Nailing Our Colours To The Mast

Mike Garside · 03 July 2003, 05:44

That very old expression I have used as the subject for this thread is to do with battles at sea.

It is to do with refusing to surrender when beaten. For it was customary for the loser in a sea battle to lower its flags from the masthead and accept defeat. If the flag was nailed to the mast surrender was impossible. The crew of the ship would go down fighting.

In the cold light of day, after threatening to hit Jon Fuller with a zimmer frame - a threat, if and when I come across him - I stand by, I want to make my position, and the reason for it clear to both him and his crony, the man who hides behind the silly handle that is Dirk Diggler.

First, the reason.

Eighteen months ago, when I decided to switch from sail to ribbing I was introduced to my first RIB and this community by Alan Priddy. Soon after that, through my new delight in this sport which was much enhanced by this Forum of enthusiasts, I met John Kennett. These two men have become respected friends.

Last Christmas saw the arrival here of Fuller and Diggler. The atmoshpere soon changed from one of open enthusiasm and light banter to exchanges that were full of bad tempered sarcasm and snide personal attacks and these were led invariably by Messrs F & D.

I have ignored them in the vain hope that they would tire of their destructive undermining but it seems they are bent on destroying one of the most disciplined and well-mannered sites on the web.

And I, for one, am sick and tired of it. Maybe others of you are, too.

So I have nailed my colours to the mast. I will not surrender to those two bully boys.

John Kennett, they are hell bent, for some reason of their own, of wrecking this good thing that you have built. So, please do not pull this thread. Nail your own colours to the mast as well. And let the other decent enthusiasts join me and do the same.

What say you, ribsters? Are you going to make it clear to these two troublemakers that they should should cut and run? Or do you want them to wreck what you enjoy?

Aging Youth · 03 July 2003, 07:33

Hi Mike,

In my opinion anyone who try's to undermine anyone's achievements is not worth bothering about, however small or grand that maybe.

If you do not blow your own trumpet then it is very rare for someone else to!

Since I logged on to Ribnet I have found everyone most helpful & friendly regardless of how simple a question or statement is. We are always learning and through the passing of experience and new ideas is; in my opinion, what Ribnet is all about. Aswell as having a good time doing what we all enjoy and that is having fun on the water in Ribs.

If these people are purposely trying to get a rise out of someone just becuase they enjoy winding people up then let us rise above that and try to ignore it. Life is to short!

Those of you who have given so much to promote the sport of Ribbing I salute you all.

To those of you who will try and undermine what has been achieved then F**K YOU. You are not worth bothering with.

I for one will endevour to ingore these people from now on.

To those who know who we are refering to. Constructive criticism is fine, crass negative imput achieves nothing nor resovles anything.

One suggestion I put to J.K. Maybe a vote should be taken on this issue and if other members feel the same way then perhaps these people should be bloked from using the Ribnet Forums completeley.

I can also stand my ground & speak out for those who may not feel as comfortable in doing so.

Regards
Kevin

Alan Priddy · 03 July 2003, 07:46

Mike. I have posted my reply to your private address.

Alan P

Brian · 03 July 2003, 08:09

I wondered when it would come to this.
It must be a nightmare for JK to moderate this website, my heart goes out to him.
However, I also agree that a few members of this forum are absolute a***holes, but how to deal with them?
Banning is a bit extreme, in my view, and it goes slightly against the grain of people (within reason) being able to say what they want. I only said “slightly” by the way.
At one of the companies I used to work at, we started getting a lot of obscene phone calls coming through to the girls. The police advised us to say to the callers, in a slightly bored voice, “Hangon a minute, please”. Then to put the receiver down on a desktop and go use another phone, only hanging up this handset after 20/30 mins. The calls stopped, basically because the caller felt he was being ignored, failed to excite a reaction from his audience, got bored and went away.
What say you we just ignore the a***holes and simply don’t react to any of their postings?
I would probably not recommend banning them as with every one of their postings they condemn themselves for being the prats that they are. Then at least if we ever meet them we can give them a wide berth

Keith Hart · 03 July 2003, 08:27

Mike I have sent you a private email. I'm with you and Brian on this.

BTW thanks for the information on nailing the colours to the mast.

Keith Hart

Peter Smith · 03 July 2003, 08:35

Mike

As you know i am new to this forum but I agree with you about the "strange" posts these particular people make.

I thought perhaps it was just me.

Anyway you have my support for what its worth.

Peter

Charles · 03 July 2003, 10:07

About time too..... I thought I was the only one being accused of 'rising to the bait like a hungry mullet.'

In a previous post I said, 'Jon F - what I fail to understand is that you come on a RIB web-site/ forum and all you ever do is criticise ribs.'
It has become personal now - what a shame and what jerks these two are. At the Ribnet meeting in Plymouth I realised that most everyone who attended (and who obviously post here) are super people with a common interest that share the love of the sport and ribs. There really is no place for w*****s like these two on a site such as this. I decided to ignore these people last week and will continue to do so, no matter how much I am provoked - in the end, as Brian points out, they will get bored and move on, maybe joining Grumpy1 (Flanker) on another forum where they can continue their pathetic immature little games they are playing - Good riddance!

Richard B · 03 July 2003, 10:26

There's plenty of humour of different types around on RIBnet, from witty banter to gentle wind-ups, joke threads to daft stories, and patronising put-downs to personal insults.

Now you're probably thinking that the last category isn't humour, but of course, to some people it is. It's not my preferred type of humour, I find it awkward when directed at people who are either my friends or may find it offensive, and I don't think it is received well with RIBnet's members and contributors. But with boatmad.com - fine! When in Rome...

Jonny Fuller · 03 July 2003, 10:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Charles
It has become personal now - what a shame and what jerks these two are. Good riddance!

I take it the offer of 'tea at your house' is off then!

Dave Clarkson · 03 July 2003, 10:53

Mike,
Thanks for saying what I suspect many of us were thinking. I'm not a frequent 'poster' as I often don't believe I have much to add to many of the discussions. I prefer to read, learn and share the experiences of other, sometimes more knowledgable people.

Of late, the level of bull***t flying around has taken the edge of my visits to the site. However, I share the view that banning is a waste of time. The best approach is just to ignore the offending posts. One thing is clear, they will only continue whilst we 'bite'.

Let's ignore them and they'll take their toys and play elsewhere.

Regards,
Dave

DepSol · 03 July 2003, 11:22

Apologies to DD for tarring him with the same brush as JF.

Personally I don t feel that they are in the same bracket.

Dom

Allen · 03 July 2003, 12:36

Although I rarely post these days, in Ribnet's quieter days some time ago I did enjoy regular banter with Alan Priddy, and I hope I gave as much as I took!

It was all good natured and nothing but fun, something which Alan and I knew and which I hope was apparent to all.

However I too don't care for the tone of some recent postings, and gentlemen, I agree wholeheartedly with the opinions expressed here in this thread.

Allen

Jonny Fuller · 03 July 2003, 12:49

Quote:

Originally posted by DepSol
Apologies to DD for tarring him with the same brush as JF.

Personally I don t feel that they are in the same bracket.

Dom

LOL

Dirk Diggler · 03 July 2003, 12:57

Much appreciated.

gingercoastie · 03 July 2003, 13:01

I found the "Add this person to your ignore list" button on the profile page to be very useful.

DM · 03 July 2003, 13:22

Come on lads. Don't pussyfoot around. Hang draw and quarter 'em I say and send their body parts to the four corners of the country with their heads impaled on A frames.

This all smacks of a lynching party with a big crowd sat on the fence and the irony is that this thread is probably more divisive than anything that has gone on before.

David(argumentative)Manning

Andy · 03 July 2003, 14:25

RIBnet is a fantastic resource and is bringing like minded people together. The knowledge and experience on here is vast. And for people that love RIBs, it's heaven.

Nobody has the right to spoil things for others.

narked · 03 July 2003, 15:05

Ohhh nice one coastie, never noticed that ignore option before.

That'll do for me!

But yeah, I'm with Mike and the others here. There's been a noticeable decline in the general quality of the atmosphere round here.

crazyhorse · 03 July 2003, 17:49

As Dave Manning says sounds like a bit of a lynching party to me ?

I can say that I have battled with both DD and JF for longer than anyone on here and they have won my respect for their knowledge and as people they are a good laugh.

When I didnt get my point over, I didnt try and gang up against them with my internet buddies? I have met JF in person as I did Charles and can say that you get a short impression of what somebody is like on here and its not accurate at all,they are always different and in JFs case he is defintely boatmad.

Freedom of speech and expression and saying what you believe in isnt wrong on an open forum and can be very helpfull in stopping the Old Boys Club mentality.

JF and DD in my opinion are just like all of us except they have other sorts of boats.

This is not a yacht club where our friends can mutter in the corner its a forum of ideas and personalities,and in their cases very experienced hard boaters.

Mike I respect your views on the subject, but it will be a bad move to try and poo poo two guys who know a lot more than most abouts boats and if the truth be known have come a little way to respecting ribs for what they are IMHO.

So in my case its a big no no and lets thank them for keeping things on a even keel or we might all end up with one particular brand of boat/engine to keep our mates happy,and that would be real boring.

If they go I go

Richard B · 03 July 2003, 19:11

Ooh, you big drama queen!