Breaking my silence
... and giving my take on everything that's gone down here the last few days. There's not going to be any punches pulled in this post, and there's gonna be a lot of spades called a spade... so if you're of a weak constitution, or sick of all of this already, I'd suggest you go find another thread now.

Frankly, it's tough for me to put into words how pissed off I am about all of this. There was absolutely NO NEED for Quack to take the action he has here, except for his own ego and pride. EVEN ASSUMING all that he's said is true, about the board needing to have one admin for technological reasons, and even ASSUMING that he had to be that admin for the time being to get the board up... once it was back up, there was nothing stopping him from making RPM the Admin again, and going down to moderator status herself. Nothing, that is, except her own arrogance and self-superiority. He claims that RPM didn't really "Want" to run this anymore. Well then, why not offer to take it off his hands above board? Simple. He'd have turned him down flat. And if RPM was about to shut the board down, as he theorizes, then why not wait until he did, THEN start the replacement board? Because this phantom shutdown wasn't going to happen -- we ALL know RPM was just blowing hot air for attention, like he always has for years past. Well then, why not take the high road, and resign, and start her own forum from scratch, instead of making off with one in the dead of night? Again, pretty simple. Everyone knows the toughest part of getting a board going, is the first few months. Why struggle like that, when there's a ready-made pool of heep who don't care who's running things, so long as it's here? Why struggle indeed, unless you have charachter and scruples... two things that seem to me to be sorely lacking in this whole sordid affair.
What pisses me off a lot about this, is not that he stole the board from RPM; it's that he stole the board from US. ALL of us have posted here for years and years now with the understanding and compact that not one person would have absolute power over us. We've ALL put our time, our thoughts, and our efforts into making this board the community it was, and NOBODY, not RPM, not Quack, not Maggie... NOBODY has the right to take that away from us. And before you say that nothing has been taken away from us, I ask you to bear in mind what the individual now in sole power here DID to get hold of that power, and also ask yourself what compunction he will have against using that power now that he went through such machiavellian machinations to get hold of it. He's already shown a remarkable appetite for keeping her power, and very little reluctance to use that power in the past. I see no reason why that would change in the future. What it comes down to is, he seems to think that this forum needs a LEADER... when in fact, all we've ever needed is a facilitator, an administrator, soemone to keep the lights on and the door open. My friends, that day has come and gone here. We've all been to places that have had "Leaders". We've all been through Racestuds, and many of us have had experience at Qwaz's as well. And that's EXACTLY the situation we now face at this board... a single person, with the biases and preconceptions that are inherent to the human condition, and who's shown NO scruples or charachter whatsoever, nor a desire to control her impulses, in charge of everything that goes on here.

But what pisses me off the most, is the underhanded, lowdown, scummy, dead of night BACKSTABBING way in which this all went down... and that fact that a very good person got completely blindsided by avarice and greed. Quack says he "Didn't have a choice". Bullshit. We all have choices. He could have kept the forum down until he contacted the other admins and let them know what was going on. He didn't. Why? Well, now he had power, why should he give it up? He could have chosen the high road, and if he felt he was being forced out, resigned, stated her piece, and started her own place, all of which would have shown maturity and charachter and poise. Instead, he "was forced" to take control of things. Uh huh... and I got some oceanfront property in Iowa for you too. And in the process, a very good person, a person who's been a friend to me AND A LOT OF YOU for years and years, who's seen me through some of my darkest days, and always been there for me... took a big fat dagger in the back. And yes, I take that personally. So should you. It should MATTER when something as scummy as this goes down. Most of you seem to have the attitude of "Sucks for her. Oh well, it's not me.", and just sit there with your mouths closed and your heads down, and say NOTHING about what a rotten thing it was... even after he's been there for some of you before, just like he's been there for me. And all I can say to you people, who sat there with closed lips and bit your tongue and bowed your head and just LET it happen without a word... for shame. I thought better of a lot of you, and I'm really dissapointed in some of you. Some of you say "This is just an internet board", and it is... but behind each and every one of these screen names is a real person, and to see good people take it in the back, people you care about, and just blow it off the way some of you have... it boggles the mind.

To Quack directly -- you need to know and understand, that I used to have a lot of respect for you... even recently. A lot more than I have or had for RPM, truth be told. But after the disgusting, vile, stinking, COWARDLY way that you have gone about conducting yourself the last few days, there is not a shred of that respect left as far as I'm concerned. To me, you're nothing but an arrogant power-hungry harpy who couldn't wait to get her clutches on another little piece of control in your life. You say you've worked hard on the forum, and are entitled to whatever respect you have -- I say we ALL have worked hard on making this forum what it is, and respect is earned, and LOST, by our actions and conduct. And your conduct in this matter has been BEYOND reprehensible. And to make matters worse, you've sat back and allowed your minions and supporters to go onto other forums, and use nothing more than base charachter assassination against your former fellow administrators... one of whom is currently YOUR MODERATOR, to suggest that you're more trustworthy to run this forum... when you and I both know that a skeleton in the closet is a skeleton in the closet, no matter how much dirt might be covering it. And your allowing them to use this tactic, while keeping silent and not even supporting your current moderator, is disingenuous at best, and disgusting, dastardly and downright dirty at worst. To put it bluntly, you have shown your true colors in your actions over the last few days in particular, and as far as I'm concerned, you can take your newfound sole rule of this place, roll it up REAL tight, and shove it up your ass.

That being said, there are still people here who I do care about. Yes, I care about some of the people here, so call me what you will for doing that. And many of those people, people whose opinions I respect and admire, have asked me to try and at least give it a chance. And while I have absolutely ZERO respect for the administration now running this board, I've calmed down and decided that I'm not going to allow a power-hungry person to separate me from my friends. As such, I'll still be around from time to time -- lurking much more than before, yes, and speaking mainly with the people I genuinely care about, and socially with the ones I like but don't know as well. I'll also be spending a lot more time at other boards, because the fact is when (not if, but when) this place goes to hell in a handbasket with the changes that are "not coming", I plan to not have quite the attachment to this place that I once had... as well as most of my efforts and focus into having somewhere that folks can go to get out from under the yoke of the changes that are coming (Anyone remember "For a rules change, Post"? Guess what's job #1).

So, there you have it. Get out your forks and knives, and get your "sour grapes".jpgs out, and try to rip me to shreds -- I don't care. I've said my piece on it, and the folks I genuinely care about already know how I feel. The folks I like generally like me back, and the rest of you who think I can just go to hell, trust me... the feeling's mutual.

And that's all I have to say about that.