Bill's repent!

Scott, JDK, Nathan, Ztex ... etc. no disrespect ... yah, yah, I know .... not about warbirds etc, etc. .... sue me! ..... who the heck cares, Bill's a big mouth with a big political side to him that even annoys me .... go figure! ... but he's missed. Hate him or love him ... he IS WIX!!! ... I can't get through a day without reading a Bill Greenwood post. It's TOO boring around here ... BRING BILL BACK!!!! ... let Bill be Bill and just let him do what he does. Man up! or Woman up! and deal with a little Bill Greenwood at times. His good is way better than his bad. I have WAY more problems with my dog sitter and mailman than I could ever have with Greenwood. I give Bill one last shot at being a true WIXer. ONE LAST SHOT!!!!! I'll find him and shoot him myself if he crosses the line ... So will muddyboots!

scott it's your website and your rules, I get it!!! I've always GOT IT!!! ... but Bill's not your problem, he never has been, guys like me may be your problem. Who knows!! I see and read what you see and read, but I have a different view on your problems. Does that makes sence to you? ...

Disclainer: all the PM's I'm getting are great and wonderful and all, but I'm no big deal here. Scott's your man ... JDK is also up here. I have NO pull.

[DenverWarbirdFan]

I had dinner with him last weekend. He's a great guy... i'll sign a petition!

[cozmo]

Speaking as some one who has seen this before, at another forum, this is wrong.

It doesn't matter how great of a guy some one is, there were rules and warnings that were ignored. What makes this different was that he wasn't being baited, he did the baiting.

So, some folks ran to the teacher to complain about the baiting, that's their problem. You just remember those who cannot debate and those who can.

Other places cull the herd so much the place turns into an echo chamber. An echo chamber is no fun. That hasn't happened here.

It is something that has to be worked out between the powers that be and those who were banned. From what I have read, the powers here are fair. A petition won't fix things it and will just ruffle more feathers.

Really, I have seen, and been part of, bad forums.

[daveymac82c]

Hey Hellcat,

I do agree that I too, have never been offended by a thing Bill's said here on WIX, but obviously people with differing political views have been.

It wasn't so much his views that got him banned, but more that he would not stop bringing his views into the WIX forum when repeatedly being told not to by the mods.

Yeah, I wish he was back, sure. He had an inside into warbird operations (Specifically the Spit, but has flown several others that he could confidiently be able to compare between). That is more than a lot of people can bring to WIX, and best of all, he was more than happy to share and discuss this. I really liked that about his posts. Whether he owned a Spitfire or not... I don't really care. I liked the contributions he made to WIX.

That being said, I think it would be wrong to bring him back into WIX because it would set a precedent, and a rule's a rule! Once broken, rules don't have the same power that they used to.

So Hellcat, I agree with your views entirely, but in the end I think it would be wrong to reverse the judgement in Bill's case, and in anyone else's case for that matter.

Cheers,

David

[hang the expense]

Not no, but H-E-L-L no.

[RyanShort1]

Come on guys. Some folks did try and deal with it and you make it sound like it's all one sided. First off I exchanged quite a few friendly and interesting PMs with Bill (Go ahead and ask him) and I have no personal malice towards him. Frankly, though it's for VASTLY different reasons, we actually agreed on some of the political topics. However, a majority of his statements were politically driven - in direct opposition to the rules of the board - and he made no excuse for it. The statements also did nothing to contribute to the main goal of this forum. Sometimes those views were quite offensive to some of us either for their contents or their implications (warbirds do involve moral issues as part of the nature of warfare), and for a long time nobody did anything about it. Then some folks got tired of it and either debated on some interesting threads about it, talked to the moderators, or posted their own views in a similar manner. It was ironic that one of the contrary posters (BW - who is also involved in warbirds and an active mechanic) got banned BEFORE Bill and he'd never been given a public warning (not that it's necessary per the forum rules) or temporary suspension like Bill had previously been given. Also it was quite ironic that one side publicaly whined about the moderators and such and implied that they were being called names, etc... all the while doing essentially the same thing to the "other side" in their comments. Frankly, some of their whining was really annoying and their accusations childish.
I challenge you to consider that this place is and has been better off since the moderators got things back under control. I wish Bill was back, too, but only if he toed the line like the other 99.95% of the posters. Let's get over it, learn from it, and move on. Oh, and not keep bringing it up. Otherwise it would only be fair to bring back all of the banned posters and give them a chance to "repent." There are folks here that still look at various of the banned folks favorably - but that's not what makes it right or wrong to bring them back. I'm with the Mods on this.

Ryan

[Kyleb]

Hey Hellcat,

<<snip>>

It wasn't so much his views that got him banned, but more that he would not stop bringing his views into the WIX forum when repeatedly being told not to by the mods.

<<snip>>

Cheers,

David

I don't think Bills views got him banned. I think all views are welcome here. And I figure that most people here enjoy a good debate, which requires at least two sides. Where Bill got himself in trouble was that he had a hard time keeping his tone polite during those debates.

[JDK]

Mod Post: Sorry folks, the matter is not for discussion.

ONLY Scott has the ability to ban members (and, presumably rescind bans) - anyone who feels strongly about it is, of course, welcome to contact Scott about it.

Nothing to see here, thank you.

[Ztex]

Bill's or Broken Wrench's views did not cause the bans.. It because they would not follow the rules and leave the politics at the door. A caustic attitude and a willingness to bait people with political comments is considered bad form. There was plenty of warning and many chances to conform to what this site is all about.
My momma told me not to discuss politics and religion unless I wanted an argument. Pretty good advise.

[Scott Rose]

No.