The bickering and feuding... it stops

Now that things have taken a more rational slant, I feel I can speak rationally without being swamped in puns...

Throughout all this, I've never understood the animosity towards 'Epifania'. People talk about a three-way feud between Donut!, Pistanator and her, but I've never seen her be anything but polite, respectful and totally evasive when it comes to any kind of conflict. I see a two-way feud, where Pistanator uses Epifania to rile Donut!, but in no way have I ever seen her be antagonistic or aggressive in any way. If I'm mistaken, maybe someone can show me how?

In recent months, I've witnessed some personal attacks by a number of members that are either directly and unashamedly aimed at her, or are so thinly veiled as to be left in no doubt as to the target. As I asked in the other thread, what has she done to deserve this? She doesn't even post on the site anymore, yet still this stuff's going on - and why? Have people really, as Ashe has suggested, sunk so low as to attack someone in some misguided attempt to make them feel good about themselves? Are your lives really that sad?

This isn't 'just a bit of fun' or 'just the internet innit' - there's genuine, yet unjustified, hatred oozing out of these threads and posts and it permeates the rest of the forum in a way that can't be avoided by clicking 'ignore'.

I fully expect this post to get lost in a flood of namecalling, puns or pisstaking, but I'm hoping the people responsible will respect my rational approach and respond in kind - that or show themselves to be the pathetic bullies I've come to see them as. Maybe you can prove me wrong?

Mooks most of this animosity I believe started because a thread started by wiganwill, "car appreciation" to get talk and photo's of cars out of another thread probably names and faces, or current projects, became Epifania's stomping ground. Being on a cycling forum and not cycling/owning a bike and yet participating fully and freely in the car thread wasn't liked by everyone. So animosity occurred and kept on occurring. Until we got the rolling maul of dislike and petulance you see before you.

Pistanator is a little terrier who won't let go, that is admirable in some cases, and in this case not. He wouldn't let it lie and so he got turned away for it. But this forum was never for the faint of heart. In the great scheme of things that he has said on this issue it was pretty mild but it was the wrong time and the wrong thread.

But it is nice to see those who like him, met him and are friends with him come to his defence publicly rather than privately, whether he deserved it or not. When Pisti rants about the grasses, he rants abut the private/secret reporting/pm's that served to lay the ground work for the final coup de grace. The act of commenting or reporting is private so, with comments only the commenter and the commented on, know what was said, and with reporting only the reporter and velocio know who/what is said. But this does create a certain climate of chinese whispers, finger pointing and he said /she said. What you are now seeing in relation to Pisti's banning is a reaction against that. A desire for the internet version of say it to my face. If you have any issue with what I have written speak to me about it, obviously in this case I'm assuming there was some personal communication and it didn't go that well...Yeah Pisti has to take responsibility, but so does everyone else who pressed the button to report him. Rather than just say velocio had enough, and he got what he deserved.

But the bullying and the name calling, the "bundle" mentality is ingrained in this forum, its what makes it fun and what makes it not fun. When those who don't know or only have a passing knowledge of any situation/issue, jump on with yet another joking reference, or stir the water for their own amusement. Equally they are the ones who if you want to report someone or draw a line in the sand are the ones that need to be pulled into some sort of civil line. But they are not, in this case pisti gets the hammer blow and everyone else gets to move onto something else.