Marauder

Fred,

You're a relatively new timer on this site. The people who have been here for years get the joke. Take a look back at my earliest posts and you will see the "fat ladies" throughout the forum. Why fat ladies? In the earliest days of MooneySpace, there was always PoA behavior creeping in (ex. the "Little Timmy" thread, Jose's anti-gay rants, Peter Garmin's agenda posts to start with). The fat Iadies came out to diffuse some pretty ugly threads. There is no general moderation on MooneySpace, so when a thread goes sideways, they escalated quickly and get out of hand. And when they got that bad, Craig, the owner of the site started banning people. Often for personal attacks and even threats. We lost members.

The reason you don't see a lot of fat lady posts today is because I have pretty much given up on the site. I started seeing an increase in snotty remarks (Jim Pease's comments on the J bar locks), people trashing the value of other people's planes when they advertise them here and a steady stream of attitude (Chris Calandro's posts). The current fat lady sighting was done because a number of MooneySpacers sent me PMs asking when the fat lady was going to return. I posted on your thread since it was convenient thread and I knew that most of the "fat lady" fan club would look. Sorry you took it as smut.

I still receive PMs on a regular basis for people looking for help and from long time MooneySpacers that keep in touch. I've decided that I will continue to help those who approach me and certainly keep up communications with the long time MooneySpacers that I have come to know as friends.

Chris

Hey Chris, thanks for your thoughtful reply.   I really appreciate your candor.  We're on the same page.  I agree completely with your assessment of some of the "tools" on MS. 

Now that I know the origin of your fat lady posts, I realize you were kidding me, and I'm fine with it.   It is good to be in the joke!   I actually didn't think your post was smut.  I saw it for the joke that it was.  In my reply to your post I put a smiley face there, and I've often joined in the ribbing about your large woman posts.    What I thought was smut was the post from someone else of a woman's ass with a tatoo from an old 80's thrash metal band that I hate.  Not only were they a terrible band, but most of the members are now either dead or too fat to wear a guitar!  If I were to show my wife this thread with that post she'd hate it.   Your post wouldn't bother her too much.  Women.

I just don't want MS to be a boys club.   I value it too much for that, and I wouldn't want to belong to an online community that creates a hostile environment towards anyone.  Life is too short.

No kidding, I've always thought your posts were insightful.   Glad to count you amongst my MS friends if you'll have me as one in return.

Stay healthy, and thanks again for your reply.

Fred