blonde poker forum

Seems ever so quiet, no interesting people, not many new members, old interesting people not posting

Turn the lights out

It goes through different phases, with different sets of people, and busier in different parts of the forum to others

It is certainly true that some people have moved on

Still getting about 50 new members a month

Definitely not dying

Sorry no one is interesting for you!

(ps start some interesting threads....)

Tell me about it. I submit an amazing quiz (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=59579.msg1670832#new (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=59579.msg1670832#new)) and people are too stuck in their ways to get involved. Makes me sad.

fwiw i think a few people in caribbean, few people in prague, I know for me this time of year is really busy with work. (not that i post any less). Don't think its as bad as it might seem.

must be something going wrong as i only got 4 entrants for my latest last man standing... unbelievable. http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=59408.msg1669555#new

that was very odd, but BTSD board is hugely busy

Personally, coming up to Xmas, I needed the £20 for other stuff

Ha.

I was just thinking the other day how good this forum has been recently.

Missing Red Dogs contributions a bit though.

I did wonder if some people were pissed off that you won the last one Chris.

It would be totally offside if thy were, because it's a tiny edge the guy who runs it holds. And you deserve an edge for all the work/hassle of running it.

I'll enter if you run it after Christmas.

Jason's thread was the best thing that's happened in months. Feel it's been kind of dead all year tbh :(

It's just diaries, a single punting thread, sorry Fred and why is Herbie such a loser

A touch harsh on Tikay.

I did an analysis 3 or 4 weeks ago, I'll try & find it, the Post Count this year is up around 20% year on year. (See "Forum Stats"). 

The "Views" count is harder to measure & compare, but appears to me to be up by 30% or so y-o-y.

As to the Members currently Posting not being interesting, I can't measure that. The quality of a Forum EXACTLY reflects what the Members put into it, no more, no less. It is what Members make it.     

I can seed new threads all I like, but its up to members to post new stuff and stimulate debate too

A lot of recreational forum posters (not the online, live pros etc) are not involved in poker now, and 2012 has seen that accelerate, so the forum is going to be a bit more concentrated and with different characteristics than previously

Been a nothing more than a lurker/reader for 6 years. Blondes never been more interesting than it is right now, imo.

The sponsorship is preserved tho

interesting point...

+1 to missing Tom, though, he gave us great balance.

It swings & swongs, but the Post-Count is on the up.

I'd best try & find the y-o-y analysis I did recently.

It's an old debate, but I would imagine the diaries don't help.

The view-count suggests exactly the opposite.

Agree with the last bit, the first bit is nonsense of course..stats, blah blah blah

Why do you think that? I think its exactly the opposite at the moment.

Do an analysis that cuts out the outliers and it might tell you more about the success or moribundity of the place

I get the point, I think, that the breadth of the place is narrower than previously and I agree with that

Not sure what the right word is but that breadth is "organic"(?) ie it can't be artificially created too much, its up to people actively posting to change it

If you want to discuss Women Bishops, as someone did this week, get a discussion going...multiply that by 20 and we have the breadth you seek (if I read you correctly)

take the kids to the pictures and come home to this you back stabbing tw@ts :)

Rob did offer to have my account closed when I spoke with him last weekend. I thought I was appreciated around here but guess not.

Right I'm off to sign upto Foxy bingo

Where is Tom then?

Just doing his thing, he is fine.

I saw him at Dtd a few weeks ago for £150 or he may have even been in a different comp.

I spoke to Nirvana about this a couple of weeks ago. I believe the tie in with DTD is what's holding Blonde back. I know its a double edged sword and that Blonde need the sponsorship but there is definitely too much censorship.

I love DTD and I love Blonde but I can't see Blonde getting the depth and breadth back while its neck is being throttled.

agree with this.

whilst tips for tikay is obviously amazing, it kills the board for anybody who just wants to go and browse/chat about sports as so much to catch up on. LMS kinda shows this.

Similar with Honeybadger/Alex diary, people like to speak about topics, if there is a topic in a thread title its more inviting to post.

Think the actual Blonde Poker website needs sorting out, new people coming across an out of date homepage are very unlikely to even get to the forum so that wont help bring new members into the forum.
Been a lurker/memberof Blonde for along time now and still read pha/ diaries etc pretty much every day.

yeh my bookmark is blondepoker.com/forum, which I think should be the homepage. The actual homepage must get little or no use.

Tractor is correct

I have severe problems getting hold of the single forum admin, which prevents me updating it and (in theory) doing a complete revamp with the help of DTD's designers

The access problems stem back to the site hack in the summer

Absolutely no evidence to support this

In the last week nine new topics have started on the sports board, everything from jockeys to Di Matteo

A further 12 established threads have been posted on

The success of Tips 4 tikay to my mind does not affect the rest of the board at all..some sports discussion goes onto that thread but people still start new threads

Its neck is not being throttled!

The relationship with DTD goes back to 2006-07 when Rob diarised the battle he had to open the club

Personal relationships go back further than that

Upsides to the support of blonde by DTD and our access in there far outweigh any downsides (such as not updating other tours, and less coverage of things like the GPS)

any plans for Dtd to have a permenantly streamed table instead of just the final table?

Ah, the 'Blonde is dying' thread.

Comes round about as often as Chelsea managers.

I would say that the forum users have been stream lined to the point where there are a higher proportion of active posters that are very much poker orientated, in that it's not just their passion but also their livelihood.

You're seeing more topics of discussion/diaries that revolve strictly around that - where as in the years past you had a broader range of characters whose interest in poker brought them together in a community, but as individuals their careers/other social activies encompassed a far broader spectrum than what you have now.

I don't think it has anything to do with the sponsorship. It's nice to know that blonde will be secure and maintained, and that they don't have to worry year to year how they will pay their overheads.

The Luton thread is quiet, too. I have interpreted it to mean that there isn't as much to complain about.

Think it's down to how cliquey it is and the heavy handed modding

 :)up

Geo

I now expect a Borg like collective repsonse - honestly, Hitler's stormtroopers were never so cohesive

No results or league any more, so no daily update, ergo people don't check it any more. Shame tbh.

I have no comments on heavy handed modding because I have never experienced it. But do you really think Blonde is cliquey?

From my perspective, I started posting on Blonde on a semi-regular basis a little over a year ago. At that point I did not really know who anyone was on Blonde, and tbh I still don't know most people. But I have always felt welcome when I have posted. I am not part of the in-crowd (if there is one), but I don't feel I am being left out of anything or that there is some sort of clique. Perhaps I just don't care about such things and therefore just don't see that there is an issue, even if it might upset others. But I personally find the forum pretty outward-facing, and a breathe of fresh air compared to some other forums.


Hmmm... this is something I had never really considered. And since I am planning to start writing a few big long posts in my thread next month (now things have settled down with the new arrival), I should maybe think about this a little. My thread is definitely not a diary - I started it as a place for me to write about random stuff that I have an opinion about. But I can definitely see how some interesting topics could be 'lost' within a long thread, and would hence be inaccessible to new members. Has anybody got any ideas for solutions to this?

Blimey. Only Page 3 and Godwin's Law invoked already.

Well, yes, I do, it just is.

You could throw a blanket over the number of people who actually post with any kind of regularity.

Countless interesting people worth reading don't seem to post here anymore.

In the last 12 months I can probably only instantly recall 2 people who have become relatively active and interesting posters and you are one of them

In many ways, this is of course fine - Tikay & Tighty have stats that show everything is OK - I only have a minor vested interest in the sense that one of my reading entertainments is less entertaining than it once was

It's too tempting and just too easy :-)

Ah i see, so since the hack you all lost your your admin rights and now only the web admin has the login details & ftp information?
I was wondering a while ago why Blonde had not used DTD's web guys to get the site together as I am sure it could work really well and encourage new visitors & forum members.

I presume Bongo is/was the web admin and as gone awol?

Yes tractor. Frustrated understates it

Well I suppose that as a new(ish) member of Blonde I don't know how it used to be back in the day. Maybe it used to be even better than it is right now? It seems good to me, but then I am not comparing it to how it used to be since I have no knowledge.

Still can't see how it is cliquey though. I personally don't feel in any way excluded from anything.

Thanks for the compliment BTW.

It's obv cliquey but just not anywhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

I agree with Alex's earlier post, basically I'm addicted to blonde, I spend endless hours on here with not a lot going on. It could be 4am and there's 5 people online and I have no unread posts since last visit to look at, and yet I'll still pause some tv program that I'm watching to check blonde, every 10 minutes.

That said, abs <3 blonde for so many reasons.

Yeah I'm addicted too. Got asked how many posts I've made in two years and I had no idea I've averaged 14 a day. He then told me to get a life :)

Very happy with the vibe on the forums ATM, most if not all of the people who just wanted an argument have fuked off to pastures new or somewhere easier to troll. Entertaining as they can be petty e-peen discussions always turn people off in the Long run.

This is weird.

Bongo always seemed like a decent bloke.

Is he being deliberately obstructive or just has other things going on?

He is a nice bloke. New job, new house, partner...and v difficult to get hold of.

I've made nearly 9000 posts and only had 1 deleted.

Maybe that's because I'm in the clique or maybe because it's very easy to make posts without getting them deleted.

I don't think the mods are at all heavy handed.

because youre in the clique. durrrr

i definatly think I would be an asset to the moderating team

Pretty sure the legend nirvana whooshed everybody again here.

Mentioned in dispatches... I can rest easy

He revived the forum with one thread

Think Women Bishops was tha catalyst tbf...topical and off the beaten track..Nirvana asked and was answered..some would say from on high.... think my orange lucozade has been spiked

Pretty sure Alex is right.

I used to think there was a clique but you learn it's just groups of friends different groups obviously!
I am not on as much at the min cos I have a load going on in my life that is more important than blonde
Everyone has reasons

Some people like for instance cos has left I belive because he's barred from dtd !

I realised it makes me a noob to ask, but what does whooshed mean? I've seen it used on this forum before and have never understood it.

This forum isnt dying.

Needs a Blonde Bash though. ;)

It's the sound something makes as it goes over your head.

about time you came back n give the forum some CPR

My defibrillators have dried up.

Just please don't give us more QPR.  One thread is enough!  ;D

I haven't posted on blonde in months but come on, read what you are saying Rich - do you REALLY believe that? Blonde is on DTD's leash and you know it.

Some months ago I was banned from DTD. I turned up one night at the front desk and was refused entry. I was told 'Rob had   a note put in the system that I was to be banned for life'. I put up a thread here asking why. I didn't swear, I didn't call anyone names, I just asked a question in the direction of the forum sponsors. In fact, given that Rob had allowed someone to use his account to play tournaments that accumulated chips in a live tournament he was meant to play, I'd say he was more of a banworthy candidate than me by a country mile, that is if it wasn't his club and things were fair. But life isn't fair.

Maybe he didn't like me highlighting things that DTD was doing wrong, but incase anyone thinks I was just setting out to troll the club I'd bet anyone who wants to bet against me that I can find just as many posts if not more where I praise the club.

Total time logged in: 181 days, 16 hours and 26 minutes.
Total posts: 18,347

I doubt there were many members who cared more about blonde or contributed more to the forum than me for a long period of time. Yet I wasn't even allowed to ask a question. If the same incident had happened at Full House, Big Slick, The International Club or any other privately owned poker club there's no way my post would have been removed. There's no way the owner wouldn't have received the deserved criticism from Tikay, Tighty and mods and members of the forum.

I'm not saying I can't understand why you didn't. But I don't agree with it and by doing what you did, you shut me out of the forum. I'm sure other members feel the same.

'The Rail' section should really be a lot better off to be fair, but maybe this does not highlight how popular the betting section is, which has been very good over the last couple of months.

However, I don't really see how the sponsorship is holding back Blonde? I don't think that there would be much difference between the forum now and without sponsorship.

Very pleased to hear that.

Eh? I don't get it...

Lol. wp.

Lol .... Hi Tom !

Wheyyy cos!

I like many others have bitten my tongue hundreds of times over this issue. Losing Cos was a disaster in my eyes that should have never been allowed to happen, and the forum as suffered massively because of it, not just because of him, (he's pretty funny I guess but come on, no1s that's bothered ;)) but because of the message it sent.

Hey Lee. Where the Hell have you been?

Are you back in Thailand Cos? if not WHY not?

Without sponsorship the chances are there would be no forum at all.

He was my favourite blog on here. :(

Any chance of this being Greeky's comeback blog?

I been nowhere tom but not as often !
I agree totally with Alex and I bit my tongue soo many times especially over chip leader fiasco !

Yes, I understand that.

Also, 50 new members a month? A lot of them do not contribute, some just popping up for updates every month which is a shame.

Is this true?

There would be no updates obv.

But i can't see many costs apart from hosting the forum.

I am a cost to blonde, covered by the sponsorship. So yes there would be a forum without any sponsorship, just a slightly different forum

What do you mean by a cost to blonde?

For live updates DTD/GUKPT/wherever can still hire? The value is obviously there.

I've no idea on the size of the forum vs say the next 10-15 poker forums in the UK, but they don't have sponsorship and run v well. It is purely because of the amount of posts here? I also think there are a lot more people on this forum who are likely to dip into their pocket if needed than the other 10-15.

I am paid a monthly fee, and the sponsorship covers this. I manage the Ltd co that owns the forum, the sponsorship relationship(s), advertising when required, promotional stuff when required, do live updates from within the sponsorship payment, manage the main site when I can write for it, do the social media

Prior to this blonde had its own card-room, and has been sponsored since, as setting up a new card-room skin was not an option and ther affiliate route was tricky with most members already being hooked up to most offers.

I try not to work out an hourly rate, personally. Put in way more than I get back.





 

there are 10-15 others.

the biggest and most successful is the hendon mob. Successful. Sponsored and always has been

some of the others include AWOP, Punters Lounge etc. All have income whether that is sponsorship, affiliate streams etc

Many others are regional and not looking to be commercial 

Don't know why people sweat all this stuff really. If you like the place stay, if you don't then er.........don't  ;tk;

Maybe when the cardroom died, the idea of making Blonde a commercial business should have died too.

I think its just wrong that posts should be deleted/moderated to please a sponsor (provided the posts in question are not slanderous or offensive obviously)

forum should change it's name imo. DTD Poker forum

clearly thats what it is

kinda agree, especially in the light of Cos post. The same people would still come on though.

No its the blonde poker forum sponsored by DTD.

Despite what I just posted, I agree with this.

Hard for something to be cliquey when I start posting in April and - at least as far as I know... - I've been broadly accepted.

If it were cliquey, newcomers would be shunned, however witty, entertaining and handsome they are.

works for some others see why its become more cliquey than ever

(http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/26694405.jpg)

I've been a member here from close to the start, its always been cliquey to some extent, that has little to do with DTD as far as I can see. Most of the 'clique' stuff involves a bunch of people giving an individual a hard time because they they are sticking up for their mates or other long time members that have bonded with on here on stuff they are disagreeing with. Its usually poker or life related stuff for the most part.

The main difference I see is there are new and different cliques than there were 3/4/5 years ago, that's hardly surprising though.

Fair point. Well made.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O53235Z2hD0

You still here?  ::)

It was a slip up.  We forgot to activate the shun switch in time!

Tal are u at Dtd? Where?

Just left, mate, I'm afraid.

How'd you get on in the comp?

:)

Not sure. Was too busy reading blonde.

About halfway up/down in the Super 50.

What we need is another blatchgate. With that in mind tomorrow I am launching a new betting investment opportunity. I will be concentrating on Rugby matches where I will find drop goal opportunities and matches that will end in draws, as well as unearthing undiscovered Indian cricketers.

Minimum investment will be £200 but get in early as it will be huge. ( or it may go tits up !)



Is the forum dying ? Not at all but it does change from time to time. I miss many of the people who are not posting at the moment but I still have hope  they will return. It takes time for new people to find a niche on a forum and to start to feel comfortable enough to drive the forum with new threads and to impart some of their personality into existing threads. In the past year we have seen notable input from Honeybadger, Millidonk, horseplayer, Tal and others. I go onto The Hendon mob forum every week and it  only takes me about 5 minutes to look at the threads that are of interest. It is years since I even posted on there so in comparison we have riches beyond belief here. I usually spend more time looking at the Gutshot forum and I think that one is actually dead.

The only way that the sponsorship by DTD affects me is that it enables me to have Tighty's updates and for that I am eternally grateful. I can't even imagine  that I would make a  post  that would be censored in anyway. It may be different for people who visit DTD but that is not me - yet!

If there is anyone who genuinely believes the forum is dying then try this. Start a thread about a computer problem or needing  advice  on something. Then see how soon you get a response and the number of people who offer a solution. You will soon realise that all is far from gloomy.

I would make one request though and that would be for someone to fix the clock !

So is The forum dying ?............. Im not really sure that is the case  but I do know myself and others  feel there is a clique on Blonde which is definitely a contributory  factor to why people refrain from posting . An example of this is when somebody ( such as Mantis) posts  a controversial/debatable opinion . There can quite often be a pack like mentality when it comes to the replies, with normally the same people in agreement ganging up to voice their opinion. These same people can be connected by various means (friends,poker staking etc) and as a consequence they will never or rarely oppose each others viewpoints( which is obviously very unhealthy for a forum). I have also observed and experienced  how  aggressive some of the posters can be .Take Greek Stein for example, hes probably a nice guy in real life but in the past there there has been such a tone and anger to some of his posts that one thinks..." actually I cant be bothered with the aggro anymore".Another case in point is  Aaron who quite often will post on most subjects ranging from PHAs to betting discussions .Not withstanding the fact he is quite often factually incorrect  some of the abuse and nastiness he has had to endure is beyond believe so its all credit to him he takes it with a pinch of salt.
 
As an individual Im a very positive person thats very much into the concept of Community Spirit & Human Endeavour, and feel these qualities should be the very embodiment of this  type of forum so wouldnt it be better place if people tried to be a bit more tolerant and nicer with their replies, even if they dont agree with somebodies point of view  ?

If a forum wants to be exciting and entertaining a bit of controversy here and there, a few dust ups, and opposing, often conflicting views are all pretty essential imo. There seems to be this desire to avoid 'aggro' and have a quiet life, but when you're in the entertainments business controversy is what you want. Or sex, but that seems unlikely. So I would let the wagon roll and stop trying to manicure threads. That realism is very important and attractive to a forum audience. Eg that Greekstein banning question thread sounded more interesting than shit women bishops.

I remember a thread few weeks ago where pages of posts were deleted just because it involved DTD, like somebody was having some kinda panic attack in the mod box. 

I think forum dying is probably a bit too strong a word. The forum has changed without a doubt and not for the first time and undoubtedly not for the last.

The latest change, I don't believe has anything to do with the so called cliques. So I don't want to get in to a discussion about them.

The latest change for me is all to do with the DTD sponsorship. The money DTD provide to Blonde is great news for the 'business' side of Blonde but there is certainly a cost to the integrity of Blonde.

These are purely my thoughts and I have no agenda other than putting my views forward.

I like Blonde for the community it is and I like DTD for what they have done for the UK poker scene but regardless of this Blonde should be an independant place where the members should be  able to post what they like within reason. This, I feel, is what's fundamentally missing at the moment. How many people have been banned from Blonde/DTD or self exiled because of what's been said about DTD? In truth its probably not that many but it certainly feels that way.

IMO the deal is simply too restrictive.

Agree with all the above, so many times ill write a reply then just delete to save the aggro. Have to agree the treatment of Aaron has been awful as well.

 Has one single person been banned from blonde because of what they said about DTD?  Cos certainly hasn't, he posted earlier.  Most people have heard his story by now, and the chip leader thing was long since discussed and an apology issued.  Sure it was unsavoury, but it is time people moved on and climb off those high horses of theirs.

Every single forum can appear unappealing and cliquey to outsiders.  I made very few posts in my first 5 years or so because of this.   As others have said, the place is very welcoming.

That is very true. You only have to frequent a bunch of different forums to realise that. The mods are  a lot tougher here than most places which is a good thing for the most part. It stops a lot of the shitfests you get on many forums, they might be fun to rail sometimes, but they ruin it for the most part.

I have been posting here for a year, starting mainly to do the quizzes and then joining in various discussions. I notice that quite a bit of the discussion on the forum takes place in people's diaries. A lot of the diaries are very interesting to read, but I do think that structuring the forum like that limits input sometimes. If some of the discussions that take place in the diaries were posted as general threads, they might attract more responses. Though I knew quite a few people on here before I joined, most of them are not running regular diaries. I have never posted on someone's diary, as the people who own them don't know me and it would feel a bit like walking into their house and sitting down in their front room uninvited. I can remember a very interesting discussion a while ago about which cubicle to use in public toilets. To me, it is obvious that it should be the second-last one and I would have posted to say so, but the discussion was on Red-Dog's diary and it seemed a bit like a discussion between friends, so it would have felt a bit rude to barge in, whereas I would have posted if it was discussed on a general thread.

Last ainec. Trav so if there are 3 cubicles you go in the middle? Ewww.

Of course not. As you suggest, that would be disgusting. I was thinking of when there is a longer line of them.

This is true.......

Its a forum where of course there should be healthy debate but also where people can voice their opinions without fear of ridicule.

You have to bear in mind that some people are more knowledgeable than others (it depends on the subject matter )  .For example in PHA section ...if Phil Galfond was to post a Hand History then any player regardless of experience should be entitled to register their opinion too. It maybe the later is technically wrong in his or her post , but if this is the case they should be told in a helpful way rather than what has happened a lot in the past which is certain people effectively saying " My poker status is superior to yours and you are talking shit "  as a consequence people feel intimidated and they wont want to post again.

This is the same in any of the forums subject matters, people dont want to be made to look stupid .So its not a case of people " avoiding aggro" its surely more a case of why should they have to  answer aggro type questions ?.

It could be said  that people should stand up for themselves.... but why should they ? Not everybody has come on here for an argument ! ...only to discuss , socially interact and possibly gain knowledge ! Its for these reasons I know that some people choose not to bother posting  ,which of course affects activity levels hence the OPs initial question.

I totally agree that Blonde is a very welcoming place ,with a lot of great people, that talk a lot of sense however it would be ignorant to not accept that some do spoil it for others.

1554 views and 121 replies in under a day debating whether the forum is dying suggests that it's not, to me!

Evolving, yes, as it has done many times before, but not dying.

Blonde has been pretty good to me over the years.  I am an occasional poster who has never been in the so called "clique" (and there is/was one) and I don't believe it's dying, it's just that some of the posters who were around when I joined are no longer here it seems.

To some people, those posters used to provide a lot of interesting topics to discuss as well as organising some social events etc.  It's just changed a little, not dying.

I have had a good sky deal from a blonde member, a betting syndicate which enabled me to gain a profit before I decided to leave, and not forgetting many useful bits of advice on general life issues too.

The posters that I remember most from the "early days" were

Boldie
Horneris
Chip Rich
Sharplea
Kinboshi
Laxie
Colchester Kev

There are many others I can't remember for now, but to me it's members like these who maybe don't post as much as they used to (could be wrong) and for various reasons which some of you are well aware of I'm sure.

Like I say, it's not dying, just different people are contributing the most these days.

?

Its not now. I have no idea why it was.

Yeah just shows the potential it has if here were lots of threads and no diaries

what has or is?

"Why is the forum is dying thread locked?"

@Fraser, how you describe what happened with Aaron in that PHA thread (I think that's what you're referring to) isn't quite how I saw it.

It wasn't him commenting on a good players thread and being told he wasn't qualified. It was HIM telling legit sickos that they were wrong, and he was being really obtuse and arrogant about their opinions, insisting he was correct and they were wrong (about a really basic piece of poker theory). So the thread turned into people wasting their time banging their heads against the wall trying to explain very constructively to aaron why he was wrong. That is what prompted the "abuse", because he spoilt what could've been a really good thread started by Brammer (iirc) who never posts on PHA and hasn't posted since.

I don't read the betting section, but have since seen many posts by Aaron that imo warrant a certain amount of flaming eg abusing PW for his play in a deepstack thread and saying he'd steal money from a backer if he was under it.

Yeah the aaron situation is perhaps abit out of hand.

On any other forum he would probably e seen as a great poster but here in the sports section we have pro punters,  in the PHA we have some of the best players in the country and in the rail we have some of the guys who have been here forever and understand what poker is about.

It could be a great educational tool as he is very passionate but I you ever spend any time telling him why his pint is wrong ad explaining why your post is right such as the threads alex mentioned he replies very poorly and defensively.

I was v similar to this around 4 years ago and actually learned a lot about poker, life and sports from posting on multiple forums.

The stealing serenade was maybe a bit naive from him but it's things like that which stick and why he may always get a hard time on here.

Agreed with u & Pleno . That kid is really out of order.
#FreakingWeirdo

I think its the nature of all forums that people hail to the 'good old days'.  These good old days are usually when they first joined/were most active and it was something new and they enjoyed it more.  Can think of many forums, all of different subjects, that I've been a part of that have had this discussion.

It's very likely in 2/3 years there will be a number of prominent posters that leave the forum or leave poker all together and this will be discussed yet again.

Very interesting the problems with the admin of the forum tho. I do somewhat think that its a shame that the front page isn't used much but understand the problems with time/cost and I can't see it adding a great deal of value either as there are many other places to get poker news/stories from.

But yeah blonde is fine and will continue to be for a long time to come, certainly for as long as Tighty is at the helm.

oops. That might of been me. Was browsing on my iphone and think I accidently hit the lock button. Thought i'd clicked something else in time!

debateable :)

Although I remember this PHA thread too my comments were not related to this specific case ,they were more general, though in the main from the Betting section .Taking Aaron as an example again I think its fair to say "He struggles to know how to get his point across", can "sometimes engage mouth before brain", and with his choice of words can provoke people into OTT responses .Im not particularly defending this guy ( I dont know him)my thoughts were merely to highlight possible reasons that could stop members from posting .I do feel  people can "rise above it" take into account posters short comings and try to make allowances . I know this is not always possible, as I saw Pads was really trying his best to be the voice of reason last week (before giving up) but if somebody is willing to register opinions (good or bad) at least they are stimulating debate and as a consequence shouldnt deserve public humiliation .(unless totally out of order )

I think it's far more likely people are put off posting because of Aaron than put off because of how he's treated.

Was talking to Alex & Bobalike  yesterday at DTD
I very rare post on pha because I feel out of my depth and feel I would be flamed forever!
However I might post a hand on there from yesterday's tourney.

Certain people won't go into certain areas because it just doesn't interest them there will be busy times and quiet times .....

This is my point Lee...you (and others ) shouldnt be made to feel this way about posting on any topic

A forum should be accessible to allcomers regardless of subject knowledge  etc.

If you see the hand I've posted today, you'll feel less insecure

#takeonefortheteam

When was the last time someone got properly flamed on the pha boards ?

I find this whole idea of adults being frightened to post on a topic on an internet forum preposterous tbh.

Same as this idea of people going round always agreeing with what there friends do or say, really ? I've disagreed with tons of things people have said or done on here who I like or would class as a friend, if they no longer want to be friends with me because I disagreed with something they said I can live with losing that friendship. In general people normally get along with people that they have similar opinions to so that's more likely why it happens. (pretty sure this has been covered the million other times the clique discussion comes up).

Fwiw I also thought some of the posts towards Aaron were way ott but I can't work out whether he's just constantly deliberately trolling or not so didn't bother to post.

If some guy wants to tell legit sickos they are wrong on PHA then lol bravo imo. If those legit sickos want to waste time banging their heads against a brick wall then lol bravo imo. How does that spoil a thread? I'm not necessarily saying that's the way you want every thread to go but that one just naturally went that way and it became one of the most popular and viewed threads on PHA at the time. Thus the thread was made not spoilt. I thought Aaron was entertaining not humiliated.

A handful of nodding members watching a few legit sickos pat each other on the back is more successful for a forum how? Teaching madman Aaron to put +1 after legit sicko posts is good for a forum how? The most important thing is diversity of opinion not to have your opinion moulded into some kinda acceptable form.

Some of my posts were deleted because they didn't suit and I found that kinda slack. Better to be ganged up on than to have opinions removed and discussion quashed altogether imo, that really does spoil a thread. Also thought wtf when Boldie disappeared and you couldn't talk about it. Not moaning because i like blondepoker and for the benefit of the forum I say being real nice to each other all the time makes for pretty dull reading. If you stop people talking about interesting stuff what is the point? 'Sorting it out off forum' is like standard politician speak. But the stuff sorted out off forum is the stuff you really want sorted out on forum if you want to be top of the pops. Anyway if people say or do controversial things why shouldn't they be challenged, it's not life or death.

Also we need to get nirvana's Hitler post removed as it is racialist and I couldn't say nazi. So cliquey round here.

As was mentioned by someone earlier, it is a lot less interesting on here atm due to the fact that it's become dominated by a similar type of person and the diaries are all also pretty similar, diversity ftw. Loads of people have gone on the missing list and I have no idea why that is, maybe they all just got a more interesting life so didn't have time to waste on here.

If I was banned from DTD because of comments I made on the forum, then these comments must be really out of line. Can I see them?

Surely I should have been banned from the forum too?

To be honest, I can swallow the DTD ban no problem. Not like I can pop in from Phuket but it's disappointing when mods like Tikay, Tighty and Celtic who I also considered friends never commented on the situation. Sometimes a few words go a long way.

Fraser, your post was unfair. Of my thousands of posts on this forum, very few were out of line or aggressive but I guess you still remember me questioning one of your staking posts and it's stayed in your head. Good luck to you anyway.

I was offering some reasons to why people may have gone on the missing list

Not everybody has the same confidence as you maybe ? or Mantis"s desire or skill set for a full on verbal boxing match ?

Youve stated its preposterous that adults are frightened to post ..I dont see it as preposterous !  this is exactly what happens because they dont want look stupid .

Maybe they should all "man up " but then again not everybody is made of the same fabric or desire to stand up for themselves .


@Greek Stein... It was nothing personal though I dont see my comments as unfair ( I did say youre probably a nice guy in real life ) its just that on numerous occasions I re call you took an aggressive line(not just with me) and this stuck in my mind , so I just called it as I see it.  No hard feelings and good luck to you too

The Boldie thing needed sorted off forum, last thing needed until it was was him logging on and seeing speculation or accusations/condemnation. Situation at the time was way bigger than a forum IMHO and the right thing was done.

We spoke about your ban from dtd at the time. I said that most of the people don't really care, because it doesn't affect them and the ones that do, are reluctant to say anything, for fear of being banned from there. Which I still believe to be true. I also offered to speak to Rob whilst I was there. A genuine offer, which I believed would have been more productive, than a thread attracting the usual clowns, which would have done more harm than good imo.

Can you take this off my diary please

I am not really sure it was a Brammer thread, I thought it was a Trigg thread about AJ? If it was Brammer, then I can't remember what it was about.

As for other points you have raised, PW abuse was out of complete order, but I am not sure if it was warranted or not after seeing PW, bring me up pointlessly before, trying to make a point about staking. It is fair to say these days that me and PW do not see eye to eye over that and a few other things.

With regards to live staking, I think you all got the wrong end of the stick. I didn't mean it to look like I did, so was wasn't best pleased about that & I didn't say at one point that I would steal ANY money lol - just you lot changing the words.


All of this, can often type and it comes out the total opposite to what I want it to sound like, annoying at the best of times.


I could not disagree with you any more about this. If people are reading this forum and seeing the abuse that I have got, just because I am not a poker pro or perhaps a player, then other recs would definitely be scared to post on here, having an opinion that is not 100% or even 10% (lol) correct.

Furthermore...

I do not mind this forum at all and I take the abuse well, I do not mind it. In fact two people came upto me on Thursday telling me how well I take the abuse on Blonde :D :D

But sometimes it is getting a little tedious with the abuse from certain posters, who really should be on ban now for having a go every thread, but I suppose he does try hard to get my attention.

Here:


At the end of the day, it's a forum, we can't have the same opinions of everything. In my own personal brag, I have made many talking points on here, which have livened this "dying" forum up.

As for forum & DTD, not much you can say, I don't feel the need to criticise DTD about anything and I feel many others are the same, so why does it matter about them being sponsored by DTD.

The forum needs to run & just so people know this is a similar outlet to the ones I own & sponsorship is massive here. Otherwise, would you all be happy with paying a subscription? I am not quite sure.

best of blonde candidate here, for the simple reason it got Cos posting again!

I will be honest I thought you was a real pain in the arse...for not just me but I can imagine most people (excluding your close fan boys) on the forums when you joined. Never seen someone so angry with everything, looking for fights right left and centre, basically a 3-4 man job to mod you. Always asking why this was not allowed, why this was deleted etc...i think its save to say everyone grew tiresome. You along with a small minority put people off posting anything meaningful for a long time. It dont take someone with a degree to realise you was gonna be banned from DtD for the slightest negative posting becasue frankly people had run out of patience with your constant niggles.

I am happy this changed when you went off on your jolly abroad and realised there was more to life than arguing with mods on a forum. You for me turned it around 100% and became a nice person who posted some cracking stuff on your trips. I see you still have some illusion of your importance on the forums history, sadly an illusion fanned by a few lost souls who are yet to see the light, but i guess we cant have everything.

For me, the year or two when all we got was crap arguments and pushing the mods daily was a dark period, maybe it generated more traffic but apart from the shareholders who cares about that? We have now baring a well established troll and a newer rather dumb one a relatively peacful, respectful forum.

May it continue.

(i know i might get flammed for this but i know for a fact, its what people really think..)

yeah gtfo Greeky. Right who's this troll that needs sorting now :)

 ;popcorn;

Expecting flamming.

You're a twat.

Comments like this do nothing but prove the exact point some people are trying to explain, a pointless post, directing abuse indirectly at another member for no productive reason.

Also would much rather see Aaron's posts regardless of how correct they are than a load of "+1" or "fold pre" with no explanation.

I think its more because there has been so many already this season, people just need some time off from parting with their hard earned.

Personally I didn't enter as there were less than 10 runners so I didn't think it would run, same with Rich I think.

i agree with this but have to be honest and say I probably started a lot of the abuse given to Aaron. He had a go at a mate on sadbook and I got the hump about it.
After talking to him its all cool and I don't like the way he gets treated but he handles it well. I love the way he takes different lines to everyone else, whether it be his sports betting, poker hand analysis, X factor or life in general.  Obv at times he comes across as being, the best word I can think of is, a cock but that is just a Yorkshireman in my opinion. There are loads of Yorkshire men who think they live in gods country and Leeds is Mecca but once you start to understand them and their sense of humour, then they are sound.
I actually like the fact that he is not ashamed to speak up and take different lines to other voices on the forum and I know there are plenty of people who want to ask the questions he does but don't want to be ridiculed.

Great post Herbie.

Not sure if serious ?

I don't like to admit it but Alex is 100% correct here. I do not read/respond to any of Aaron's posts now due to his earlier pearls of wisdom that just infuriated me. I can only assume there are many others.

I gave him the benefit of doubt a few times and tried to explain situations he asked about but those were ignored and he just posted off the wall stuff he knew nothing about. Fine ignored, don't listen or read what people actually post then, not a loss to me.

Forums, especially well established ones with what in essence has quite a few chosen experts in the forums topic don't generally take kindly to what is perceived by the majority as someone coming in and essentially talking "bollocks". The pattern on blonde is a new member is given a period of time to change their ways or they will get hounded out. Like it or not that's life and unlike actual real life bullying anyone can stop posting on any given forum and walk away. Blonde really does not suffer fools kindly, although not as severely as previously I can imagine (without reading the latest stuff on Poker Analysis board) it was not pleasant. for him. But is he not the creator of his own problem here?  can anyone not judge the tone of position people take on the forums and act/post to blend in as to not upset/flame others?

It would be like me going on to a car forum (of which i am clueless on) and giving my misguided opinions on any topic that takes my fancy, then not listening to peoples more informed responses or feedback and continuing to post away. It only makes people wish the forum has an ignore function.

Just ignore if you don't like :)

I don't come onto a forum and follow a herd, I'm my own person and therefore if you don't like it, ignore it, I don't mind it ;)

I've created talking points in here, wrongly or rightly & like said, this is a forum, if we all had the same opinion, what would be the point? I don't sit here & say what I've said is right, but I'm proud of the fact that I can stand and speak my own word, rather than hide behind a silly clique.

Some of the "abuse" here has been OTT, but it won't stop me from having an opinion now, tomorrow or the next day.

Sorry to blow my own trumpet, but forum needs outspoken people, humour and the regulars for it to be successful.

We move onto the next day! Anyway, we need to direct this away from me, if you don't mind...

PS - Thank you Jason

Yo Acidmouse, I am confused.

Your first post describes blondepoker as a respectful and peaceful forum, mostly without trolling, and you hope that continues. Yet in the same post you yourself troll multiple members. You call one a real pain in the arse, one a dumb troll, one an established troll, and numerous other members fan boys. In fact I would say your first post contains more trolling and condescending words than any other in the thread. So kinda confused by that.

Your second post which follows on from the hopes for a peaceful forum post is just flaming, saying this aaron talks bollocks and Blonde isn't prepared to suffer fools. I'm confused here because it appears you don't like or want trolling unless you personally don't like the member and then trolling is ok. In fact you troll to a quite a high standard, that Greekstein illusion of importance fanned by lost souls stuff was rather artistic and well-written.

And what is this? Blonde give people time to change their ways or they get hounded out if they talk bollocks? Who is this Blonde you talk about? Is there some Blonde panel you sit on who select candidates to be hounded out? Or is it just your personal opinion? My opinion is a forum needs entertaining posters, aaron1867 is an entertaining poster, and it is you who is talking bollocks. So do you get hounded out now?

And finally all these comments about aaron1867 mean you are ignoring your own advice about 'just ignore it if you don't like it'. So yeah confused, prob a level or whoosh or something.

  ;snoopy'sguns;

You walk into a pub, shout your mouth off, shout down all the locals & then proclaim "I'm proud of the fact that I can stand and speak my own word, rather than hide behind a silly clique", see how that works for you.

Of course having an independent mind is an good thing, but there's independent & then there's arrogant. The clichéd use of 'they don't agree with me, they're a clique' suggests you may have crossed that line.

Yeah my Aaron post was naughty but tbh he posted exactly the response I wanted.  Ignoring the points I made.  I ain't perfect ;) but in general I don't see much hassle on the forums these days, to me a good thing.

I'm not ignoring on purpose, just want thread to stop being directed at me.

Good post. Do you agree Aaron?

Sigh

+1

All your posts are assuming that Aaron is a real person, not one of the Sheffield lads having a laugh as I think Junior Senior alluded to in another thread.

I had my doubts ever since he said he could go into a bookies and drop tens of thousands on the machines easily but I can't find that thread anymore, maybe its been deleted.

This is what you are on about. Remember it well.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=57791.msg1569301#msg1569301 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=57791.msg1569301#msg1569301)

Surprised no one has mentioned that no burds post on blonde anymore.

All you smelly boys scared most of them off.

Nobody is suggesting the new blonde is all bad.

yeah. The crow was my favourite poster by a long way. So entertaining

this made me lol, wp Herbie

this made me lol, we've got that maria man-thing... but that's about it.

Laxie seems pleasant, exactly why she wouldn't be around here....

Cougar posts occasionally, she sort of qualifies as a bird.

go wash your mouth out.

Not sure if you're joking with me or having a pop? I'm just messing obv. I like Caroline a lot. She's a good girl, funny and i quite fancy her a bit tbh

Must say of all the posters that have gone I miss Claw75 the most.  She made me genuinely lol on an almost daily basis despite having never met her or having any shared interests really.  Great rack from her photos too.  I dont think there is any explicit sexism here though which would be preventing girls from posting.

just jesting... Caroline intimidates me. :)

She's a big pussy cat at heart i reckon

The reason there's no girls any more is that all we ever talk about is poker and sports betting.

And the forum dying.

LOL

This thread could do with a bump tbh...

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=48597.540

I can't believe that's an actual thread.  ::)

Not a fan of naming people as I'll always forget a few but: claw, gatso, reddog, laxie, all were big characters on the forum and none really post anymore, and not surprisingly none of them played poker for a living.

Also both Tom and tikay's diary's were the best on here by miles and sadly both have stopped, sort it out ol' boys.

A lot of recreational players have moved away from Poker Ray, some permanently. Other people are just doing their thing.

As the forum has evolved it has done so into a higher percentage of hardcore poker enthusiasts, and it has more poker content than it did 2-3 years ago. The Sports board has also taken off.

There are less of the community threads, currently eg rate my breakfast etc

At some stage it will all evolve again.

so glad i won this.  what a great breakfast...

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0002.jpg)

Hopefully Amatay's brekkie will too?

haha, you remember ;)

What an incred thread that was.

Sov, that pic is amazing, did u shop it?

If not i'm coming round your gaff for one these bad boys fo sure

That breakfast looks f*cking amazing!

I'd forgotten what Soviet's looked like, but how could anyone forget Amatay's shocking brekkie pic?!  Too lazy to go looking for it, but if someone has it handy - please post for those who missed it.

rate my fry up was like the pha of breakfasts.  I worked hard on my game & took home the bacon, so to speak.  You are more than welcome to come to my gaff for breakfast when you're next in leeds


thank you, it was incredible.  It took quite a few goes to take the top prize but glad I did it as being the undisputed champion of rate my fry up was probably one of the best achievements of my life

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/2933795101_066241e907.jpg?v=0)

pretty special from amatay, prob a close second.

 rotflmfao ;applause;  That's the one!  Thanks for finding it.   ;hattip; 

no offence but WTF is this? is there even any food in this picture...? I just want to use the fork to stab myself and wake up from the nightmare this 'breakfast' comes from..


Soviets however - well played sir, sick tekkers.  You are welcome in my house anytime.



Also, http://www.dianeyoudale.co.uk/

yes she would.

"old" blonde, John..some corking threads like that. Hilarious

we should bump a few  for newer members to have a laugh. Some are already in "best of blonde"

God that breakfast is fucking hideous.......just had to say it.

i always get in trouble for bumping threads... best bumper ever boltpp...  i remember one night where he was just bumping all sorts of random threads and after he did a mod would show up & post saying that it was a bumped thread... he was defo my fave blonde but understand he was a bit of a tricky character for the mod team.

when slagging off amatay's breakfast please remember to pay homage to my breakfast.

kthxbye x

This!!!

No way a breakfast without beans and or tomatoes won that thread.

No beans -1

No Toms -1

MINI black pudding -1

70's style sauce bottles -1

-1 if its a cafe

too late to have a say but does have beans if you scroll across, its just a massive photo.  i dont have my sauce bottles anymore :( defo not a cafe.  i have more photos of it from different angles etc... i will find them for you...

I play purely for fun (no way I could ever make a regular income from it to satisfy my earnings requirments) but when I first caught the bug Id play live 2/3 times a week if possible and online same ish.

Thing is doing that screwed up both my career and my relationship at that time.

I generally lurk on here and enjoy reading the posts and have a chuckle but occasionally think hell that was an hour or two of what !!!! when I could have been more productive so Im not suprised many have moved away or dont post as often - they are off having fun.

Still love the site though.

i'm quite annoyed by just how poor amatays breakfast was.


rofl


bring back breakfast threads (tho tbf who actually eats breakfast or in the morning?)

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0002.jpg)

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0004.jpg)

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0005.jpg)

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0008.jpg)

(http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/sovietsong1983/2008_1130cookedsausages0014.jpg)

Just got hungry  :)

have a tin of tomatoes... seen as you like them so much

FMl - the first time I pop into the forum for about a year and the first thread I read is the Blond is dying thread PLUS rate my breakfast. It's like I have never been away.... :-)

You should change yer avatar so the new members will know yer a Chick.

My breakfast was criminally overlooked by a bunch of Philistines.

Why is it now a dating site? Oh wait....it is as if I have never been away! :-)

Just gotta love Amatay's brekkie, real lol moment seeing that pic again

There were standards.  It either had to be spectacularly good or spectacularly shit.  Yours was obv just mediocre.  

Welcome to my Diary, hope you're well

somebody text claw & get her to post on here pls, she can just agree that the forum is dying & my breakfast was the best but would be nice to bring back a few missing blondes even if it is for a cameo.

She's doing her own thing atm. 

she doesnt have to even read the thread, just say "yeah forum is dying, soviets breakfast was the best"...  even greekstein posted... bet he will come back on to commend me on my breakfast.

why is she single now then :)

Haven't done any stand up for ages but thats all good - I have written first 2 episodes of a sitcom with Shobna Gulati from Corrie - she has decided to leave the soap to work in comedy with me (plus other stuff she can't announce yet) and we have 2 production companies looking at it so we have a read through in January which they will both be at. The stand up is not happening at the mo as so busy with the writing but the comedy course was the best thing I ever did.

I only popped in as I was looking at the DTD pics on the beach on facebook. Wish I'd tried out for it now!

 

Nah.  Loved up with gatso in her spare time and working to pay the bills the rest of the time.  Probably.

ahhh man, havent had one of those beautays for time. presentation is the key peoples and that is a piece of art! mmmm nomnomnom

OMG - where is gatso!?  i miss her too

.

gatso was the best moderator the site had

does anybody remember when cf posted in colour?  twas amazing

That is just the stone cold nuts - good work

Thanks for breathing new life into the site Glen. My OCD meant I have to read every post but if I push my self real hard I can hit the "mark as read" button now.

My next thread will be entitled Guess Nivarna's net worth. Could generate some traffic

Ok - so catch me up - what's been happening? In less than 10 words.....

Sick breakfast tekkers soviet  ;hattip;

Just rofl @ Amatay's effort, has to be about the worst thing I've ever seen labelled as breakfast WTF!?!

Bets mostly.  Few diaries.  Sweet feck all else really.

Two quick questions re pictures of breakfasts:

What? And

No seriously. What??!

** Cough chess thread cough **

Ah yes, my bad.  RSQ is back too. (Sorry I missed yours :( )

Way too harsh. Plenty going on, just slightly different to when Dingdell was last around

So seduced by DTD photos and nothing else happening? It's just like Eastenders.

Probably could be, but we're all behaving lately.  Camp fires and sing songs....and chess.

What could I do man?!  She limited it to less than 10 words.  Women, I tell ya...

Stop posting photos of Simon Trumper in the sea and I'll stop popping in! ;-)

You've never been limited to ten words...

Thread delivers/

you can eat it as lunch or as a dinner as well mate. thats the beauty of it... its not just a breakkie

if i had the ingredients id russle one of them bad boys up now tbh, its been too long.
'unfortunately' i arrived back in Thailand today so i'm unable :(

Bite me....the pair of ya.  xx


 rotflmfao  Missed this post with all the 10 word or less stuff.   rotflmfao

I'd love to hear your critique of those breakfasts.  

not sure if he is single or not but is starting to show his age if you see him close up

But I do see the Daniel Craig lookalike if only he had those trunks on

Tbh it looks pretty incred, it just doesn't resemble a breakfast in anyway shape or form, how can anyone knock a bit of toast with ham n cheese, unless ofc someone tries to pass it off as a brekkie.

That breakfast thread was incredible. Dewi deserves the hall of fame for starting that.

Haha, forgot about this one, I mean't to post it at the time. I was making some hangover food the other week, sat down to eat it and got a deja vu feeling, I then pissed myself when I realised where I got it from. I did take a pic though, just forgot to post  :D

(http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq167/Andr4w/utf-8BSU1BRzAyNDEuanBn.jpg)

Looks like Amatay doesn't even know how to cook toast  :D

Woodsey that's actually amazing. Laughing my head off. It looks so dire.


Amatay deffo gone down slightly in my estimations.

I refer the court to my previous questions

All these pages remembering good stuff from the past says what about the current state of affairs?

Does evolving mean boring? The forum isn't a local pub as per the example before, it is media. And how does media attract viewers? Well every front page of the papers and magazines is sensational, intriguing, scandalous. Every reality tv show or sport gets more viewers through conflict and explosive stories. If I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here was based around everybody sitting by the camp fire remembering good breakfasts from the past it would be one big flop. If two boxers hugged each other before a fight it would be meh.

So here's an example of what I'm saying. In this thread we've had the sensational return of Greekstein. This guy comes from nowhere and asks all these awkward questions. The story had legs and mods could have titillated it, got him posting more, maybe given a few answers, fan the story. Perhaps it would get him posting again, it would certainly have attracted a big audience. But no his posts and questions were ignored and prob sorted 'off forum', and now we're talking about breakfasts from years ago. Does the editor of The Sun quash interesting stories in favour of boring safe ones? I said before you don't want every thread going down this road but whenever a big explosive story arrives on forum it is quashed or ignored. Mods should be salesmen not policemen and get these stories moving forward. Occasionally a big story is allowed to run and I think well why isn't that guy 'bigger than the forum' and his privacy respected. Who decided that?

Let me tell you something about that local pub. If one guy came in shouting his mouth off he would obv be unwelcome, but If he was part of some big coach party all pulling up outside the landlord would high-five him. If that landlord successfully encouraged the coach party to come back every week he would be absolutely loving life. The landlord doesn't want a pub where a few locals sit around being really pleasant cos it doesn't make for a good business. There is a big misconception here that being nice and positive is good for Blonde and being argumentative and explosive is bad. But like I said before Blonde is media so don't turn away the coach parties imo.

At the risk of ending up on his sig.......

Mantis is pretty fucking awesome.

Mantis, I disagree with most of what you've written, but I respect your right to type it.

We have a mod in the making :)

Diaries are so boring unless they are written by someone interesting (90%  of diary threads = boring). Nobody seems funny anymore, the people other people rate as funny seem to be dull and cliched to me. I used to click into threads fairly gtd a laugh but not anymore so i stopped clicking.

DTD censorship is ridiculous, the idea of blonde plc is surely dead in the water?

I didn't ignore greeky's post, I gave an explanation of why its best to sort off forum (IMO) and offered him thatoption in the past.

That isn't as interesting as forum sponsor vs forum hero with everyone putting their own 2p in, is it?

In response to this I will now starting posting in blue once more :)

Hurrah for Cf he saves the forum

Until a month from now when someone complains (again) about the blue being too difficult to read. 

I hope to be there someday...

+1 the 'tis'....

I want to start a chant or something but I've never been to a real game so would have no idea where to start.

wc; cr (wrong colour; cant read)

lol appreciate this.... i even put worldly guessing quiz's n photos of estranged egyptian empresses... :P

Gotta agree with mantis.  Place always more interesting with a tonne of fighting rather than the current vanilla and generally sycophantic tone to so much of it.

+1

You're so right.

People who want to debate interesting issues have a forum to do that. People who want to bitch and antagonise can either start their own forum (blonde ranting?) or shout at traffic.

If it's boring, isn't the answer to click that little X symbol in the top right of your computer screen? Read a book, watch Come Dine with Me, write poetry, ring 5Live...

Is it so bad if people are nice to each other? Let's be honest, that isn't what happens all the time on these threads!

+1

You're so right.

Kinboshi is an idiot

;ban;

Write something about religion here, to avoid stalemate.

Lol bloomin Mods

lol, too clever

QED

...in that that was controversial and therefore interesting or that it was bland and therefore has no place on the forum?

Which was the quod to be demonstrandum erat-ed?

Discussion and debate is good - it'd be boring if we all agreed on everything all the time.  That's the whole point of a lot of threads and a lot of posts on here and any forum.

It's when it descends into flaming and personal attacks that it's both unappealing and it also indicates when a person has actually lost the argument.

Anyway, I'm off to start a thread about a really fat woman who died trying to get a flight home.

Got a rather desperate and pathetic text from nirvana begging me to post something about sov's brekkie on his new diary. Far be it from me to upset an old man with a heart condition so, yeah, sov's fry up was alright looking from what I remember but mine was clearly the best.

Redarmi wisest poster itt by a country mile.

Change title to 'This forum is frying - discuss' and get more brekkies on the go.

FYP

+1

:D

yep that's what I don't get, people proclaiming they saving the forums by either being controversial or annoying as it drives more traffic volume (like they doing blonde a favor). What improves the forums is quality threads about grub and old birds obv...

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.On Blonde or anywhere.

I knew a dog once that used to like to watch other dogs fight. He was an all black medium sized spaniel cross with loppy ears and a semi-docked tail. His name, ironically, was Pal.

Pal's elderly owners would often travel with our little group, and it was when we moved on to a camp that was already occupied or when other Gypsies moved on to our camp that Pal would indulge his passion.

In these situations, the incumbent dogs are understandably very territorial, and who can blame them? It's their patch. They were here first. By the same token, the newcomers are pretty reserved and non-confrontational, just like newbies are in any situation. This worked out just fine. For the first few days there was a bit of stiff legged walking around and a fair amount of butt sniffing, and soon they were all one big happy family.

Not when Pal was around though. He used to go charging through the stiff-leg butt sniffing ceremonies at a full stretch gallop, snapping and snarling like a dervish. Then, when the mother of all fights broke out, he would hide beneath his owners wagon to gleefully watch the carnage through the slats of the front steps, or the spokes of a wheel.

This went on for years. Pal caused hundreds of fights without ever really getting involved.

Then one day, while making his customary escape, he was intercepted by a big saluki x greyhound lurcher that had missed the actual fight kick-off by dint of the fact that he was just returning from a coursing expedition with his master.

The contest was brief and decisive. Within less than 30 seconds Pal was in full retreat with his tail firmly between his legs. Screaming like a banshee, he gave us a wonderful demonstration of the Doppler effect as he passed us on his way to the horizon.

Pal didn't return for a couple of days. When he did he was hobbling along, almost unable to walk. His face was a mask of pain and he looked as if he had aged 10 years.

The old couple asked me to examine him and, after tying a handkerchief around his muzzle to prevent him from biting me I began to look him over.

I expected to find a broken limb or a severed tendon, but the truth was, I couldn't see anything obvious. Then I saw what I at first thought to be a burr stuck to the long hair on the underside of his belly. Looking more closely, I was shocked to realise that it was one of his testicles. It had fallen through a ragged hole in his scrotum and was now dangling from a few inches of wizened pipe-work. It looked like a forgotten conker, hanging from a schoolboy's pocket.

After a quick conflab with Pal's owners, I snipped off the outcast cojone, painted the exit hole with a generous dollop of Gypsy horseman's ubiquitous "blue antisceptical" paint, and left him to the whim of the Gods.

After a long, (and presumably somewhat uncomfortable) convalescence, Pal made what was a swings and roundabouts recovery on the important-to-dogs-ometer.

On the minus side, he had lost all interest in chasing girl dogs and fight-starting, but on the plus side, he had added at least two octaves to his vocal range.     

 

Welcome back Tom :)

There's enough bollocks on this thread already, Tom.

+100

I have a apprentice that's on trial with me I picked him from loads of different kids cos he was enthusiastic and rang me like 10 times when I kept saying try back in a few weeks!

He is a Muslim .... Makes no odds to me what religion he is!!
Apart from I needed a Hand today lifting a cupboard (fitting a kitchen) couldn't find him he came back 10 minutes later

He was in the customers garage praying .........5 times  a day apparently !! Fml

bit unfair on some idiots I know.

Ninja edit by an idiot

Easy one Lee. Get him to tell you when he plans to pray each day. It should break down like this:

Prayer 1: Pre work
Prayer 2: Morning tea break
Prayer 3: Lunch Break
Prayer 4: Afternoon Tea Break
Prayer 5: After work

Lee will be thinking "breaks, no way" :)

He don't have to pay him for them!

Behave, you lot!

you started it

I don't know you so well Tom, but I appreciate your posts, both educational and comedic. 

Welcome back Tom!

That is one hell of a fable Tom, I'm sure you could find a shorter way to say +1 but it's lovely to have a bit of wisdom around the place again

Cant believe the winning breakfast didnt have Potato Scones, you people are missing out in life!

Just sitting here reading through the thread and laughing at those pics of Amatays brekkie (that threat was awesome 1st time round btw), when my 6 year old comes to see what i'm laughing it.
He currently rolling around on the floor laughing at  someones effort to make a square face and huge ears with food

Lol

Oioi!

Sad to say I am yet to interact with Tom, who is clearly an amazingly wise man. Brilliant tale.

It's taken a few months, but looks like the op has contributed significantly to bringing the forum back from the brink of extinction by prompting the return of the happy birthday threads. Blonde hall of fame? At least a medal for our hero I reckon.

I may be overstating things but to say I've turned this place round is a massive understatement

FML I did the prompting not him!

Overlooked ftl

Bloody Liverpool fans!

In fairness the return of the Camel was a big turning point for me, I think Blonde has been particularly good for the last 6-12 months

(http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/yourhoustonnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/1f/01fb04cf-6996-5b1f-9d42-f8cee9a2a1a8/5122aecedaf84.preview-300.jpg)