Adam Block (Inquiry)

Let me explain Ritchie's role here a bit.

Ritchie is not a moderator in the sense that he will try to moderate between people that are giving way to emotion in a discussion. That is more my role, as well as Ken Harbart's.

Bear in mind what the BOI is all about. It's about finding out the truth, and sometimes that just is not obvious nor easy to ferret out. This may come as a shock to some people, but not everyone will utter the truth. Particularly if their business practices are coming under question, or if they are trying to prove something that it would be advantageous to them that people would blindly believe.

Ritchie is the ferret of the BOI. He is the one that tries to dig down to the bottom of things and get to the truth. To be honest, it is a dirty job and it is not likely to have him loved by everyone. But he has volunteered to do this. As such, I had to give him the keys to be able to do things normally reserved to moderators, and I had to give him my trust to be able to block some threads from running away when I or Ken are not around. This comes with the territory, and I stand behind my decision on this.

Yes, sometimes Ritchie is wrong, and sometimes he may push things a little further than some people think are necessary. But I am willing to accept that, because I would have to say that within the two+ years he has been associated with this site, his aim has been dead on far more times than he has missed the target.

I do not give him carte blanche here, however, and have had to remind him that I do expect him to be civil to everyone here, even if he is chasing down the stinkiest polecat in the business. But he is human, and sometimes he has to do what he has to do in order to 'get his man'. And yes, Ritchie is susceptible to becoming emotional about an issue just as everyone else here is liable to do, including myself. I do not fault anyone for being human.

So I hope this explains it a bit better. I am sure this is rather unique to any other message board out there, so I can see where it would be confusing to some people.

As for the two threads that Ritchie locked down, HE did not delete them. I did. I have not granted him the authority to remove posts from the BOI. NO one but myself has that authority. And I believe, in these cases, I did what was appropriate. Adam was using third party hearsay in an anonymous manner, and that will not be acceptable. It may have skated by in the past, but in an effort to clean this place up a bit, I am being a LOT more critical about postings following the rules.

I am willing to listen to opinions on how I do things, however, so if anyone believes I have made a mistake, just let me know. I am willing to admit when I am wrong.

Thanks.

I agree with Stardust, this thread is plan vicious. I know many many people who refuse to post here because of people like you and the"inner circle", and now i see why. I know of someone else here who has told much bigger lies and still post here ALLLLL the time and thrives in this business. Get a life and learn to Mind Your Own Business. And people wonder why this site is not as big as K.S., because people like you scare them all away after seeing attacks like this and you are a moderator, nice job. And if you don't like him don't respond to his threads.

Thank you for clarifying that for me Webslave. I still think that he should also be accountable to prove what he says. I would like to still see him prove fake sincere apology??????
Also, In my humble opinion, if you are going to be a middle person, it should not be slam one and protect the other. Both sides as far as I am concerned, do need to answer some questions. I do not think it should be well one lied, blast him, well one sold an underweight snake, but its ok.
If there can't be some fairness then what is this all about?
I am just conveying my take on things. I believe that Ritchie, having certain privilages should try a tad harder to be fair.
How can people come here and feel they will have a fair shake when the semi- moderator does this?
Yes he is human, yes this is interesting for awhile, yes it can be construed as intimidating.
He is human yes, but should show constraint, he is a semi official here and should TRY to act accordingly.
Interesting for awhile, gets old, then how can he even be respected?
Intimidating, I understand and HAVE seen you sticking more to the rules, But that should also include the moderators or semi, and more so to show example
Again, I really like this site, Just stating my opinion

Rozann Lamont

Kevin, I don't have a problem at all with people whom prefer kingsnake.com's way of doing things. No one is having their arms twisted to come here.

And if you care to take your own advice by not reading Ritchie's posts because you don't like the way he does things, then have at it.

I still stand by my comments.

Rozann,

Yes I agree with you. But in this instance Ritchie is acting much like a person whom is talking to a crowd of old time friends and a few new acquaintances join in the crowd. All of us oldtimers here know what Ritchie is referring to and didn't give it another thought. But Ritchie simply forgot that there are alot of new faces around here and they simply were not around to have witnessed that incident.

So I agree, that it is in everyone's best interests that when making references to previous situations, whenever feasible, the quotes or links to back up the statements to people whom won't have a clue about what is being discussed should be provided.

Sorry, but that certainly may happen now and again, but it is not intentional. I am afraid that I probably fall prey to this as well time to time.

Originally posted by WebSlave
Kevin, I don't have a problem at all with people whom prefer kingsnake.com's way of doing things. No one is having their arms twisted to come here.

And if you care to take your own advice by not reading Ritchie's posts because you don't like the way he does things, then have at it.

I still stand by my comments.

Did i say i prefer K.S. to this site. Totally different websites. I'm not the type to stand by while somebody is being kicked and won't defend themselves. This is the first time i have ever had a problem with Richie, normally he's alright. But he's WRONG here. Who cares if he wrote "soldout" instead of not available.

Not a big deal to anyone else but I think I said I cared.

Since proff of Adam's insincere apology was asked for, I'll provide it...

On 10/14/02, Adam posted:

Neil, speaking with you was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Thank you SO much for taking the time to not only enlighten me but to show me the error in my ways. In this particular situation I was 100% at fault and have not only failed to communicate but also failed to see things from the other persons shoes. You brought up some great points and they are very much appreciated. I find you to not only be an outstanding person but a sage beyond your years in intelligence as well.

I do humbly apologize to all who I've bashed or slandered. You were all 100% correct and I really dropped the ball on this one. I only hope my reputation isn't too tarnished to recover from. Ken, I owe you an extra big sorry for the poor customer service I've provided you with and will ship your tubes ASAP, I only hope I can be forgiven. Rich Z. thank you so much for allowing me to put my foot so far in my mouth that Neal had to step in and save me. I'm now a changed man and a post like Kens will never happen again as I will strive to keep my customers happy at any and all cost.

I've learned you are nothing without your word and reputation and this has turned out to be a great learning experience for me. Thank you all for not giving up on me, it took a lot of hindsight to see I wasn't a lost cause. So in closing thank you all for taking the time to post and please be sure to enjoy your week.

With love, peace and respect,
Adam Block

Adam's words were taken at face value, and life went on. Alas, his little deception lasted all of one week. After that, he was back to spouting off about how much of a joke the BOI is, how easy it is to manipulate people, etc. It seemed as if every other thread was interjected with Adam's little pearls of wisdom.

Adam was quite close to being banned from this site due to his constant trolling and baiting.

We all need to relax a little. This is a great oppurtunity for this site to get more people. Kingsnake is obviously having its troubles and people are looking for somewhere to go. This site allows us to speak our minds and actually debate and argue. Not many sites allow this to happen. Webslave has been very fair with his judgements. Instead of attacking people on their age or their spelling, just try to debate. Nothing is wrong with disagreements. Just don't let them turn into hate. In every situation there is more than one side to the story. We all have different outlooks on any event. If Adam was lying, why doesn't the third party, whomever it might be, and Kevin of NERD give their side. Nobody truly knows what someone else is thinking or trying to do. I think it was Stardust that said we are scaring people away and she is right. I only stuck up for Adam because nobody else would. There are many people new to this site that do not know any body on here. They might not want to post because, who knows, they could get attacked for saying the wrong thing. Anyways, lets try to make this site a little more welcoming and stop attacking the little things. Thanks.

Tony Alles
www.reptileguru.com

Thank you for the info, I will go back and try to find it.
Still, two wrongs don't make a right, yeah yeah it might make you feel better LOL but then people start looking at you in the same light as the first peron.
I just found the whole thing weird, Adam says something about NERD and NERD only answers once, everyone goes after Adam for it, and then I address Ritchie on this and I get webslave and you. No offense, and I am glad you cleared things up.
But this thread is childish in my mind and its a get back for Adams prior post. Keep in mind I know none of you personally, I can only go by what I read/
If I were personally under fire like first NERD was, I would fight my own battles, Same with Adam, I believe I have said he needs to put up or shut up, (no not in those exact words
Try to see it from a outsider looking in.

Rozann Lamont