Goodbye to a friend...

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gerd

gerd

Retired Footballer
8 January 2002
Over the moon
KRC Genk, Spurs
Just got a PM from somebody who is disgusted by the lack of respect on this forum...
It may seem pretentious, but i decided to copy my answer to him because i hope that this can be good for this community which IMHO is in decline the last half year...the evo-web i loved has changed....

My good (virtual) friend ,

What a shame that you leave us, a French proverb comes to my mind: si tous les dégoutés s'en vont, il n'y a que les dégoutants qui restent..Roughly translated in English that would mean: if all the disgusted people walk out, only the disgunsting people stay behind.
I hope that this piece of French wisdom can change your mind. Because my friend, i will sorely miss you...
I visit this site on an almost daily basis since 2001 and i must say that i notice a decline...this always was a typical male site (no wonder football and videogames) but the last months it's all about ego's and about "being right"...On top of that people do not feel the need to make a simple apology when they have made mistakes in the sometimes heated discussions which are normal for an internet forum. I often make mistakes too...i'm a very impulsive person, but i don't mind to apologize myself...Is this because i'm 46 year old, married with two childeren and being a formal testicular cancer patient, my ego has suffered enough...i'm used to it??? I don't know...When you get older the only thing you know for certain is that you know nothing....it's a refreshing thought and it gives a certain sense of detachment and freedom...
What annoys me most is the fact that there is a big lack of respect for other people's opinions...if you have another opinion, more and more people on this site consider you an idiot or a moron...on top of that (and that is the big problem), mods do not interfere when there is a lack of respect towards other's opinion...I know it's easy to criticize mods, they are like referees in football, never popular but very, very usefull...and they are at their best when you hardly notice them or when they have the guts to take unpopular decisions.
I will miss you because i liked your postings, you are a genuine fan of a "litle" club and not one of the many glory hunters who allign themseles with the latest winners...when i read your postings i know that you are a true football freak...certainly an Everton fan, but above all a football fan...because football is much more important than the latest overhyped big club (oh and it would be rather conveniant if people were thinking about Chelsea fans now, well i have to say that quite a few of the Chelsea fans on this forum are not the typical glory hunters).
Somehow i hope that you change your mind my new vitual friend. Evo-web needs people like you.

Take care my friend.
If i dont hear from you: may you live long and happy...


Gerd
 
What the hell`s this, a load of bs about people with with little respect on this site, well my friend with your ignorance you have just belittled everton f.c an english giant in english history, one of the 12 founding teams of the first football league founded in 1878 a mere 14 years before liverpool were even thought of.....a disgusted evertonian.:(


Club Honours

Football League Record
1888 Founder Member of the Football League. 1930-31 Division 2, 1931-51 Division 1, 1951-54 Division 2, 1954-92 Division 1, 1992-Present FA Premier League.
Division 1 Champions
1890-91, 1914-15, 1927-28, 1931-32, 1938-39, 1962-63, 1969-70, 1984-85, 1986-87.

Runners-Up
1889-90, 1894-95, 1901-02, 1904-05, 1908-09, 1911-12, 1985-86.

Division 2 Champions
1930-31.

Runners-Up
1953-54.

FA Cup Winners
1906, 1933, 1966, 1984, 1995.

Runners-Up
1893, 1897, 1907, 1968, 1985, 1986, 1989.
Charity Shield Winners
1928, 1932, 1963, 1970, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1995, Shared 1986.

League Cup Runners-Up
1976-77, 1983-84.

European Cup-Winners' Cup Winners
1984-85.

FA Youth Cup Winners
1965, 1984, 1998.
 
Eh?... Am I missing something here? Gerd, is your friend a long time member? It would be sad to see anyone leave the forum, especially if they feel they have been abused or ill treated. I know we get some idiots on here, but you can usually see from their join dates, that they are just on here to cause offence or wind people up.
We have I believe a core of good knowledgeable and articulate people on here from a broad selection of backgrounds and ages. This makes for some heated discussions and yes sometimes people do overstep the mark, but I would like to think they would be the first to hold up their hands.. Sure we have our wind up merchants and strange characters, but I think the mods and admin do a good job of keeping order without it feeling like a George Orwell, 1984 thing! As I stated before I'm sorry to see anybody feel they have to leave because they are being picked on or are being insulted... :(
 
Gerd,

If you're talking about who I think you are, then I think he was a little bit out of order himself. On a couple of occasions he flew off the handle because people made (what looked to me and others) innocuous remarks. Football is all about opinions and I think he just needs to be a little thicker skinned.

I'd like to see him come back, he was a good lad but he just needs to take what people say with a pinch of salt.

As for this place going downhill, I can't say I've really noticed it. But then I think you're referring to the fact that I came back. ;)
 
I wasn't referring to you Terry.
And i see in your reaction that you know about which person i'm talking...the thing is that he was fed up being misinterpreted...sometimes people just don't read mails or read a couple of sentences and they react (for an example: look at the first reaction in this thread and i'm sure this person has the best intentions).
The person in question and i had a few PM's and i understand his reaction Terry...it's not about one specific thread either...it's about a combination of threads.
 
gerd said:
Just got a PM from somebody who is disgusted by the lack of respect on this forum...
I will miss you because i liked your postings, you are a genuine fan of a "litle" club and not one of the many glory hunters who allign themseles with the latest winners...when i read your postings i know that you are a true football freak...certainly an Everton fan, but above all a football fan...because football is much more important than the latest overhyped big club (oh and it would be rather conveniant if people were thinking about Chelsea fans now

Take care my friend.
If i dont hear from you: may you live long and happy...


Gerd
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dont think i have read into it wrong at all mate its there in black and white! People in glass houses should not throw stones ...
 
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I thought it was Vanzant. Either way, they were both good posters... so its a loss to the community. If its Vanzandt, he was able to have a valid argument without pissing me off. Didnt have much bias and was quite considerate in his points!
 
I think some of it he bought on himself with his criticism of things

thats where debates come in, you dont start thread if you not up to debating especially about football
 
Coopz said:
I think some of it he bought on himself with his criticism of things

thats where debates come in, you dont start thread if you not up to debating especially about football
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You don't get it do you Coopz...in the end this is not about being right...it is about showing respect for other people's opinion...

It is nice to read that some people missVanzandt, but this thread is not about vanzandt, i started this thread because vanzandt sent me and lo zio a PM to say that he stops posting...we are trying to change his mind...but this thread is about the reason why vanzandt does not want to post any more...i feel the same about the lack of respect for other's opinions in some (it's a minority) threads...in certain threads it went on for months and nobody ever interfered....the WENB guys left this forum, some other people stopped posting but the orchestra continues to play while the ship is nearing the iceberg...(this comparision is exageratedof course).

99% of the posters are ok...but there is a small minority who only comes to cause aggro (year after year like ieatfansforbreakfast, who was banned for the second consecutive year in the same thread)...if people like PES2008 they are considered idiots, if people prefer FIFA they are considered morons...if people are critical about some big English clubs or the national teams they "provoke"...if people start a thread about Inter Milan other fans (even mods) come flaming into that thread and nobody interferes...

I know quite a few people who are fed up and scarcely visit this forum: FD, ClassicD, Joost...now Vanzandt...even a perfectly reasonable guy like lo zio starts to get agitated...it's not about one particular thread or one particular posting or incident, it's the fact that it happens all the time...

It's not a drama but i think it's a pity...

PS: Coopz it's not because i quoted your post that i think you are to blame...
 
Some people do.... depends if they are really passionate about what is being discussed... I had a difficult time of things in real life and took things on here seriously in my previous life as djdoc... since then things have totally changed and real life is much better for me, so now I Just laugh things off.
 
I won't miss him in the slightest. He was the reason why I haven't been coming here so often recently and it would not surprize me if other people felt similar. I was sick of his abuse of people that didn't agree with him. This is the guy that called everyone in the Manchester United thread a cocksucker and offered to meet someone else for a fight. He called people racist when all it was was a stereotype. He turned most of the threads into slagging matches.
Some of his posts were indeed good but after his rants I just skipped them.
I often wondered why he wasn't banned as some of his posts were as bad as Alucard's. Quite ironic that, as he was compared to him on a couple of occasions when he first appeared. He described that as a witch hunt.
 
eh?

I didn't understand a word of that first post. Can someone clear it up.

Has vanzandt left over football banter?

We've had some good debates. Whatever you do don't call Everton a small club gerd!
 
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I have a few football related discussions on Evo Web but if it gets too silly - I just stop posting. I have noticed others do this aswell.

I don't see why people have to leave - if you ignore people when they are being unreasonable or rude, then they have nothing to respond to.

I like visiting this site - but I will never take things too seriously in here if it gets out of hand.

Its a shame though that someone felt they needed to leave. But I do think it usually takes two to Tango. (Like to add I know nothing about what happened, just talking from experience :) )
 
I talk to Joost on MSN when I get 5 minutes spare - good bloke.

Anyway, back on-topic:

neighbours.jpg
 
I don't really know the dude but i read his last couple of posts on PES 2008, i guess. I for one don't understand why people would take a forum seriously when there are other things to worry about in life. A couple of banters here and there is normal. You never been to school before? Everytime you had a banter with someone in class you just leave the whole school? lol.. Take it easy mate. Agree to disagree and having different opinions is only a healthy thing.

EDIT: Maybe THIS would make you change your mind ;)
 
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marukomu said:
I won't miss him in the slightest. He was the reason why I haven't been coming here so often recently and it would not surprize me if other people felt similar.
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Completely agree.

That old French proverb is quite profound :applause: and cool to read, understand and use. I really like it! :8):
But what about the "Disgusted" people who didn't leave this place but stopped posting like myself, maru and many others who didn't stop but started posting less? :roll:
Do we not count? :-s

Perhaps you'd rather have several people hold themselves back and not contribute or get involved in community anymore so one person can post all he wants and doesn't leave the community?

I never had an argument or discussion with that guy but that's only because I thought it was the smartest thing to do and I believe I made the right choice. Some of the things he said were so wrong, jibberish, irrelevant, whiny and full of mis-interpretations and misunderstandings by himself (though this is what he likes to blame others for constantly) and annoying (all at least in my opinion) that a few times I was very tempted to make a post even though I had tried hard to just ignore him and everything he says. But thankfully I made the right decision and managed to continue to hold myself back and not get involved at all! :) That was up until now that I saw this thread and decided I should finally break the silence.

In a world where time is our only non-renewable and most worthwhile asset, the last thing you wanna do is have even an intelligent-well-mannered-constructive-debate (that's if you're even lucky and it pans out that way rather than get abusive and non-productive which is sadly more regular) with someone who you suspect may misunderstand what you say and then quote you in several parts and write continuous 30-page essays on it. Then you'd have to either ignore that or spend equally as much of your precious limited time (which you badly need every single second of to keep up a healthy, busy and balanced lifestyle) to reply, to a guy who seems to have farrrrrrrr more time on his hands than many of us combined!

That's fighting a losing and meaningless battle and next thing you know, you've wasted a lot of time that you could've used more productively. That's why I don't take Internet or any forums seriously either, cuz if you do, you'll soon realize, you're spending a lot more of your life staring at this box in front of you than you planned to and that'll hold you back in many aspects of life which is something I'm not prepared to give up or risk and no doubt, not the only one.

I never posted much in the "Football" section anyway but ever since that guy came around, my posts became almost non-existent and I even started reading a lot less to fight the temptation of posting. No longer would I participate in the Serie A thread as I used to every once in a while or many other threads where he or his kind were present.

So, no, while he's not banned or anything and I personally have nothing against the guy (the human being he is, he's probably a nice good-hearted guy anyway), I would be a HUGE LIE if I said I miss him and as harsh as it may sound, actually think the absence of such people is not only not sad but helps the community because it means, some people who would just stay 'silent' and 'quiet' before, now may actually contribute without fear of having to invest a lot more time reading humongous posts and most likely even having to reply to them.

I saw several people having football banter with him on different topics and I definitely did not want to be in their shoes as it meant, to prove your point, you'd have to quite your day-job or drop out of school, so you can sit here and read all that he has to say and take your time replying.

Banning Alucard helped this community because the way he attacked some people's opinions and ideas so harshly, had made them not want to contribute or say much anymore. So because of someone like him, certain others were censoring themselves and fearful and that wasn't good and had to stop!

Vanzandt wasn't so rude or harsh and isn't banned but his absence can have similar benefits and although I liked having another active Everton fan in our community, I think Evo-web was better before he was here and will be a healthier place without him as well.
 
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