An Open Letter to the Forum - Re: Bruce Dorskin (suspended)

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by mdschulze

Can't we all just get along???

Sure sounds like a gem of an idea…and a big step to getting along with folks is don’t threaten to sue them. Also calling them morons and talking down to them with an elitists attitude tends not to help let alone wishing their deaths...

Just a thought while we all get along..

[barrysloate]

Mike-It's not like Bruce is being sent to Alcatraz. He is simply suspended from posting for a month- he can still read the board- and then he can come back if he wants, providing he does so with a little civility. That's not really so bad, is it?

And in answer to your question, nobody on this board has physically hit anybody, I don't think. Everything that has transpired has been in cyberspace. Bruce is knowledgeable and I am glad he was helpful to you. He can at times be very nice.

But since you are new to the board not everything coming from his keyboard has been peaches and cream. At times it has gotten pretty ugly around here. So I think a month away from the board is more than reasonable.

[mdschulze]

Barry, let me first say that I really like reading your posts... you seem very knowledgeable and you always carry yourself in a respectful manner. Top-Notch!!

I agree that guidelines should be followed on a forum such as this... I just wanted to share my one time experience with Bruce and how he graciously took the time to provide me with more info than I initially tried to obtain. I can assure you that his correspondence with me was not like what you see on some of his posts here.

I glanced back at the recent thread by Bruce: "Net 54 Top 100" and it seemed that there were a few members eager to start pushing buttons. There's obviously some history here between a few members and Bruce. My question is: since some of these members know what kind of reaction they can expect from Bruce, then why post anything at all that may set him off? Additionally, did Bruce just randomly pick people to start sending threatening emails to? I would guess that one or some stepped on his toes in the past(maybe in good humor) that started this whole ordeal... still doesn't excuse threatening emails though!

Bruce obviously has a unique personality but I don't think too different than what we encounter in real life (at work, at the store, on the road, etc.) I would like to think some members, including Bruce, would handle situations like these differently in real life instead of how they tend to get handled on cyberspace forums. May just be for attention, shock value, who knows!

You are correct, 30 day suspension isn't the end of the world!

FYI... I'm not here trying to defend or point fingers, just here to rationalize!

[barrysloate]

Mike- thanks for the kind words.

And you are correct that there is a history here. I won't go into it in deference to Leon's request, but this has been going on for a long time.

[autograf]

literally years......

[botn]

Barry you are correct. It was on The Net 54 100 thread in which the offending sentiment was written to Adam. Thanks for pointing it out. I had forgotten. So be it. The mods have voted and 30 days it is.

When it comes down to it Bruce does have so much to share but for some reason rarely does but instead ends up pushing people's buttons and rubbing people the wrong way and the class warfare begins. If Bruce comes back after this suspension I doubt that anything will be different though he may end up saving his threats and ill wishes for private email. I hope I am wrong.

[nyyanksghr]

Speaking of all this threatened violence, does anyone remember the huge fistfight at the 1986 National Convention, in Arlington, Texas? I'm curious who the dealers were. I was 13 years old and set up at my first National. Pat Flemeister graciously gave me a table at his booth. Somehow my mother was tricked/talked into taking me to Arlington to spend 4 days in a motel while I did the show. She was hesitant, to say the least, about letting her 13 yr. old into a room full of adults doing business. I pleaded my case and finally convinced her that Pat would be safely looking out for me. Within 5 minutes of us getting on to the show floor, an old fashioned fistfight broke out. I recall my mom saying "You are not staying here!" This was no pushing, shoving, fingerpointing. This fight was better than John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" I've always wondered who those two dealers were and what they came to blows over. Does anyone recall? There was another good fight in the lobby when the autograph tickets were sold out for Mickey Mantle bats(50 bucks each). Dallas was in a heatwave, long lines, not organized, and Wanda Marcus, the shows promoter, smirking, standing in the show, with a "I don't give a shit" look on her face. One of my best childhood memories

[botn]

1986 was before my time attending a National. There was one in Chicago in 2002 which resulted in an arrest. And 4 years later Anaheim was hoping with activity with a stand off right in front of me between Gary Moser and Daniel Desmond in which one opponent armed himself with a chair and the other with one of the poles which hold up the curtain around the booth. There is a joke there but I will let someone else take it and run...Later in that show I had a little "in your face time" with JP Cohen, the convicted felon who runs Memory Lane, in front of the Hilton Hotel. Ahhhh... the memories.