Moderators (requests and notices)

Would be better in public but closed with a second hidden thread.

To reduce the need to block trolls. I like an easy life.

I really think, on balance, this should be reopened. I understand that it's easier for you to hide it but it kind of implies that we're OK with that shit if you make it dissappear.

Perhaps the Mamnick thread would be better closed but public with a note of what happened so people can find it and see what a cunt the guy is?

^^this

Thom's been called out and that needs to be seen

She wasn't deleted

Never forget

Just a weirdo then, good stuff.

Presumably this is one of these people..
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/327038/#comment14473396

@Velocio y u ignore the people?

y u ignore the people?

Because he can. A website administrator is a king, not a president.

Hmm... I actually fully expect he’s got more important things to deal with but still...

This is a balanced piece from the cycling shed cast on the Mamnick x Rutland cc debacle.
There's actually a Rutland cc member burning his club jersey in disgust at 4.30.

https://youtu.be/WCRWhXmdnDo

I understand the troll-wrangling can get to be tiresome for you but surely that thread should be accessible to the public.

It just seems you've done Thom a massive favour by allowing him to troll the thread into nonexistence.

Or maybe the forum got swept up in the CEO #metoo Telegraph injunction?

Well, it looks like this is the defecto Mamnick thread now then ?

It just seems you've done Thom a massive favour by allowing him to troll the thread into nonexistence

I tend not to do favours.

But the activity in this thread tell me that I was right to lock it and hide it. You lot seem more whipped up even than he was, and you lot were feeding him and giving him more attention than he deserved.

In time, when things have very obviously calmed down, I'll consider it not being hidden.

You lot seem more whipped up even than he was, and you lot were feeding him and giving him more attention than he deserved.

Yes.

Shame the Mamnick Thread has gone - I came back on here for the first time in a while to have a read of it after being tipped off to its existence by that Off-Season ramble video.

Tbh it should be locked but still public and searchable if it's all as unsavoury as it sounds (and tbh I've got no idea, and no way of forming an opinion, as I can't read it).

Exactly this

It stopped being 'a good/informative thing' a long time ago.

It was pretty disappointing to see tbh.

And yet the foffa thread remains public...

Precedent has been broken.

Better start a separate Grace Jones thread then...

You've changed your tune on hosting offence/controversy since your post in the "Jews" thread where you seemed to embrace it as an inevitable and common fact of the internet... There's stuff in there that's just as bad as anything Thom's been pulled up on, even if it was in the wild west phase of the forum at the outset where people were going out their way to be shocking. I don't agree with the posts, or that it wasn't stamped on, but fair enough, free speech is what it is-it's there as a matter of record.

I understand the aliases are tiresome, but I think it was a positive thing to highlight Mamnick's wider views, and Thom's subsequent decision to come on and stir the pot is neither here nor there in terms of how the forum should be allowed to operate in terms of free speech; Rutland very well stands to reform their club culture as a result of this, and hopefully Sheffield Cycling too. If the thread's hidden and the grubby stuff isn't visible? Maybe not.

Your choice obviously, but yeah, don't see the consistency of what does and doesn't pass tbh.

I'm not looking to police Thom or put him out of business but I think it's important a platform remains to counteract his bullshit factory.

I'm not looking to police Thom or put him out of business but I think it's important a platform remains to counteract his bullshit factory.

I agree with this, but at risk of sounding sanctimonious, there's also the idea of 'values' that as the Cycling Shed touched on, every club embodies or espouses one way or another.

LFGSS, for all its diversity and rough charm, is a place I like because the tedious sexist, homophobic, racist shite you find a lot of other places just isn't tolerated. It makes me think of the history of cycling clubs like Clarion.cc who have a really rich history in fighting fascism and having a positive social consciousness that has become a part of the fabric of the sport/hobby.

I mentioned the Jews thread because when it popped onto my radar a few weeks ago I was really disappointed to see it at a point where others were arguing very strongly in the Mamnick thread for an entirely different set of values, and it hadn't been stamped on quite as firmly as I think it should have been, ostensibly because of free speech or the right to offend "it's the internet." It seems the opposite applies here and I don't see why.

Thom's sockpuppet/supporter described this place as a place for soft southern flat white drinking social justice warrior twats, and that's fine by me. It's also a place that has values and stands up for them, as tedious or crudely expressed as some other people on the forum find this. Hiding the thread does no service to anyone other than Thom, where it could exist to inform others about what is frankly deeply abhorrent behaviour towards other cycling clubs like RSF, as well as people who object to him, and of course, his views.

It's sad that a Rutland.cc member has resorted to burning their jersey over issues that their affiliation with Thom exposed, but equally, it's good because silence is about the same as complicity and if you look around at the wider social and political atmosphere we're in, more than ever these shitty right wing views need to be challenged and exposed for what they are. Hopefully Rutland's president is taking it on board, or the members will see fit to remove him.

TL:DR So yeah. I don't think we should be doing the guy any favours, and I think it reflects poorly on the place if we do.

@Velocio I'm afraid hiding the thread hands a victory to Thom. I've tried hard to get people to see this thread and read Thom's opinions and views in his own words and his attempts to justify them. In the past he's been very clever to hide behind online personas and use self censorship to never leave himself exposed. But here it is in his own words - admittedly still behind usernames - but there is enough evidence here to link this to him. Just look at the users joining the forum to share their experiences of him and his behaviour - it's been going on for years.

Rutland CC are due to meet soon to discuss their association with him with the added motivation to reform the club - this is a very good thing seeing as what was discovered about them recently. This thread would be evidence for those members not aware of what's been going on or of Thom's views and it seems he has plenty of influence within the club's hierarchy to keep himself onboard. Thom has an active sponsorship of Cycling Sheffield Team who are co-sponsored by a number of locals businesses including Giant Sheffield, I'm sure they'd be interested to read the thread too. They can then make up their own minds about their associations.

There's still activity on Twitter with Richard Moore commenting on Tom Whalley's Cycle Shed Cast episode where he discusses this and Thom is actively trying to have his say there. Without the thread being public he can simply deny most of what he's written and rewrite the story to suit his own outcome. And we know he loves to control the narrative.

Thom knew exactly what he was doing when he joined the thread and knew exactly how to destroy it by spamming it with fake users creating chaos and a massive headache for the the mods. The result is a hidden thread and a smirking Thom. And as @übé®_grübé® said, we shouldn't be doing Thom any favours. So please, make the thread public but locked.