Thanks!

Big shout outs to @McSpazatron @Thatbassguy @nimby @ElectroBoy @SlvrSlug @glwood54 @Agent_Outside @Gamma Ray @Slopemaster @Ironguy @kmeeg @mac1usa @MeefZah and the many, many others who had made this forum both informative and entertaining for me. I appreciate it.

For reasons that @McSpazatron articulated particularly well at the time, the events of this past April Fools Day broke my trust in how the forum is run and thus soured the whole thing for me.

I would refer members to McSpazatron's eloquent statement, but I can't because it was disappeared down the Memory Hole, along with almost all record of what happened on the forum that day. So that history is lost. An erasure of the Forum's frolic with AI, as if it was a toy. An erasure of its decision to change the very words of its members with no warning or explanation. An erasure of the criticisms that then ensued from members. And in my case also banishment after I posted my criticisms -- a first for me here or for that matter anywhere.

As I said on April 1, just before being silenced, the episode itself had me about ready to give up on active participation in the forum. Some apology or promise not to do it again -- or even an acknowledgment that some members might reasonably have been offended by it -- might have changed my view. But instead the whole thing was swept under the rug, and under the rug it mostly remains. That won't work for me.

I am posting only now because this was my first chance to say thanks for all the good times prior to April 1. So Thank You!

Best wishes everyone!

-- SM

 

Your contributions here will be missed!

I always enjoyed arguing about turbos with you.

Take care! And, enjoy the 86!

 

Sir, this is an Arby’s.

 

Holy shitting dicknipples, I'm deserving of a shout-out? What do I do except regret arguing about EVs and tell people to lick-lick-lick my balls? And there was drama on April 1st? I barely remembered the whole "Kenny's letter from Hawaii" thing. Was my head so far up my ass that I didn't notice it? I mean, my head can go pretty far up my ass. Almost as far as my foot goes in my mouth.

 

@Singleminded always appreciated your conversations on here. Your engineering expertise will be missed here.

 

Haven't seen you around here in awhile.

 

Looks like fun! And, probably another great way to get rid of extra money.

 

What the hell happened on April 1st? I gotta get out more.

 

The staff used some kind of program to change people's comments into old English, or even converted them to poems. It got a mixed reaction. A few people were super pissed off by it, including @Singleminded .

 

Thanks. I guessed I missed all that. Looking back at my calendar, that was a Saturday and a very busy day for me so I probably didn’t even look here. I got suspended for a month once and to this day I have no idea why. Likely some funny meme I posted that was political or something. I enjoy it here too much to quit. Too many good ideas I would miss. On the other hand, I’d have lots more money in my account if y’all would quit having so many good ideas. Makes you wonder though, if the admin that came up with that April Fools idea also got banned for a month. Oh well, as that commercial guy says, “You got up early. No one cares.”

 

The staff never really said anything about it, that I recall. As much as AI terrifies me, I found it entertaining. I consider the forum a form of entertainment, so I don't take anything here too seriously.

As far as your ban; anything remotely political will usually get you a ban. They're very strict about it.

 

It sounds like you’re breaking up with us…

 

Same. I had no clue what happened.

 

Yeah, the whole episode was kind of disappointing, and it is too bad that nothing was acknowledged. Some april fools jokes just don’t come off right, for different reasons to different people. Yo momma jokes, as good as they might be, should always come with an understanding that the target may not like them as much.

Lot’s of people got a chuckle out of chatbot automatically changing the words written by posters. A few, like you and me, didn’t think it was funny because it linked your identity with a messages you didn’t actually write. To some, that’s just never funny. I don’t think it’s that hard to understand why it’s not. If that makes us fuddy duddys that are a bore at parties, meh.

However, I can understand how hard it is to apologize in public when a joke just doesn’t land the right way.

 

Personally, I thought it was hilarious.

I hope you decide to stick around @Singleminded. This place is better with your input.

 

Yo momma's so fat, I thought she was a Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

Yo momma's so high maintenance, I thought she was a Jeep Renegade.

Yo momma's such an expensive date, I thought she was a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon with an insane dealer markup.

 

Yo mamma's so fat, she sat on a rainbow and made a lime rush pro.

Yo mamma's so ugly, she look like the front end of a limited.

Yo mamma's so stupid, she thought TRD stood for "turd".

*Edit* - I agree with others @Singleminded, I think the forum would be better with rather than without you. However, I do understand your perspective on the situation because I was browsing the forum that day as events unfolded. You do you

 

@Singleminded yeah bud hope you choose to stick around

I personally don't have a FB account or anything like that, just a fishing forum and this one for 4Runners. Personally, I find this forum informative and fun and most people here are pretty cool. I do not personally recall the incident on April 1st myself and if I read it, I probably did not understand what the hell anything meant if in old English and skipped over it (thats just who i am)

There is a guy on my fishing forum who writes everything in this hillybilly talk that I have no idea what the hell he is trying to say, so I skip his posts. Some guys get a kick out of his posts. Nothing wrong with hillybilly talk, it is just like any other foreign language to me.

But yeah give it some consideration to stay, on the whole I think we have a pretty good group here.

 

Dagone mayne what you sain foreign language *mumble mumble mumble* ain't no foreigner mayne I speakin dagone ANGLISH (+1 for the hillbilly accent fishing pun)

 

Yo momma's so out of shape, she's a 2010 four cylinder 4Runner!

Yo momma's such a broken down stripper that Stellantis named themselves after her stage name!

Yo momma's a porn star like a Ford Pinto. She explodes whenever someone rams her ass!

 

Interesting response. Are personal attacks on members part of the job for forum staff? Some people would think that job prioritized impartiality, enforcement of decorum and member assistance.

Some might even read your response as defensive, as if I hit a nerve. Might make one wonder if perhaps staff is a bit embarrassed by the decision they made?

The response was also not the first of its kind. Similar responses from staff back on April 1 helped convince me that forum admins were more interested in their own amusement than in protecting forum members.

I write this now in hopes it will help protect other members from such abuse in the future.

That is, if it’s not deleted under the apparent-but-unpublished “don’t criticize forum staff’s decisions” rule.

 

This topic needs more yo momma jokes.

Yo momma's got so much junk in her trunk, she needed to change out her rear springs to something stiffer!