Best/Worst Online Forums

[Braden]

Ffab, it's not that you have personal opinions or disagreements that bothers people. It's more that you back up your opinions by locking and deleting threads rather than with discussion. Since you brought up Sam's teacher; on the last thread there about him, you posted a picture of him and added on a line from the bottom of one shoulder to the top of the other to make the illusion that they were unaligned. I posted pointing out what you had done, in case anyone missed it. The next day, the thread was locked. That you would do that in the first place is in rather poor taste, that you would cover it up via your 'moderation' verges on inexcusable. It speaks volumes to note that even people on Klein's BBS thought your attacks were worthless; and lord knows they look for any excuse to attack the individual in question. It's unfortunate, because your forums do have a handfull of very high quality posters; notably Shooter and Bamboo Leaf, who, though as opinionated as you are, balance it with graciousness, logic - and good ideas of their own.

[Sam Wiley]

Ffab,

Still not enjoying your Osbourne, eh?

Are you telling me that you don't know who Julius Streicher is?! Pleeeease! You must know who he is, you stole his hairstyle. Do some reading for a change! Oh, wait, I forgot, you didn;t read the suggested material before, which would have answered all of your "questions" (should be read "demands"), because that would have halted your crusade. So you're probably not going to go out and buy Streicher's biography, now are you?

My low opinion of you is not based on your dislike of or disagreement with my teacher. If you remember, I was more than willing to answer your supposed questions, and did so in great detail. My low opinion of you is influenced by the fact that you are overbearing, rude, opinionated to the point of being obtuse, speak in half-truths and were caught in a lie, which you then tried to cover up by locking the thread. Doesn't matter, though, as I saved that picture on my hard drive in case anyone else wanted a good laugh at your expense. You know that the lines you yourself drew across that screen shot were purposely drawn out of line with his real alignment. One line went from the top of his right shoulder down to his armpit on the other side, and another went from the top of his knee (which was higher than his hip because of the kick he was doing) to his waistband on the other side, and it can clearly be seen that his waistband does not rise to the level of his knee on that side. Everyone with brains saw right through your ruse, except for your fellow "forum nazis" who immediately sided with you without first examining the picture closely, and some objections were noted on the thread before you closed it in an attempt to hide your shame. My master may not be perfect, but he ain't THAT d@mn bad!

If you had searched his site, you would have found a book written by Erle and Published in 1986, now available for download on his site, with a foreword written by the head of the Chinese Wushu Committee, Wang Xin-wu, who saw Erle's demonstration of the Old Yang style in China, which says Erle's "toi sou, ch'i and style, were very professional and close to perfection." You would also have found a book available for download containing a photocopy of the article that appeared in China Wushu Magazine in October of 1985 about Erle, in Chinese, complete with a photograph of Erle performing the form in front of onlookers in bleachers. You would also have found a reprinted interview with Erle in that same book that appeared in AFA magazine originally, where the editor of the magazine inserts a note in the middle of the article for Erle's detractors and those who have been asking for alternative viewpoints to Erle's to be published, part of which reads, "AFA has also published interviews with some of the most senior Chinese 'Old Masters' of the Australasian scene, including the highly-respected Sydney instructors Sifu Mak Po-sun, of Yang style, Sifu Tan Hee-tow, of Wu style, and Melbourne's Sifu Rocky Kwong, also of Wu style. And each of the 'Old Masters' was, in fact, interviewed by Elre Montaigue...."

Take that as you will. Maybe you don't believe he interviewed them, or maybe you don't believe he learned anything from them (not saying he studied under them, but you pick up things from people you're around), or maybe you still don't believe after seeing a 15 year old picture that he was there, or whatever. Believe what you want, and disbelieve what you want. I don't give rat's a$$. All I know is I politely answered questions when you yourself were being extemely rude, and was still more than willing to participate in the discussion up until you decided to fabricate evidence. A few different people called you on it, and then you tried to cover it up by locking the thread.

If it's true that people on Klein's BBS were saying your attacks were worthless, then that's saying something, because those guys love to tear Erle Montaigue apart any time the subject comes up.

[Shaolindynasty]

How much you want to bet I get snubbed next time I post on cyberkwoon because of the comments I made about Ffab? That is if he hasn't banned me or gave me a troll label.

Seriously though Ffab, the conversations on cyberkwoon can go good most of the time but anytime a controversial thread comes up You use your abilities as moderator to "prove" your point and usually your "generals" back you completely.

I also think it's funny that you offer a "prize" for the best articles submited to cyberkwoon so you pay like a couple hundred dollars for endless suplies of articles. Most of the articles are well written and should be submitted to a magazine. Yet you claim to be doing this for "non comercial' reasons and you take advantage of people sending you those articles. You also make people feel like they got to suck up to you and stay in good graces with you in order to stay and not be outcasts on the site.

That's why you are a Forum Nazi, you let the power of owning the site go to your head.

[BeiKongHui]

I used to post at Cyberkwoon until I asked a question about ROSS and the mods went crazy. It resulted in Ffab and several other members & moderators personally insulting Scott Sonnen. Any defense he made of himself was locked or deleted so I am in agreement with Sam Wiley on that subject. I argued a bit with some of the more pretensious moderators and was eventually banned.

They're in good company though...they still let Neal Cameron post there.

[ffab@cyberkwoon.]

from this source ...

Through his words and his deeds Julius Streicher assumed for himself the unofficial title of "Jew-baiter Number One" of Nazi Germany. For the course of some twenty-five years, Streicher educated the German people in hatred and incited them to the persecution and to the extermination of the Jewish race. He was an accessory to murder, on a scale perhaps never attained before.

Anything against Short hair, Sam ?

Sam Wiley, now is this turning into a Erle Montaigue Thread ?
My opinion about him is that he writes much better than he acts, and I am pretty sure I am not the only one thinking that.
I asked simple questions about Mr Montaigue [like how long he stayed to train with the *famous* masters, because thing as MA is not something you just *pick up*] and when it comes too precise you or Braden or ChrisMcKinley or Gary goes into very defensive / offensive mode. End of the story. If you have problem with that, feel free to open a thread on CK forums or here if you want and we can confront our point of view on the topic.

Shaolindynasty.
Actually I am puzzled by your comments.
I made a search on CK forum to see what you were talking about but I cannot see any thread where we even had a *hot discussion* or I said anything to you, care to refresh my memory ?

You use your abilities as moderator to "prove" your point and usually your "generals" back you completely.

I guess this is the same feeling ppl may have for each moderator in every forum, not everybody can be as diplomat as Gene

BeiKongHui ... No comment, you were banned because you deliberately broke our rules and publicly insulted a mod [not me if I recall well]. Everybody breaking our rules is to get the same result, in 6 years we only banned 4 ppl. BTW you were/are still posting here in company of Neal Cameron and others

[Sam Wiley]

Ffab,
If I may give you a little constructive criticism on your site, personal differences aside for a moment. Your forums would operate smoother if you took care of something. If you are not logged into the forums and are reading a thread and you decide to post a response, you have to log in first. However, on your site, unlike this one, logging in takes you back to the forum "menu" listing or whatever, not to the thread or a "post reply" screen. If you changed it to where when you logged in while trying to reply it would simply take you to the "post reply" screen, or at least to the thread you were reading, it would be better, in my opinion. It's just a pain in the rear to have to page back through so I can reply.

Also, I dislike navigation bars down the side of the page. Most people don't seem to mind, but it really bugs me. If you have all of your navigation controls for users at the top or bottom of the page, that navigation bar is redundant. And since a fair amount of your navigation links are at the top of each page, you might want to consider phasing out the nav bar down the side.

Also, your current color scheme is not exactly easy on the eyes. It looks really dark and forbidding as well. Maybe you would consider a colr scheme closer to this board's, or maybe another board's? Didn't you used to have it blue and gray, or am I thinking of this site? Pastels...earth tones...stay away from colors that make people's eyes cross...

[ffab@cyberkwoon.]

Sam, thanks for this break and the positive comments.
About the design, are you aware that you have a bunch of *themes* to choose from so you can select the design / color scheme that fits you. It's under My Profile > select Theme

About the navigation, this is indeed a concern I have and I think we are on the same line here. I posted a thread / poll asking if ppl wanted to have the forum separated from the main site, a bit like here. Feel free to post your comment there.

About the login, this is a valid concern. I will try to code something so the script remember where you are coming from. But CK is a fairly more complex site than KFO [which is running on a single software] and that may take time to implement.

[Shaolindynasty]

Ffab- I don't really have a problem with you and me calling you a Nazi is just my way of joking with you and calling you guys strict and at times alittle unfair. It's hard to convey the emotional tone of a post over the internet and somtimes it seems like people are unfairly judged on your site(I never was personally). Your moderaters and somtimes you come across as you have the final word on a topic which is pretty restricting to members who in most cases are more knolwedgable than you and your moderators. Personally I find allot of the false humility that goes on by your moderaters to be pretty egotistical. Just because they voluntered their time does not mean they are more knowledgable on martial arts than the rest of us.

You keep your forum clean of the circus antics you see on the main board here but you do it at the cost of people being able to express their true feelings on the subject they reply to. I wouldn't say let things go on that happen here but you should ease up and let people express there opinons a little. Also I noticed if anybody says anything negative about cyber kwoon there they are "snubbed" for their comment. I like the fact that here you can say whatever you want about the establishment good or bad. Maybe I was being harsh but that is my way, I say what I think but you wouldn't know that over there.

Also tell Bamboo leaf to quit being so da mn cryptic over there he doesn't do that here.

[Serpent]

I cruise around Cyberkwoon quite often. It's a great site. I can only speak from what I've read, but the reason the traffic is slow is because they only talk about martial arts. If you took all the bullsh!t off this forum it would be as "slow" as CK as well.

And the only people I've ever seen banned or hounded by the mods were people that were being really obnoxious. And when Neal Cameron showed up, lots of people, including mods, called him out. They even linked to threads on this forum so that everyone would know who they were dealing with. Doesn't sound like Nazi activity to me. And right now, they're toying with Celestial_Amiboshi, which is kinda funny.

You guys are being a bit harsh on Cyberkwoon, I think, and it sounds like it's because you all have personal issues.
As far as the original thread question, I like this place cos it's a sh!tfight half the time, I like Cyberkwoon for the martial arts info and I occasionally check out e-budo and budoseek too. Oh yeah, and emptyflower is a great site, but not my style!

[bamboo_ leaf]

Cryptic comments by bamboo leaf:

mmm don’t know what that means. I have found that my poor writing style seems to have improved with my posting, it is not my intention to be cryptic.

Who ever head of a cryptic leaf?

[Sam Wiley]

Ffab,
You are the one turning it into an "Erle Montaigue thread." I wasn't going to mention who you were or what the discussion was about until you did. Again, you try to twist things. "Too precise?" Try too insulting. I tire easily of arguing with people bent on defaming others and furthering their own agendas under the guise of an innocent quest for knowledge. As it is, I wasted a lot of time giving you the benefit of the doubt; even when you insulted me and became arrogant, I still gave you the benefit of the doubt, chalking it up to differences in mannerisms between Americans and Europeans, only to find out a few posts away that it's not people in France who talk like that, just you. I've been to cities I was told were not very friendly and that if you loojked people in the eye while you were there they would kick your ass. But having gone to those cities, when I looked up and smiled and greeted people while looking them right in the eye, I only got a smile and a polite greeting. Yet here you are, pretending to want one thing, and even maintaining the masquerade to this day, yet with another agenda altogether, as it turns out.

The reason people became "defensive" is because you posted a picture to prove a point which showed that you were willing to twist the truth to do so, evidenced by the lines you drew which were so far off the mark I ACTUALLY laughed out loud. When you were called on it, you reacted by closing the thread so no one else could respond and call you on it as well.

I don't care about your POV on the topic, which is the reason I haven't posted there so far. I was not the first here to express my dislike of your forum or you or your moderators, nor was I the last. And apparently, you have used your site as a staging area before for personaly vendettas against other instructors besides Erle. This is the fourth time I have heard the Scott Sonnen story. Every now and again, the subject still comes up on Cyberkwoon, even.

I have yet to see the moderators or owners of other forums use thier websites to launch smear campaigns against instructors they don't like or don't believe have a legitimate lineage. Also, I have yet to read words written by any master that speak badly of another person. Erle even keeps his mouth shut about people he doesn't like or that attack him. And he is the one I would expect to lambast someone, though he does not.

I have spoken with a great many people over the internet, through bulletin boards, chat rooms, e-mail, etc. Ashida Kim, infamous for being a complete a$$hole to people, was nothing but polite to me when I e-mailed him asking about his style. I have spoken to neo-nazis over chat rooms who were for some reason polite and agreeable, and I never thought I'd be able to say that! I have even come across people in my personal life and not through the net, who were supposed to be despicable and ill-tempered, but were nothing but polite in person. It is for these and other reasons that I give people a chance and if need be a second chance. I believe in giving people a break, I believe in giving them the benefit of the doubt. But if after numerous failed attempts to be nice and generous they still disrespect me, or in your case both my self and my teacher, I just throw in the towel. If I'm not going to be able to convince you that you're mistaken in your belief, then I'm not going to try. Only the insane like to beat their heads against walls.

If you want to believe he's lying, then by all means do so. Opinions are like a$$holes. And I frankly don't care any more if you doubt or not. I don't even really care about your nazi-esque habit of enforcing your opinion on others on a board supposedly meant for discussion, since neither I nor anyone else need read it or post on it. You tried to prove a point by faking evidence, and you were laughed at. So you did what you had to in order to save some face, you closed the thread when you were called on it. That's fine. People do what people do.

This is about the politest I can be to you, Fabien. Sorry, but you're not exactly my favorite person, and my dislike for you is personal, not professional. You have proven to be less than honorable...

and apparently you are still not enjoying your Osbourne. LOL!

(Sorry, I don't know how to end this post and that line makes me smile every time. At least I'm posting it with a light heart now.)

[ffab@cyberkwoon.]

Sam,
I was about to write a long reply but I just realized that would be a waste of time for everybody.
You don't like me, fine.
I mentioned who and what it was because I feel it is kinda pointless to talk about "you-know-what" and "you-know-who"
The thread is there, everybody is free to check it and start a new thread about it.

I think you are a bit too eager to defend your teacher, not that it is bad but in E.M case some of his students are very "sensitive" to say the least.
Now if only I said that your teacher was a Cult Master brainwashing his students [especially the young ones] with some weird music ..

[wushu chik]

Typically, this thread is turning into a bash session. Kinda pathetic. Isn't everyone kinda getting tired of this already??

In my opinion....i like KFO the best. I go on e-budo sometimes...but it's awfully boring...like most the others I have been to. And this one usually makes me laugh, so it's a good thing.

Anyways, I am also in the works for World Domination. Ryu is going to be my Right Hand Man....anyone else interested in helping out?? Just thought I should let everyone know that I will ONE DAY rule the WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Wen~

[ffab@cyberkwoon.]

Sorry about that. I will refrain from further comments.
BTW you should get along well with Asia, he got Baji Zombies and a nice ever-expanding family to help him dominate the world

[wushu chik]

LOL...

Thanks FFAB...I will have to get in touch with Asia. That may be just what I am looking for!!! Good idea actually!

~Wen~