Exorcism of Casper

[tampa24]

I figured that if anyone wanted to comment on Casper's departure that we could do it here. That way we can leave the Tyler thread for discussions of Tyler.

Thank you Chuck for the decision to ban him. As much as I wanted to see him change his ways he just kept showing us the same pattern. Post something very insulting so that he gets attention, then post a slight apology saying he was misunderstood. He wanted to keep playing the "victim" even as he was the one who kept attacking.

I took the tact that ignoring his provocative outbursts was the best way to go because creating drama was his intention. And I didn't want to take the bait. Ariz took the viewpoint that it was wrong to ignore his rants because it gave the impression that we were okay with them. Or even worse that we might agree with them. (Which of course we didn't) And I do respect Ariz's point of view. Ariz will definitely call a spade a spade. LOL


For those who seek to defend him I say for myself that I did see a good side to him. He has a lot of issues that will not be easily or quickly resolved. His level of desperation in craving love and attention says volumes about his emotional state. I did and do feel sorry for him. But it just wasn't enough to negate all of his lies and ambiguities about his age, occupation, place of residence, etc. And certainly not enough to negate all of his overly personal rants.

Even if he tried to delete a post for whatever reason, it does not hold much water in regards to how much regret he had in posting it. Does it mean that he's sorry for saying those things because he was having a bad day? Or does it mean that he realized that he had crossed a line that could get him banned? So he was trying to backtrack...again?

We have already had to endure some collective punishment, as it were, due to Casper. At least in the sense that we have lost privileges. We can no longer PM models now. While my understanding is that that was not 100% due to Casper I'm sure most of us realize that Casper's actions played some role in the decision.

And let's clear the air about this. There is no glitch in the software in regards to editing posts. Nothing is broken or in need of repair. A couple months ago the editing of posts was limited to within 30 seconds of hitting the send button. For those of us who want to fix typos, change wording, add a sentence or delete a post...we can't. Apparently there was a member who was posting very insulting posts, leaving them up for a few minutes and then taking them down. Kind of like Mitch/Rswain was doing. It was an attempt to keep the not so friendly ghost a little more honest. So he couldn't claim that he was misunderstood or misquoted. He could no longer go back to posts and change them or outright delete them. So it forced him to stay honest as to the original intent of his posts.

 

[joninliverton]

I feel quite insulted by your obvious digs at me Tampa. I thought about my post very carefully and tried to be a mediator, which has obviously gone over your head.

Not everyone spends so much time as to take into account what has happened in the past with posters and what the management have done to stop this. I was totally unaware of the 30secs timeout after which one cannot edit or delete.

I am also unaware of Casper misleading us about his age and location. Maybe this has been done via Private messages but certainly not to me.

And if we're in the habit of clearing the air about things, then I suggest you oldies should not swoon over young guys that come online and try to coerce them into divulging their sexual secrets and in some cases photographs.

So maybe Casper isn't the only one to blame.

 

[ScottC]

Excuse my post if it becomes too long, I'll really try and keep it brief and on point.

Several years ago, a forum for genre writers (ie horror authors) was created. It was populated by some of the top names in the field, and was a place to network, learn about the process of writing, and also the business side. It was very nurturing and a great place to be.

now as things happen, especially on the internet, some bad apples, labeled as the Legion of Nitwits came around. All three lack anything close to talent, and spend their time bemoaning the fact that the horror community is an old boy's network because no one wants to publish them. The threads they've created are stuff of legend in my parts. The passive aggressive posts, name calling, trolling and everything else associated with the Legion even generated a blog, the rusty nail, detailing years of their antics.

The board owner, Matt, has never banned them. Countless warnings over the years, sure, but never were they banned. As a result, the board has fallen apart. Sure it's still there, and still active, but the meat of the board is no longer there. The great writers grew tired and left, to post elsewhere. This has done two things, 1)it rendered a fantastic board impotent, and 2)it gave other people the idea it was okay to do whatever the hell they wanted with no fear of being banned.

Management did the right thing. To protect the integrity of the company, and the board, not to mention allowing others to post in peace, the ban was necessary. I'd hate to see such a great board go down in flames due to one person.

 

[SayWhat]

I feel quite insulted by your obvious digs at me Tampa. I thought about my post very carefully and tried to be a mediator, which has obviously gone over your head.

.....

And if we're in the habit of clearing the air about things, then I suggest you oldies should not swoon over young guys that come online and try to coerce them into divulging their sexual secrets and in some cases photographs.

So maybe Casper isn't the only one to blame.

I can't speak for Tampa, but I don't think he was making a dig about you. I think he was intending to point out that changes were not unknown to the offender. I wasn't even aware that it was restricted down to thirty seconds (I thought it was 5 minutes). I do recall a post between Casper and (I think) Scorpio explaining that restrictions had been put in place.

And in response to the second part, please don't disillusion yourself into thinking that he disapproved of the attention. It's easy to put an end to those requests (I've gotten them, too). You say no. I haven't come across a single person on this forum that harassed me or pushed me to send them more pictures after I politely declined. He not only showed any signs of being uncomfortable with this, but he encouraged it by posting details of his (alleged) sex life.

I'm not trying to start a fight. Just calling it like I see it.

 

[ScottC]

I can't speak for Tampa, but I don't think he was making a dig about you. I think he was intending to point out that changes were not unknown to the offender. I wasn't even aware that it was restricted down to thirty seconds (I thought it was 5 minutes). I do recall a post between Casper and (I think) Scorpio explaining that restrictions had been put in place.

And in response to the second part, please don't disillusion yourself into thinking that he disapproved of the attention. It's easy to put an end to those requests (I've gotten them, too). You say no. I haven't come across a single person on this forum that harassed me or pushed me to send them more pictures after I politely declined. He not only showed any signs of being uncomfortable with this, but he encouraged it by posting details of his (alleged) sex life.

I'm not trying to start a fight. Just calling it like I see it.

Well I'm quite upset. No one ever asked me for my nude photos! *looks in mirror* Hmm, never mind...

 

[baal]

I enjoyed even Casper's rants. It was certainly more fun than a lot of the sanctimony or overly PC or new agey or just flat out insane posters (and yes, I have specific persons in mind for each category) here but this ain't my board so I don't make the rules so I'll just leave it at I 'll miss the little dude...

 

[mikeyank]

And if we're in the habit of clearing the air about things, then I suggest you oldies should not swoon over young guys that come online and try to coerce them into divulging their sexual secrets and in some cases photographs.

So maybe Casper isn't the only one to blame.

As a card carrying member of the "oldies" club, I take offense to that remark. As ihateariz said, if an "oldie" tries to coerce them into divulging their sexual secrets and in some cases photographs, all the guy has to do is say no thanks, and the issue is closed. Pardon me for playing amateur psychiatrist, but I think that you joninliverton, as a proud and open gay man, might be a bit jealous of all the attention paid to Casper, an ostensibly straight college kid, thinking about trying it with guys, but calling himself straight. He had many of us , including David, flirting with him in the forum, (and who knows what went on through PM's).

This gets back to my usual point, (I know Rifle and Slim that I do go on and on about straight guys, but I am a straighophile, I guess). But speaking for myself, and I believe other admirer's of young straight guys, Casper was flirted with quite a bit, and he flirted right back with me, and many others. But joninliverton, look at the name of this website, and figure out why us "Oldies" were paying so much attention to a supposedly young straight guy, who hinted that he looked good enough to star with Tyler in a futon session, and David seemed very interested in having him fill out an application, and send some photos.

If as a young proud gay guy, you have not received as much attention on the forum as Casper did please understand, that Casper, or the character of Casper, played by someone else, fit right into my fetish and fantasy, and that is the nature of "oldies" who belong to this website. Please don't take it as a slight to you. You get lot's of love here too.

 

[mikeyank]

I enjoyed even Casper's rants. It was certainly more fun than a lot of the sanctimony or overly PC or new agey or just flat out insane posters (and yes, I have specific persons in mind for each category) here but this ain't my board so I don't make the rules so I'll just leave it at I 'll miss the little dude...

I agree, baal. The little guy livened things up here. Although, I thought he was way off base with what he said about management and the models,(Tyler specifically) I always enjoyed reading his posts.

 

[wantto]

I know that when ever I saw that Casper had posted on a thread then I had a preference to avoid posting anything on it because of his tendency to create havoc and his ability to "rile" people up. There is too much of that in real life.
Haha now don't think me so naive as to view this as a "utopian environment" but I do like the fact that we can feel comfortable to comment on what we like and be open about our opinions.
He always came across as a petulent teenager.

Now having said that I think there were some deep underlying issues with him and I have a great deal of sympathy for the fact that the only way he felt he could be heard on a topic is to either abuse the management guys....who let's face it are bloody awesome and shouldn't have to put up with that, or to make inflamatory comments about anything and everything.
To be that insecure and angry with the world means you must have some real issues.
Poor guy I say....he must have been one unhappy bunny to have caused so much havoc.
Well a very annoying unhappy bunny that you kind of wanted to shake a bit!!
Hopefully he will take this as one of those life lessons.

 

[joninliverton]

As a card carrying member of the "oldies" club, I take offense to that remark. As ihateariz said, if an "oldie" tries to coerce them into divulging their sexual secrets and in some cases photographs, all the guy has to do is say no thanks, and the issue is closed. Pardon me for playing amateur psychiatrist, but I think that you joninliverton, as a proud and open gay man, might be a bit jealous of all the attention paid to Casper, an ostensibly straight college kid, thinking about trying it with guys, but calling himself straight. He had many of us , including David, flirting with him in the forum, (and who knows what went on through PM's).

This gets back to my usual point, (I know Rifle and Slim that I do go on and on about straight guys, but I am a straighophile, I guess). But speaking for myself, and I believe other admirer's of young straight guys, Casper was flirted with quite a bit, and he flirted right back with me, and many others. But joninliverton, look at the name of this website, and figure out why us "Oldies" were paying so much attention to a supposedly young straight guy, who hinted that he looked good enough to star with Tyler in a futon session, and David seemed very interested in having him fill out an application, and send some photos.

If as a young proud gay guy, you have not received as much attention on the forum as Casper did please understand, that Casper, or the character of Casper, played by someone else, fit right into my fetish and fantasy, and that is the nature of "oldies" who belong to this website. Please don't take it as a slight to you. You get lot's of love here too.

Well Mike you just failed your psychiatrists exam big style. I was not jealous of Casper at all and to be honest I stopped reading a lot of his comments after he had had a go at David and Tyler some time ago. I thought they were nasty and out of order so I decided I did not want anything to do with the guy. Outside the forum I regularly have pvts and emails to both senior and younger guys, so I am not ageist in that respect. There are other factors that prevent me from posting as much detail as Casper did and the main one is privacy and self respect and also respect to my friends and ex lovers. Plus I have a full time job which takes about 8hrs out of my day and also a social life away from Broke Straight Boys forum.

Since I posted on the Tyler thread, a lot of things have come to light that I was unaware of, maybe due to me ignoring the Casper posts for reasons stated above or behind the scenes stuff in PVTs and phone calls. So I guess if these things are true and considering the amount of posts backing this up, then maybe it was a good decision to ban him.

 

[Smiley]

I find this whole thread in poor taste and think it should be locked. **Casper** has been banned and can't defend himself. This is just talking behind his back. I realize he frustrated many and as a short-timer here, it was easy for me to blow him off, skipping his posts. I didn't carry the baggage. But as we all have been taught, it's bad manners to speak ill of the dead. When it comes to this forum, **Casper** is dead.

 

[rifle]

I'm so happy for you Smiley. Your overnight case is packed and you are on the train. Several of us still have trunks to sort through and closure to seek. Casper is gone, but we are not, and while attacking him might be in questionable taste, healing the wounds he left between us certainly is not.

Ihateariz, I am sorry I was not there to support you. My sons and I made a journey yesterday into the mountains behind our cabin. We took our snowcoach up onto a ridge which is especially beautiful in the winter, the tall lodgepole pines below lead down into a canyon that few people ever come into because it opens onto one of my husband's favorite potato fields. Years ago, when the boys were much younger, we used to camp in that canyon. My oldest son went hunting with his dad there and shot his first elk. I still remember putting my youngest on the saddle in front of me and riding up there with my husband one winter night to watch the Aurora borealis. This time we went to sprinkle my husband’s ashes. We have been expecting it for quite some time so we were ready. We’ll go back in the summer to place a marker when the snow is gone and a permanent location can be found.

Frankly, I don’t want your sympathy. When I came to this website to research book possibilities, I mailed copies of earlier books to several people and my email address got out. I began to receive threatening correspondence and made the mistake of mentioning it on the forum. I got accused of whining, I believe it was. God knows what will be made of this. I assure you, I’m not in need of unfelt compassion.

During my research here I met many people and made several friends. Only one of those friends is left. My husband and I consider Tyler a member of our family. Not in any real sense, of course, we recognize his love for his own family and his fondness for David and Eddie, but, I think, in some of Adam’s emails he even addressed Tyler as son. If you understand that, then you understand my problems with Casper.

There’s an old story about a Missouri farmer who had a mule he considered a pet. He wanted that mule trained but didn’t want the mule harmed. He read about a Mule Whisperer who guaranteed he could train the mule without hurting it. So he took his mule to the trainer. “Yes, I can,” the trainer said. “Good,” the farmer said, and paid him. The trainer picked up a 2 x 4 and hit the mule as hard as he could between the eyes and the old farmer nearly fainted. “I thought you said you wouldn’t hurt him?” he cried. “I won’t,” said the trainer, “but first I have to get his attention.”

During the last few weeks I have so wanted to swing a few 2 x 4’s. I tried being subtle; I tried being casual; I tried being rude. I was ignored; I was called hateful; finally, I was made the subject of some wonderfully funny jokes. Now, I’m being told by many of you that you knew all along about casper’s problems. Let me say this, if you knew and did not step in behind ihateariz, if you knew and tried to placate ihateariz, if you knew and tried to defend casper, if you knew and still sent your pm’s to casper and each other like the one copied to me which said, “I feel really bad about the current Rifle vibe in the forum,” then you need to take your 2 x 4 between the eyes.

Remember the good old days when we aligned and realigned ourselves on every issue, when we’d argue with one person on one thread and against the same person on another. That was before the days of the clandestine pm, when permanent alliances formed and battle lines were drawn. Those were the days when every post was not followed by a dozen platitudes and there was a genuine fondness across the forum. So many of those people left. I miss them, too.

 

[BrokeStraightBoys]

I find this whole thread in poor taste and think it should be locked. **Casper** has been banned and can't defend himself. This is just talking behind his back. I realize he frustrated many and as a short-timer here, it was easy for me to blow him off, skipping his posts. I didn't carry the baggage. But as we all have been taught, it's bad manners to speak ill of the dead. When it comes to this forum, **Casper** is dead.

I agree can we just let it go and move on.

Mark

 

[joninliverton]

I'm so happy for you Smiley. Your overnight case is packed and you are on the train. Several of us still have trunks to sort through and closure to seek. Casper is gone, but we are not, and while attacking him might be in questionable taste, healing the wounds he left between us certainly is not.

Ihateariz, I am sorry I was not there to support you. My sons and I made a journey yesterday into the mountains behind our cabin. We took our snowcoach up onto a ridge which is especially beautiful in the winter, the tall lodgepole pines below lead down into a canyon that few people ever come into because it opens onto one of my husband's favorite potato fields. Years ago, when the boys were much younger, we used to camp in that canyon. My oldest son went hunting with his dad there and shot his first elk. I still remember putting my youngest on the saddle in front of me and riding up there with my husband one winter night to watch the Aurora borealis. This time we went to sprinkle my husband’s ashes. We have been expecting it for quite some time so we were ready. We’ll go back in the summer to place a marker when the snow is gone and a permanent location can be found.

Frankly, I don’t want your sympathy. When I came to this website to research book possibilities, I mailed copies of earlier books to several people and my email address got out. I began to receive threatening correspondence and made the mistake of mentioning it on the forum. I got accused of whining, I believe it was. God knows what will be made of this. I assure you, I’m not in need of unfelt compassion.

During my research here I met many people and made several friends. Only one of those friends is left. My husband and I consider Tyler a member of our family. Not in any real sense, of course, we recognize his love for his own family and his fondness for David and Eddie, but, I think, in some of Adam’s emails he even addressed Tyler as son. If you understand that, then you understand my problems with Casper.

There’s an old story about a Missouri farmer who had a mule he considered a pet. He wanted that mule trained but didn’t want the mule harmed. He read about a Mule Whisperer who guaranteed he could train the mule without hurting it. So he took his mule to the trainer. “Yes, I can,” the trainer said. “Good,” the farmer said, and paid him. The trainer picked up a 2 x 4 and hit the mule as hard as he could between the eyes and the old farmer nearly fainted. “I thought you said you wouldn’t hurt him?” he cried. “I won’t,” said the trainer, “but first I have to get his attention.”

During the last few weeks I have so wanted to swing a few 2 x 4’s. I tried being subtle; I tried being casual; I tried being rude. I was ignored; I was called hateful; finally, I was made the subject of some wonderfully funny jokes. Now, I’m being told by many of you that you knew all along about casper’s problems. Let me say this, if you knew and did not step in behind ihateariz, if you knew and tried to placate ihateariz, if you knew and tried to defend casper, if you knew and still sent your pm’s to casper and each other like the one copied to me which said, “I feel really bad about the current Rifle vibe in the forum,” then you need to take your 2 x 4 between the eyes.

Remember the good old days when we aligned and realigned ourselves on every issue, when we’d argue with one person on one thread and against the same person on another. That was before the days of the clandestine pm, when permanent alliances formed and battle lines were drawn. Those were the days when every post was not followed by a dozen platitudes and there was a genuine fondness across the forum. So many of those people left. I miss them, too.

Rifle, I agree with you up until the last paragraph. A forum is all about individual views and forming an alignment/aliegence to have a go at one particular individual in many threads is not healthy. I was going to send you a PM but you obviously don't like them.

 

[Jayman01]

I figured that if anyone wanted to comment on Casper's departure that we could do it here. That way we can leave the Tyler thread for discussions of Tyler.

Thank you Chuck for the decision to ban him. As much as I wanted to see him change his ways he just kept showing us the same pattern. Post something very insulting so that he gets attention, then post a slight apology saying he was misunderstood. He wanted to keep playing the "victim" even as he was the one who kept attacking.

I took the tact that ignoring his provocative outbursts was the best way to go because creating drama was his intention. And I didn't want to take the bait. Ariz took the viewpoint that it was wrong to ignore his rants because it gave the impression that we were okay with them. Or even worse that we might agree with them. (Which of course we didn't) And I do respect Ariz's point of view. Ariz will definitely call a spade a spade. LOL


For those who seek to defend him I say for myself that I did see a good side to him. He has a lot of issues that will not be easily or quickly resolved. His level of desperation in craving love and attention says volumes about his emotional state. I did and do feel sorry for him. But it just wasn't enough to negate all of his lies and ambiguities about his age, occupation, place of residence, etc. And certainly not enough to negate all of his overly personal rants.

Even if he tried to delete a post for whatever reason, it does not hold much water in regards to how much regret he had in posting it. Does it mean that he's sorry for saying those things because he was having a bad day? Or does it mean that he realized that he had crossed a line that could get him banned? So he was trying to backtrack...again?

We have already had to endure some collective punishment, as it were, due to Casper. At least in the sense that we have lost privileges. We can no longer PM models now. While my understanding is that that was not 100% due to Casper I'm sure most of us realize that Casper's actions played some role in the decision.

And let's clear the air about this. There is no glitch in the software in regards to editing posts. Nothing is broken or in need of repair. A couple months ago the editing of posts was limited to within 30 seconds of hitting the send button. For those of us who want to fix typos, change wording, add a sentence or delete a post...we can't. Apparently there was a member who was posting very insulting posts, leaving them up for a few minutes and then taking them down. Kind of like Mitch/Rswain was doing. It was an attempt to keep the not so friendly ghost a little more honest. So he couldn't claim that he was misunderstood or misquoted. He could no longer go back to posts and change them or outright delete them. So it forced him to stay honest as to the original intent of his posts.

I just decided to sit back and pray for the guy and only respond to positive posts. I kind of learned from past experience to just ignor anyone deliberately being a pain.

 

[slimvintage]

Casper was like a kid who was amusing enough to get the attention of grown ups but not clever enough about handling it once he got it to keep from ending up turning people off with his "whatever I say seems to get applause so what the hell" attitude. He was sometimes incredibly insightful for someone "his age", had a quirky talent for inventing scenarios (probably including his own persona) and was obviously pretty complex in an often interesting way.

Just as Rifle came to us for a specific purpose, in his case professional and totally licit, I'll put my neck out and suggest that casper probably came onto this forum to do a number on us, and probably has done this elsewhere and will do it again on some other chat or board he finds.

But he was surely banned because he started to question D&E and Blu in ways that could eventually have borne legal consequences. Both organizations are rightly vigilant about such issues as breach of privacy, and it was only when that stuff started to be mooted that his fate was sealed. To be more precise, that was the final feather that tipped the balance, since it's pretty sure that management was as tired of him as most of the rest of you were anyway.

More than a month ago I told him that I actually didn't mind if it was true that he was quite a lot older than his "casper" character purported to be, or that he was living out a role he got a frisson from playing, or that his show was a literary exercise rather than a true reflection of his life. In fact I personally think that the fact that he was willing to go to all the trouble to be the character he'd invented for this forum, was something to be almost grateful for. He said a lot of really petulant and silly stuff, but he was doing his best to invent, several times a day and often at novelette length, for our, and his own, amusement, a twentieth century okie kid coming to terms with his sexuality.

All the attacks on David and Tyler began when his cover began to get thin and he saw the writing on the wall. I told him in a clandestine PM that it looked to me as if he were picking a fight with David on the Director for a Day issue because he needed a definitive excuse not to go down to meet the guys at D&E. How could a sad, fat, middle aged word-man turn up at Dave and Eddie's to direct a scene, or even just hang out and meet Monica, when they were all expecting a Broke Straight Boys-aged, grammatically challenged hottie, built like BrokeMichael and smart as a whip?

 

[rickbell19]

Look, I AM a young guy. When Casper first came on, he hit me up as a friend here. Asked me for all kinds of pics that I sent, even naked stuff and he would NEVER send me any pics back as he promised. Plus a lot of the way he wrote things, nah dudes, he is WAY older then he said. I saw Davids long post about him and I totally agree with David. Glad he is gone. He was a total headcase!

 

[rifle]

Sorry, I had prepared a nice little response about the time when we all talked through things in the open and pm's were few and far between and truth and integrity were valued and appreciated. When I got ready to post it, I had to rewrite it.

Tampa, bullshit. I deleted all my postings at one time, you'll recall, when my family started receiving email threats from one of your dear member friends, not because of misquoting or misunderstanding. You and your guild attacked me for it and asked for my banning. I explained my reason and you backed off but warned me about deleting. I have never done it again. Casper did it in one of his petulent rages and you never said a word. Now you bring it up in an effort to hint at anything other than him as a reason for the change. Shame on you.

Slim, if you knew all this and still defended him to such lengths when you knew Tyler was being badgered and belittled you need to take a strong look at what you call personal values and what you call personal amusement.

Jon, if you reread my last paragraph you'll see what I valued was a time when we worked out our problems in the forum and not by pm's where we discussed and dissected each other in secret.

Mark told me to shut up. And I have. My cancellation number is 1279528665. My youngest son needs me right now and since Marky left, there hasn't been anyone I really wanted to talk to.

 

[baal]

Anyone else wanna go. Seems like we're on a roll and things do go in threes...

 

[slimvintage]

Sorry, I had prepared a nice little response about the time when we all talked through things in the open and pm's were few and far between and truth and integrity were valued and appreciated. When I got ready to post it, I had to rewrite it.

Tampa, bullshit. I deleted all my postings at one time, you'll recall, when my family started receiving email threats from one of your dear member friends, not because of misquoting or misunderstanding. You and your guild attacked me for it and asked for my banning. I explained my reason and you backed off but warned me about deleting. I have never done it again. Casper did it in one of his petulent rages and you never said a word. Now you bring it up in an effort to hint at anything other than him as a reason for the change. Shame on you.

Slim, if you knew all this and still defended him to such lengths when you knew Tyler was being badgered and belittled you need to take a strong look at what you call personal values and what you call personal amusement.

Jon, if you reread my last paragraph you'll see what I valued was a time when we worked out our problems in the forum and not by pm's where we discussed and dissected each other in secret.

Mark told me to shut up. And I have. My cancellation number is 1279528665. My youngest son needs me right now and since Marky left, there hasn't been anyone I really wanted to talk to.

My values are not in any way exemplary, and I do take your point. After I told casper that I reckoned I'd twigged to his (generic) identity, I didn't actually hear from him much if at all, and don't remember defending him lately. Certainly never in reference to his badgering Tyler. Tyler knows how much I like him so if he needed my support and didn't feel he had it, that makes me truly sad. It didn't seem to me that Tyler needed anyone to come to his rescue since he's such a ballsy kid himself. By the time it came out that Tyler was seriously fed up with hearing from casper, casper wasn't on the forum all that much and nor was I.

I'm very sorry that anyone from this bunch sent nasty emails to you. I've felt you were sort of condescending and patronizing at times but there are lots worse things than that. And in the end it only makes enemies of people who could be friends, but who are stung by what they see as an attempt to make them feel inferior; maybe that's the reason they wanted to get rid of you. I can therefore see why you are nostalgic for more amicable and less loaded times. Oddly that quote about the Rifle vibe was part of a public message on a public profile which went to the same point as you make about kinder moments on the forum, and not a PM at all. Ironic.

I admit that I can't help quite liking the forum when it growls a bit and shows some muscle though, and realize that such an attitude shows a lack of sensitivity. But never where Tyler's concerned.