have a good xmas all!

wot, you are asking for this thread to be closed?

why so hasty?

we haven't even started arguing about Muslims yet, or brown sugar.

Bloody muslims, coming to my country and stealing all my brown sugar.

EEK! Just logged on

Nil - Not sure if I can add much to this odd thread, but to my mind (personal thoughts, not forum rules) - I think that if somebody chooses to leave with a kind word and dignity, then the thread should and probably would stay around.

If however the farewell is more tilted towards attack than best wishes, then it feels a little like playing to an audience (maybe not even this one) and then is inevitably headed towards closure. If you re-read the thread, there are no thanks, no appreciation, no kind words towards his friends here - and so I think it was met with the respect that it showed.

Shame that one guy playing to the crowd in a different place managed to cause infighting here though

While I cannot speak for another person's mod actions and their motives, I think you just summed it up. Negative comments rarely provide constructive community environment. Things are - also not as dramatic as they seem, but maybe it is my angle I see EF from, help, reporting, good ol' "how to" and some fun attached. Or, maybe it is my emergency type of work that makes this online community look to me like a fab little intelligent and self sufficient online town. Traffic is good. People are awesome. Hostility will blow over.

Can't speak of brown suga, did so much xmas baking just the idea makes me cringe.

Speaking of Muslims and other religions, today I explained in the classes why we say "Happy Holidays" to some people instead of "Merry Christmas" and felt it didn't make sense at all, all the PCness

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Anyway, all Nil asked for is a minimum of respect. I think a minimum has been shown, so she should be happy.

No, the minimum would be to not trash someone's farewell, no matter if it pleased people or not. If only nice and cute things are not being trashed, the 1/2 of the forum would be in the trash.

EF is an iceberg.
New members see the tip.
Members see the bit that shows above the water.
Mods sometimes see murkily what's underneath.

Well anyway I talk in the mud because no mods care to give proper answer about my specific question and one keep thanking those who say harsh stuff.

Nice spirit on the forum eh? And with that philosophy, we can't be surprise about Editor Bob and Paul not answering question either.

Was it included in the new T&C and I missed it?

Merry Christmas to all
Come on let's stop the bickering, just cut it out.
Everybody is precious
Nobody should ever be lost
And I'd add that some beautiful souls are no longer here to remind us of the essential..
Love is the only preciousness where the more you give, the more you have.
It's endless
I'd like to focus on that, and am very thankful for the friends I've made here, and there, and yet over there.

As so often Sky finds the perfect words, thank you. What is happening is so divisive and sad.

Who says Happy Holiday? I say Merry Xmas. (Stuff being PC) :-)

If you don't like it tough! :-)

I'm not going to complain if I am in Dubai and someone wishes me happy "Al Something".

I say Merry Christmas, too.

People didn't die. They only simply decided to log on another site.

Ok, I know it's Christmas and the entire world is one giant fluffball of TLC..

Nobody dies. Nobody is making a drama over Porsch leaving either. What I asked is to have respect for members who decide to leave and write a farewell. It is disrespectful to trash it.

How difficult is it to understand this? But let's do everything else than answering this simple question.