The Decline of Smiley Smile

[SMiLE Brian]

This place really seems like it is falling apart these days.  I am tired of all the bullying here and the "herd" mentality that runs this place. Why does liking the BBs and posting about them have to be such a pain in the ass?

[Gertie J.]

erm... would you care to elaborate on that? it does seem to me that nothing has changed.

[18thofMay]

I can't see any issues like that. Phil's gone and Bil just posted about his wacked out essay and did not get howled down??

[SMiLE Brian]

Its just I don't like seeing people like OSD and I.Spaceman got banned over nothing in my opinion. This place is boring when everybody agrees on everything.

[rab2591]

Its just I don't like seeing people like OSD and I.Spaceman got banned over nothing in my opinion. This place is boring when everybody agrees on everything.

I have to agree.

Ian did nothing wrong to deserve the sh*t that was thrown at him on that thread (as for his initial post that started that mess, was it really that threatening?). As for OSD, I think he's been in time-out long enough.

Mostly everyone that posts here brings something great to the table. And I'm all for banning trolls who, half the time, spout off nonsense (yikes, I'm describing myself ), but when these people bring useful information and/or good conversation, we shouldn't ban them outright for one silly spat.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Its just I don't like seeing people like OSD and I.Spaceman got banned over nothing in my opinion. This place is boring when everybody agrees on everything.

I have to agree.

Ian did nothing wrong to deserve the sh*t that was thrown at him on that thread (as for his initial post that started that mess, was it really that threatening?). As for OSD, I think he's been in time-out long enough.

Mostly everyone that posts here brings something great to the table. And I'm all for banning trolls who, half the time, spout off nonsense (yikes, I'm describing myself ), but when these people bring useful information and/or good conversation, we shouldn't ban them outright for one silly spat.

Ian was banned because of his comments in two threads today, and was already on a final warning as of 31 Jan 2013 because of, once again, starting fights. He should've been banned a while back, but I stupidly let it slide because he did bring some knowledge to the board. I stood up for him time and time again, despite numerous complaints and allegations of threats made via email/PMs/Facebook ect. I figured, 'hey, it's off the board, none of my business'. Today was the last straw.

 One thing...when a member is banned and tries to log in, they see a message stating why they were banned. You know what he got when he logged in? An apology, because I didn't want it to come to this. He had no way of knowing it was me who banned him. This guy you folks are defending? Check out my signature. THAT was the response I got from him after his banning. I also got several nasty comments left elsewhere. This guy has followed me on You Tube and elsewhere just to harass me; I managed to get him blocked. This is from someone who was allegedly my friend. And he's getting defended?

Maybe the problem is me. I should have ignored the complaints and let him continue attacking others. If that's the case, maybe I'm the one who should leave and never come back. Let me know. If that's what the board wants, then fine...I'll re-instate Ian, and make him an mod in my place, and then never come back here. Serves me right...that is what I get for defending people. My mistake.

[SMiLE Brian]

I won't defend what he said to you in PMs. I just feel like things are nasty here right now and groups of posters seem to gang up on somebody who doesn't agree with them. Happened to me, Mike's Beard, and now Ian.

[halblaineisgood]

I.Spaceman got banned

sh*t. Why do we have to ban smart guys. OSD, I could care less, I'm already sick of running into that dude's stupid comments on Youtube, and, he never helped me enjoy music or enriched my mind like the spaceman. This is a damn shame. There's still a lot of smart dudes here, but none of them who bring the Rock and Roll spirit quite like him. I hope it's a temporary ban.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I stood up for you, and Mike's Beard too...hell, he was one of the ones who was getting a hard time from Ian. Nobody was ganging up on Ian...he has a history of bullying others. And God forbid anybody have a difference of opinion with him. Yet I let that slide, constantly.

If anybody is getting ganged up on now, it's me. Why do I have a feeling nobody who asked me for help with him is going to chime in?

[SMiLE Brian]

Billy, I did not know about the PM threats and won't defend them. I respect the hell out of you. All I saw on the main board was Ian getting harassed by Mikie and Howie.

[Wirestone]

I stood up for you, and Mike's Beard too...hell, he was one of the ones who was getting a hard time from Ian. Nobody was ganging up on Ian...he has a history of bullying others. And God forbid anybody have a difference of opinion with him. Yet I let that slide, constantly.

If anybody is getting ganged up on now, it's me. Why do I have a feeling nobody who asked me for help with him is going to chime in?

Ian has gone beyond the pale countless times here. There's a difference between being "rock and roll" and simply behaving badly.

People periodically complain about this board going downhill. There has always been churn, and people come and go. Some get banned. It's the way things go.

Billy has simply been trying to do what a good mod should do, which is actually listening to people and enforcing certain basic standards of decency.

[rab2591]

Yes I was defending Ian because nothing I saw today warranted a ban. He was pushed into a corner in one thread for asking a question (and yes, it was sarcastically asked, but who doesn't sarcastically ask questions around here?)....how do you expect him to react?

And if he was banned for other sh*t, just say so when you initially give reasons for banning him. You said he was banned only for the comments in that thread (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15257.msg353082.html#msg353082)....hence I was a little put off at how easy it is to get banned here anymore. Say it was because you got complaints, say it was because he was harassing people, say it was for previous fights he started here. But don't act surprised when people question you for banning someone when you gave one silly reason as to why you booted him.

Billy, I think you're a great guy and a great mod. I can see that being a mod is a tough job. So pardon my ignorance when it comes to questioning your decisions. People are assholes, the internet sucks most of the time. If Ian was harassing people off the board, it was probably best he was booted.

That being said, I'll still miss his commentary.

[pixletwin]

Things are at a dry spell lately. Especially considering the sonic richness we got from Nov 2011 to Sept 2012. So it's natural that things should sway towards the mundane and fights erupt here and there. Per Ian, he sort of created this reputation around himself that I think put people on edge when engaged in a discussion around him - made people a bit defensive. I got into it with him a while ago but I too felt he contributed enough to the board that it was easy to overlook the times when he did get a bit too snarky. But reading what he wrote to Billy has banished (no pun intended) all doubt from my mind. I can only assume that Ian in real life is a very bitter unfulfilled guy (I guess who isn't unfulfilled to some degree) but to pull that kind of douchery is inexcusable.

[Gertie J.]

come on guys, don't dramatize it. ok, some dudes you guys worship got banned and you miss them, i get it. so what? is it really the end to your living days? whats done is done, lets just move on and go back discuss BB. the board is still active and full of cool peeps.

[rab2591]

Things are at a dry spell lately. Especially considering the sonic richness we got from Nov 2011 to Sept 2012. So it's natural that things should sway towards the mundane and fights erupt here and there. Per Ian, he sort of created this reputation around himself that I think put people on edge when engaged in a discussion around him - made people a bit defensive. I got into it with him a while ago but I too felt he contributed enough to the board that it was easy to overlook the times when he did get a bit too snarky. But reading what he wrote to Billy has banished (no pun intended) all doubt from my mind. I can only assume that Ian in real life is a very bitter unfulfilled guy (I guess who isn't unfulfilled to some degree) but to pull that kind of douchery is inexcusable.

No doubt. That PM is jawdropping to say the least....and is definitely inexcusable.

@Gertie J: Wut? I don't believe SMiLE Brian or myself "worship" Ian or OSD (thanks for your analysis though), we just appreciated their input. I found Ian to be much at times, but informative. I found OSD to be excruciatingly annoying at times, but he still contributed worthwhile posts.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Thank you Wirestone. Greatly appreciated.

Putting aside sending threatening emails to other members (like, actual threats made, not to me but to others)...even ignoring today ( He was out of line for what he initially said to Mikie, who was just pointing out Howie was more knowledgeable than Ian was giving him credit for, although Howie's initial response could have been a lot better)...you know how many times I pm'd him about stuff he posted? Look at his post history and how many edits there were. He should have been banned a LONG time ago.  Check his posts from last December. Now granted, Newguy could be annoying (heck he's another one that's gone), but do you think Ian was justified with

I said shut up. Shut the f*** up. You are a stupid little reject, and it is a shame there are no massacres at your school. But then again, you'd probably be the one to do it, sh*theel.

This was right after the Sandy Hook shootings. I took heat for not banning him.

And, yeah, I should've went into more detail when I made my initial post, which was

This, along with the other posts Ian made in this thread, were the final straw.

I mean it...if any of you feel the need to go off on someone, take it to PMs.

I thought 'final straw' made it clear that it the last thread was not the sole reason he was banned, but I should have indeed worded it better.

I too will miss his input, because when he wasn't going all psycho on people, he did indeed add a lot to the board, which is why I gave him more chances than I should have. Hell, previously when he'd get complaints I'd PM and almost plead with him to chill out, because I did not want to have to ban him. 'Sorry, I'll make sure it won't happen again'. Well, I got played, and I'm not going to be so trusting in the future.

[halblaineisgood]

The Classic Works of Ghost  
Part 1


Al Jardine, tantric sex god; special power: using his abnormally large ears to perceive the vibratory beginnings of the female orgasm giving him complete control over its expression, making him the beloved of all women; secret trick: In his dentistry books Al studied every possible movement of the human tongue and its possible reaches within its own mouth or any other cavities of interest, making Al a highly prized cunning linguist among the ladies.


Mike Love, karezza master, can keep a boner going for 15hrs without viagra;  secret trick: lightly hums "Whennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" onto the most sensitive little point on a woman's body to send her right over the edge.

[SMiLE Brian]

Again I didn't know the whole backstory with the threatening PMs from Ian. I thought Ian got run off the board just like OSD did for getting into a tussle with a high ranking poster. I just get annoyed when some of the senior posters can just about get away with being rude and nasty to other posters.

[Sheriff John Stone]

In my opinion, people being banned is a very minor problem on this board. It only happens to a few, and it is usually warranted. Do people really get wound up or have hurt feelings over people being banned?

To me, the biggest problem on this board, and one that I think has been prevalent for years, are the Honored Guests and their advocates. Hey, we're just a bunch of fans, a bunch of diehards, a bunch of people who love the Beach Boys' music and enjoy an outlet - this board - to talk about it. We come on this board because it's fun, or it's supposed to be fun. And, all we're basically doing is expressing opinions; it might not always come out that way, but that's what it is. We're just expressing what we think, what we feel.

But what happens, too many times in my opinion, are Honored Guests coming on here and belittling people, being rude to them, basically telling them their wrong, basically telling them that their OPINION is wrong. And then what follows are their Mutual Admiration Society cronies coming on and piling on. SMiLE Brian, you mention "piling on". That's the only "piling on" I see.

It's one thing to be corrected about facts or statistics or dates or history. We all make mistakes and should be corrected on them. That's not what I'm talking about. It's another thing to have people enter a debate with their "do you know who I am" attitude, people who are interested in getting their name mentioned in the "credits" or "thanks" on the album cover, or they're interested in getting a Christmas card from a Beach Boy, or they're trying to make a couple bucks - from us. I guess we're good enough then, regardless of our opinions.

You know it's funny. The one thing we have all learned on this board - and there are even threads about it - is that you shouldn't believe EVERYTHING you read and hear about The Beach Boys. You should question it, debate it, challenge it. Unless it comes from one of our Honored Guests...

 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

But what happens, too many times in my opinion, are Honored Guests coming on here and belittling people, being rude to them, basically telling them their wrong, basically telling them that their OPINION is wrong. And then what follows are their Mutual Admiration Society cronies coming on and piling on. SMiLE Brian, you mention "piling on". That's the only "piling on" I see.

And that's not going to be stood for any longer, either.

Note: Most of the time when I issue a warning, I do it via PM, because I really don't like to call anyone out in public. If it's more than one person, I will post but in more of a general manner.

[rab2591]

Mike Love, karezza master, can keep a boner going for 15hrs without viagra;  secret trick: lightly hums "Whennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" onto the most sensitive little point on a woman's body to send her right over the edge.

How can one read this and not crack a smile?

Of course he could be very offensive, but knew his stuff about the guys. I laughed at or agreed with 85% of his posts.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Ghost was banned, but registered under a different name and resumed posting without incident, but disappeared.

[halblaineisgood]

Mike Love, karezza master, can keep a boner going for 15hrs without viagra;  secret trick: lightly hums "Whennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" onto the most sensitive little point on a woman's body to send her right over the edge.

How can one read this and not crack a smile?

Of course he could be very offensive, but knew his stuff about the guys. I laughed at or agreed with 85% of his posts.

WTF is a karezza master? I'm afraid to look that up.     

Ghost was banned, but registered under a different name and resumed posting without incident, but disappeared.

Can you give me a clue?

[SMiLE Brian]

I agree Sheriff, I hit upon this on in my last post right before yours was posted.

Well I am going to air my main complaint I have had that builds on lack of respect from "honored guests" mentioned earlier. The double standard with some guests is asinine and must stop. This guest treats everybody like he is way superior to them. He can get away with this horrible internet behavior because he is a "beach boys historian" and hints that is knows insider "information" which he never reveals until it is common knowledge. He rubs his status as "king of SS" at other posters and the mods do nothing to correct his behavior as of late. OSD got banned because he only responded to a nasty, nasty insult that was totally uncalled for. I also know first hand how the guest's posse attacks you to no end if you state a BBs opinion that is disapproved of. This just must stop and EVERYBODY here must be treated as equals again. Having a BBs book and website does not give you an excuse to be rude and belittle other posters for expressing their opinions on this wild and unpredictable group.

Hate me all you want,but I must get this off my chest.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I cannot remember what his user name was. He didn't stay around too long when he came back.