who's had enough of Gerry ?

[eniam rognab]

I tried pouring water through an inductor, but it was still too ripply. You need really flat water, I think.

ahh, i believe you need to properly 'season' or age the inductor to get the most mojo out of it and bloom properly.

[xtian]

Crap fuck. I've been out of range for three days, returning to find you've banned Gerry. After 20-some votes? I thought there were thousands of registered users here.

Plus he was keeping to his thread, not crapping all over your house. Pretty well housetrained, I think. And a FAR more interesting thread than, for example, whether 715 or 716 series orange drops are more "correct" or whatever obviously I don't know what I'm talking about now so I'll bite my tongue but COME ON.

[potatofarmer]

My two cents, bring the thread back and keep it locked if you have to. I only saw the first couple pages but it sounds like gold.

[sixstringer]

Who's Gerry?

[lord preset]

Who's Gerry?

[img:200:255]http://cs697.vk.me/u83405386/a_41deab98.jpg[/img]

[sixstringer]

Thanks, that's really helpful

[kkregsg]

Wow. I'm glad I'm not the only one who found that thread a bit grating and presumptuous. I'm not big on nuking stuff, but sometimes the wacko just spills out too far.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Who's Gerry?

You're in Southern California, right? Must have happened, you're stuck in a traffic jam on the highway, no reason. Oh there was an accident, cars got towed away fifteen minutes ago but the traffic jam's still there.

And today here you are, you missed the action, the traffic's still backed up and wondering why All in all you didn't miss much. If you're still puzzled pm me & I'll try to explain the unexplainable. But won't go on for 23 pages.

[matt h]

If you're still puzzled pm me & I'll try to explain the unexplainable. But won't go on for 23 pages.

In non-PM form, I'll give it a whirl. The situation is something as follows: Gerry's an entitled, abrasive whackadoodle fundie who came here to exploit the community for his own capitalist greed. Those who are familiar with the rhetorical devices employed by internet trolls (using measured hostility to goad your victim into crafting a thoughtful response trying to clarify to remove offense... because like, non-trolls are all civil and stuff) were quick to anger and began bristling almost immediately. Those for whom engineering skill comes more readily than nuanced social skill largely seemed to fall for the bait again and again. That this place, like most DIY community sites, embraces such a generosity of spirit, many continued giving the benefit of the doubt and continuing on the mad quest in some misguided, albeit noble, dedication to the greater good.

The only fitting, ironically enough, thing about all of this is that the community's behavior was absolutely inline with with the biblical prescription for shunning. "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one." (1 corinthians 5:11).

Oh to wage war on evangelicals with evangelically approved means! *guffaw guffaw chortle chortle... knee-slappery!*

[Merlinb]

What happened was, a very eccentric fundie had this idea for making a very thorough water analogy for how an amp works. Not surprisingly, a lot of people (including me) said "Gee, what a f***ing waste of time. Don't bother".

Gerry's response was "Well, yeah, that may be, but I want to try anyway. I'm obstinate like that." He had this grand idea to use the idea for an educational kit which was wildly optimistic and would never actually have happened, but some of us thought, "Fair enough, we're game for a laugh". So we helped him with the idea, in the hope that the process would teach him what a waste of time it truly was. He was getting there. And I personally found it interesting to consider the concept at least as a brain teaser if nothing else.

Unfotunately, the detratctors resented the fact that a newbie had managed to create such a popular thread, so they started a hate campain against him (which included this thread). Not surprisingly, Gerry got a bit defensive, although he was astonishingly reserved given how much he was being bullied. Let's just be clear: it was other forum members who started a playground fight with him; he simply stood his ground.

The detractors have since been trying to claim he was "taking advantage of us", like he was forcing them to provide him with information against their will or something, and they don't give away info for free. Money, money, money, that's what matters. What's more, because they're kings of the forum, they dictate that no one else is allowed to give away free information either, but that's capitalism for you. Apparently he was manipulaing me, and as an adult I have to be protected from such people by the more important forum members, like I'm some ophaned child at risk of being groomed by the local pedo. So they shut him down on the basis of (at the time) 16 votes to 20, among fifteen thousand members. Some votes are more equal than others, it seems.

[jml77]

Merlin, I agree with your first two paragraphs, but in the last two you are descending into fanning the flames territory.

Mods: A few suggestions if I may be so bold.

1. Please can this thread be closed, it is bringing out the worst in forum behaviour. It is just as distracting and irritating as the Gerry thread, if not more so.

2. Would it be possible to create a sub-forum for purely academic and theoretical discussions, maybe even advice for newbs to electronics ie study routes etc, book reviews, and off-the-wall theories.
Then discussions such as Gerry's could be whisked over there if they appear in the Technical forum, which appears to be more suited to practical aspects of general amp building.

Ta

[matt h]

Let's just be clear: it was other forum members who started a playground fight with him; he simply stood his ground.

This isn't really true. If one kid is running around a playground urinating on all of the swings, and some other kid runs up and hits him-- are you really saying that the kid who swung first actually started this? No.

I also have to disagree that there was an issue of too-popular-for-a-newbie. My first foray into posting on this forum was in a very against-the-grain thread on UL which was also a rather long thread. The offending issue here wasn't about subject matter, it was deliberate, repeated, social missteps designed to be inflammatory. Some users performed web searches and found a history consistent with the behavior exhibited.

I do, however, agree there's a distinction to be made between being a jerk/troll/selfishasshole and being a bully. I also haven't seen a mod state that this thread or poll was in any way, shape, or form, part of the decision process for dealing with the thread or the member. While I've read and chimed in in this thread, I did not vote. I suspect many others also abstained from voting or public declarations for lynching, finding it, as you said, bullying and distasteful. Truth be told, I'm surprised this poll wasn't grounds for banning.

I will only speak for myself and say that I did not find the lack of response to the detractors to be a virtue necessarily. To clarify, I mean that typically, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" applies... right? So if you're not doing as the Romans do, and they repeatedly find some behavior offensive... and voice displeasure about it before breaking out the swords or lions-- the correct response is not to ignore that they've complained and to discontinuethe same behavior. While the contrary warrior had a place in Cheyenne society, in "Western" (which is to say, European-derived) society? Socrates was put to death for being a smelly old curmudgeon. Right or wrong? Irrelevant. When given the opportunity to speak in his defense, he goaded the jury with more vitriol. Was he brilliant? yes! Was he a total fucking asshole? Yes. Was the assholery required for the brilliance? Nope.

It's worth noting that MIT has a program called "Charm School" specifically to teach social skills to prevent situations just...like...this.

[martin manning]

Merlin, your second paragraph is wildly inaccurate. If Gerry had been honest about his intentions, and the early exchanges were anywhere near as cordial as you make it sound, I believe there would have been little controversy. I am in agreement with jml77 about the later ones, and also that this thread should be deleted.*

I like an academic discussion as much as the next guy, maybe more, and thinking though the hydraulic analogy is an interesting exercise. There was some good discussion, and Merlin's contributions were as usual very enlightening, but unfortunately the OP's conduct overshadowed all of that. I don't think creating a separate bin for such discussions would solve the fundamental problem that cropped up here.

*Edit: or maybe not... Some of this discussion might be useful in the future for the next incursion.

[Merlinb]

typically, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" applies... right? So if you're not doing as the Romans do, and they repeatedly find some behavior offensive... and voice displeasure about it before breaking out the swords or lions-- the correct response is not to ignore that they've complained and to discontinuethe same behavior.

Hmm, that's true, but as I recall he did temper his posts in the latter part of the thread. Too little too late?

[HeeBGB]

<facepalm>