Originally Posted by haulinvols

I look freaking huge in those pictures.

Originally Posted by Nightlife1970

You gonna come to the run in St.Clair? It's a great time and a great place to boat.

Originally Posted by bajarick

If anyone is going to be in Fla. Frt Myers over easter
we have a powerboat fun run on 4-3-10 ond all the
boats will be at the Lighthouse resturant at 12:30
for lunch till 2:30 and off to Frt Myers beach to raft off
for awhile and party . Stop in the resturant and say hello
and check out the boats. The resturant is off of Summerlin rd
half mile before sanible bridge on the rht.
Rick

Originally Posted by haulinvols

I look freaking huge in those pictures.

Originally Posted by HOSSMAN

It's all bout being drama free and having a good time with boating and friends....

Originally Posted by Irishtornado

Here's all of them but 2

Originally Posted by emilsr

I suspect most Baja owners either don't care about these personal feuds or they're smart enough not to get involved. Since I'm not the latter I'll play along...

I don't know Blake personally, never met him, never talked to him on the phone and never even traded emails that I can think of other than to tell him what size and color shirt I wanted at renewal time. Like many people I haven't always agreed with the way he conducted himself or his actions. He isn't the reason I'm active on TBM; the information, camraderie and the general character of most of the members are the reasons I'm there and will continue to be active there unless/until I'm asked to leave or the site goes away. I do believe that some (but not all) deserved their bannings for what they posted. Seriously guys, you can't call someone an ******* without expecting him to get upset about it. For the ones that didn't let themselves get brought down to that level, I don't know why you were banned, wasn't consulted, and really don't care to get involved in personal feuds anyway. I've made that mistake before....won't do it again.

Even though I haven't always agreed with him, he's been right about some things and some people when most of those around him felt he was wrong. He also had the foresight to use the Baja name in his website, and somehow managed to facilitate a fairly strong community of like minded individuals. Probably most (if not all) of us here have met people through TBM that have enriched our lives. That's a good thing in my book. Those things I respect, so if the rules are that it's his sandbox, his rules, I'm okay with that as it's a sandbox I'd like to play in. Again, it's the people there that make me feel this way. It's his call how he conducts himself, not mine, and I don't feel qualified to pass judgement in public anyway....have my own problems to worry about.

What I have difficulty understanding and accepting is why so many feel the need for personal feuding, public bashing, name calling, etc. Who is at fault doesn't so much matter as there's plenty of blame to go around.....both in this case and in some of the other feuds (the Blake/Mark feud comes to mind). At some point in time, sooner rather than later, the right thing to do (IMO of course) is for both of the parties involved to simply let it go and get back to boating. Like Keith, boating is a much needed and appreciated diversion from the day to day grind and I'd prefer it to be a positive experience....both on the water, and on the online forums.

This sort of thing doesn't seem to be limited to boating forums either; my wife is active in several dog forums and she tells me the same things go on there. No matter how the forums are moderated, and no matter whether they're in the US or overseas, people seem to feud.....so we're not alone in this particular problem and I honestly have no idea what the solution is. The rampant bashing and feuding on OSO is the main reason I didn't renew my paid membership here a few years ago. Perhaps it's so rampant simply because it's a large forum....I don't know. I see more of it than I'd like on TBM. I don't see it as much on the regional forums (MWBP being the one I frequent), but I suspect that's because of a combination of things; many of the forum members boat together and wouldn't dream of acting that way towards each other, and the mods don't allow it. I wish that was the case elsewhere, but it isn't.

Why do I see it as a problem? First of all, we've got much bigger enemies in this world than each other. Government regulators, the financial woes of the marine industry and snake oil salesmen/crooks are a few that come to mind. Again, just my opinion here, but we'd all be much better off if disagreements were handled in private, at the end of the day we agreed to disagree if necessary, and we presented a unified front to the rest of the world. To fail to do so, to take sides and split the group over disagreements just makes us all weaker in the face of the REAL adversities we face. It also doesn't speak well for the group as a whole when we can't seem to get along and/or conduct ourselves appropriately....a guilty by association deal for those who are smart enough to keep their yaps shut.

I suppose I look at things differently than some of the forum regulars as I've been boating waaaaay longer than I've been on internet forums. Started boating with my dad in '66, bought my first boat in '80 (30 years this month), and over the years I've tended to look at ALL boaters as my friends. Us against them and us against the seas, versus us against us. That's just my way and I make no apologies for it. I also don't wish bad upon anyone, especially when they share my particular hobby, and it also concerns me when I see that happening with my fellow boaters. Again, there's plenty of blame to go around as we've seen all too often (including this particular thread). I don't care who started it, I just wish it would stop. Fat chance, I know, but a guy can dream can't he?

Originally Posted by Anchorman

Remember you standing next to Midgets

Originally Posted by JerseyOutlaw

Right on Dave, good times, it's what we all want