Best of luck to all

This used to be humorously called internet suicide, back before people started literally for real suiciding on the internet.
 
Fred,
Caustic was the choice of the moment. Substitute abrasive, corrosive or the term of your choice. Thing is, we are a collection of oddballs from around the globe who all happen to have a shared interest in old motorcycles. Beyond that we vary in ways beyond counting. Politically, religiously, what have you. Each of us has our own take on the world and how it should be. We aren't going to change each other's views on these matters. Trying to do so begins to poison the well. That's the reason most forums of this type ask that religion and politics be kept off the table.

I'm quite probably wrong about much of what I think. But I'm happy.

roy:bike:
 
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Yes, RG was abrasive, IMHO.

I think that this website, and in fact this whole wide world of ours, functions best when people are consistently friendly to one another.

Even a good ruction can be accomplished in a cordial manner.
 
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I will no longer be participating in this web site. This used to be a good site, and I enjoyed the technical problem solving. However the quality of the postings has slowly gone down hill, until there is nothing left that interests me.

Cheers
I respect your decision to leave the forum ...thats a decision that is entirely up to you RG although I think it a bit odd to announce you are leaving .It might have been less controversal to just stop posting and maybe look in from time to time or take a short break away or perhaps just be more selective in the threads that you choose to respond to.


As usual there is a wide spread of response from 'don't leave' to 'good riddance' which I guess is to be expected towards those of us that have shall we say a 'strong and forceful personality' ;). However that said you are here for the same reason as I and most other members are .....to share our knowledge and experience and offer any help and advice we can. Your knowledge and advice will be missed for sure.

I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by 'the quality of the postings has slowly gone down hill' ? I would be interested to hear what you are referring to. if you are referring to the number of new members that have recently joined and have shall we say 'limited mechanical knowledge and experience'.asking basic questions ..well that perhaps is a reflection of how popular the XS650 model has become in recent years. That can't be a bad thing for the forum surely?

My view is that this forum has become a bit of a victim of its own success. Whilst it has gone from strength to strength in the past 5 years or so, many other XS650 forums have folded or gone quiet as their members have come over to join xs650.com . There are now so many daily posts that at times it becomes almost impossible to keep track of various current threads let alone locate past threads and as for finding technical faqs, information and guides its a nightmare.

Personally I think it is high time that we appoint a small group of volunteers to sort out the technical section and locate other useful guides and information from the general threads to add to it . With a revised and reorganised tech section we should be able to help new members to locate the information they need without having to continually ask the same old questions over and over again or trawl through thousands of old threads.

Nominating someone to peruse the boards regularly to pull useful posts to add to the tech section or perhaps code or highlight in some way to make them easier to find when searching the forum.
 
Well, since it might have been me that prompted RetiredGentleman to leave, I suppose I ought to weigh-in.

As was said above, he was opinionated, caustic and at times, condescending - to me and to many others as well - but he was also a highly knowledgeable and strongly contributory member of the XS650 Forum, particularly on electrical issues which plague these wonderful old bikes of ours. His technical input was invariably knowledgeable, authoritative and very clearly put and, I suspect, truly valuable to many people (me included).

However, what he did that prompted my angry retort to his insulting post was that he called gggGary, JimD54 and I - liars and named four other members as possible liars. In my view, that is well beyond what is acceptable conduct on a “hobby” related forum such as this and I said so - perhaps less diplomatically than might have been optimal. I must admit that I was also embarrassed that a fellow Canadian would do that - and I acted on impulse. We’re certainly not perfect, but in our country, it is customary to maintain a sense of decorum (except of course on a hockey rink) and calling people liars in public is simply not done - particularly in an international forum such as this.

Nonetheless, I regret that he has departed and regret even more that I might have tipped his decision in that direction - but I suspect he was headed that way well before the “Coldest ride” fiasco.

Anyhow, as many others have done, I would invite RG to return and would endeavour to not say another word about it.

Kind regards to all,

Pete

PS - I really like Peanut’s suggestion to glean the best technical advice from the archives as a resource for us all.
 
I invite him back too. Once you meet a few of these guys, it puts everything in a different and more accurate perspective and changes how you criticize and handle criticism, both. So it's a stupid thing to happen. He's one of the longest running members here, so I hope he's okay.
 
Well, since it might have been me that prompted RetiredGentleman to leave, I suppose I ought to weigh-in.

As was said above, he was opinionated, caustic and at times, condescending - to me and to many others as well - but he was also a highly knowledgeable and strongly contributory member of the XS650 Forum, particularly on electrical issues which plague these wonderful old bikes of ours. His technical input was invariably knowledgeable, authoritative and very clearly put and, I suspect, truly valuable to many people (me included).

However, what he did that prompted my angry retort to his insulting post was that he called gggGary, JimD54 and I - liars and named four other members as possible liars. In my view, that is well beyond what is acceptable conduct on a “hobby” related forum such as this and I said so - perhaps less diplomatically than might have been optimal. I must admit that I was also embarrassed that a fellow Canadian would do that - and I acted on impulse. We’re certainly not perfect, but in our country, it is customary to maintain a sense of decorum (except of course on a hockey rink) and calling people liars in public is simply not done - particularly in an international forum such as this.

Nonetheless, I regret that he has departed and regret even more that I might have tipped his decision in that direction - but I suspect he was headed that way well before the “Coldest ride” fiasco.

Anyhow, as many others have done, I would invite RG to return and would endeavour to not say another word about it.

Kind regards to all,

Pete

PS - I really like Peanut’s suggestion to glean the best technical advice from the archives as a resource for us all.

I too am sorry to see RG's post about leaving the forum - over the years I've been on it, he has contributed much of value and probably helped far more of us 650 folks than he could ever know. I usually visit the forum daily at least once, and I really don't sense that the character of the discourse has degraded beyond typical day-to-day variation, which to my way of thinking, gives the site some character.
 
yes well said guys . At the end of the day we all have the same important thing in common ...a love of the bike .
We all say things in the heat of the moment which we later regret myself included I'm ashamed to admit.
Calling other members liars in public is just not acceptable behaviour so maybe leaving is an easier option for RG than posting a public apology
 
^Being called a liar by people who don't know you is nothing. And calling somebody you don't know a liar is just a way of saying the story is really hard to believe -- just a fact. That's the story teller's fault.
 
^Being called a liar by people who don't know you is nothing. And calling somebody you don't know a liar is just a way of saying the story is really hard to believe -- just a fact. That's the story teller's fault.
Not sure I'd call that a fact, but that's certainly one way of looking at it. Here's another.... calling someone a liar based on faulty and ill thought assumptions is the fault of the caller.
 
^Being called a liar by people who don't know you is nothing. And calling somebody you don't know a liar is just a way of saying the story is really hard to believe -- just a fact. That's the story teller's fault.

calling someone a liar without any demonstrable proof is not 'nothing' these days you'd be lucky not to be on the other end of a Libel suit.
False accusations can cause untold trouble losing people their good name and possibly friends and business .
Anyone that makes defamatory derogatory and slanderous accusations on the net is a coward in my view because they know they have anonymity

Anyway what I want to know is who are the 96 Robots that are watching this thread eh ?:)
 
Anyway what I want to know is who are the 96 Robots that are watching this thread eh ?:)

Now THAT is a worthy question indeed!!!
 
That's the story teller's fault.

Sorry, but I must respectfully disagree with that statement. I was raised to believe that calling someone a liar without proof is simply rude and certainly not something a gentleman should do.
 
Robots ??
Just be nice to them, and they'll offer to dance with you.

Robbie-Robot-Screen-Shot.jpg
 
weekendrider probably gone next. Been here about the same number of decades.
 
BWHAHAHAHA a lot of us (Grizld1, 5twins, XSLeo, Jayel, RG, Barbara, Skull and others) came from 650Rider when it shut down. I liked it (the Rider site) because it got to be a freeforall at times. No holds barred. For technical reference, the Garage is still up and running. Then there is http://en.650wiki.org/index.php/Main site. And a couple of others. Nothing found here is original (imo), it is just recycled from other places and times.

I doubt I quit, but I don't feel the need to post as much as I used to because of the amount of talent and knowledge on here. 5-6 years ago I felt it important to answer posts because if unanswered folks would give up on the community and it would stagnate.

As far as collecting bits and pieces at least give credit where due. 2M does an excellent job of finding reference threads already. He is just a damn handy feller.
 
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